STRUCTURAL DESIGN OF A SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSE WITH LOAD-BEARING WALLS WITH THE ADDITION OF POLYSTYRENE BEADS IN CONCRETE

Abstract

Load-bearing walls are built to increase the resistance of a house, since they provide firmness and stability. Their main function is to support and distribute the load from each floor to the foundation. The objective was to determine the differences between load-bearing walls with the addition of polystyrene beads in the concrete. A quantitative approach, of an applied nature, was applied. The sample consisted of two test pits and a brick wall, as well as three Technopor walls with respective dimensions. The results revealed that the brick wall, known as M-1, supported a maximum load of 4900 kg and the Technopor wall represented by M-2, achieved a yield of 3500 kg, while M-3 achieved a maximum load of 4500 kg, and M-4 obtained 1500 kg. This suggests that M-1 withstood a higher weight load. M-1 had a shear stress of 4.9, M-2 recorded a value of 2.0, M-3 obtained 2.6, while M-4 presented 0.9. This suggests that the M-1 wall experienced a higher shear stress (Kg/cm²) and collapsed faster, while the M-3 wall did not collapse, but only presented a diagonal crack and took longer to collapse.