Author(s)

Raimundo Kennedy Vieira¹, Raimundo Pereira de Vasconcelos¹, Douglas Marangoni¹, Adalena Kennedy Vieira²

¹Nutec, Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM), Manaus (AM), Brazil.
²Center Foundation of Analyses, Research and Technological—FUCAPI, Manaus (AM), Brazil.

The aim of this study was to determine the optimum design mix to produce pre-cast concrete blocks by a completely random experimental design (CRED) with mixture and process variables. The polymerized concrete was studied its composition: Cement, and water defined as the mixture compounds. To choose the best model, all the possible models were assessed through the ANOVA, which tested each possible model. The linear-linear model was preferred, since that do not present evidence of lack of fit, and it is capable of relating how to react the process variables, when are changed the variable mixture condition levels. The optimum experimental condition, obtained for the polymerized concrete, was: The size of the polystyrene beads was 4.8 mm sized polystyrene beads, 5.0% polystyrene that replaced the aggregate, 18.3% cement, 73.4% aggregate and 8.3% water. In this condition, the blocks made with polymerized concrete show a compressive strength above 15 Mpa, allowing its utilization in paving.

Experimental Design, CRED, Polymerized Concrete

Vieira, R. , Vasconcelos, R. , Marangoni, D. and Vieira, A. (2016) Optimization of Expanded Polystyrene Lightweight Aggregate in Pre-Cast Concrete Blocks by a Completely Random Experimental Design (CRED) with Mixture and Process Variables. Open Journal of Statistics, 6, 594-604. doi: 10.4236/ojs.2016.64050.