Comparative study on the dynamic properties of lightweight porous concrete

In this paper, two types of lightweight porous concrete material, expanded polystyrene concrete (EPSC) and ceramics-cement based porous material (CCPM) have been prepared on the base of C60 concrete. The dynamic mechanical experiments of lightweight porous concretes have been carried out by phi 100 mm split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) improved by wave shaping technology. The dynamic properties, including strength properties, deformation properties, impact toughness and energy absorption properties, of lightweight porous concretes have been analyzed comparatively, and its application prospects have been discussed. The results show that the two types of lightweight porous concretes are strain rate sensitive. Dynamic compression strength increases with strain rate; the correlation between the peak strain, ultimate strain of lightweight porous concrete and strain rate can be expressed by quadratic polynomial; under the impact loading, the impact toughness of lightweight porous concretes increases with strain rate, the amount of absorbed energy increases with the average incident energy change rate, moreover, the relation between the impact toughness and strain rate, and that between the amount of absorbed energy and the average incident energy change rate can both be expressed by exponential functions; compared with EPSC, CCPM has better properties in terms of strength, deformation, impact toughness and energy absorption. Those advantages are more obvious with high strain rate. Therefore, CCPM has more vast application prospects in civil defense projects than EPSC.