Experimental Analyses on Cellular Polymers for Geotechnical Applications

Cellular polymers represent an important category within the area of the polymeric materials. Although these materials are experiencing a growing importance from both an industrial and an economic point of view, there is not such a big and detailed corresponding scientific literature. Except for the researches directly supported by the manufacturing companies, mainly interested, there are only few scientific and engineering studies about this argument. This article is aimed to the geotechnical characterisation of the rigid polyurethane foam and the extruded polystyrene foam and their physical- mechanical properties. The mechanical behaviour is investigated through oedometric and triaxial tests, performed in either PUR and XPS samples at different densities. As a result, the influence of the density on the relationship stress-strain for the materials is obtained. Practical methods and procedures about how to adapt the geotechnical tests on such materials, different from the soil, are also illustrated. At the end of the analyses, a first attempt of interpretation is given, so that an analytical model for the geotechnical description of cellular polymers can be developed.