International Journal of Civil, Structural,

Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering

Research and Development (IJCSEIERD)
ISSN(P): 2249-6866; ISSN(E): 2249-7978
Vol. 6, Issue 5, Oct 2016, 13-22
TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF EPS SYSTEM ON CONVENTIONAL

METHOD OF CONSTRUCTION WITH REFERENCE TO
TIME, LABOUR & COST FACTORS
YAGNESH. M. JOSHI1 & SHRIKANT CHARHATE2
1

Research Scholar, Civil Engineering Department, Pillai HOC College of

Engineering & Technology Rasayani, Riagad, Maharashtra, India

Professor, Civil Engineering Department, Pillai HOC College of Engineering &

Technology Rasayani, Riagad, Maharashtra, India

ABSTRACT
Due to rapid growth of urbanization & migration of the people, the demand for housing sector especially for
Economical Weaker Section (EWS), Mid Income Group (MIG) &Low Income Group (LIG) segment of population is
growing faster. Recently, traditional material is been used in construction industries and the need is been fulfilled In
recent days the environmental related issue are been faced largely, hence there is need of the alternate material which
be used along with the traditional material used for construction. To overcome with such problem many advanced
construction material & technology is been developed around the world. One such advanced construction material is
called as Expanded Poly-Styrene (EPS). This paper focus on EPS, when this system is compared to the conventional
method of construction i.e. construction using traditional material like brick as infill material in an RCC structure, it is
found to be economical i.e. in terms of material, time &labour Also there is huge time difference when we replaced brick

Original Article

will be strong, durable, energy saving, cost effective, time saving & much more sustainable form of material which can

with EPS panel. This type of an advanced material can be thought of viable substitute to achieve a goal of sustainable
construction & to promote a green technology.
KEYWORDS: Advanced Construction Material, Expanded Polystyrene, Innovative Construction Technology,
Sustainable Material.

Received: Aug 23, 2016; Accepted: Sep 14, 2016; Published: Sep 19, 2016; Paper Id.: IJCSEIERDOCT20162

INTRODUCTION
As a fast growing population i.e. 1.28 billion of India according to census 2011, there are the huge
shortage of basic amenities like food, clothing and shelter i.e. nothing but houses. According to the start of 12th
financial plan the housing scarcity projected to be 18.78 million, out of which major population is of EWS, LIG &
MIG segment of people [3].In Maharashtra, MHADA is the housing developing authority for such segment of
population but in name of affordability the dwelling unit which is provided is unaffordable for nearly 80% of the
population of Mumbai. Also the lack of affordable housing solution forces, 57% households live in one room
dwellings, 8% households do not have an exclusive dwelling room i.e. one dwelling room is shared by more than
one household. [4]. to overcome with such type of the problem there is a need of an advanced material or
technology which is fast but cost & resources effective This research paper has highlighted this issue & overcome
with an alternative construction material EPS expanded polystyrene when compared with the conventional method
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Yagnesh. M. Joshi & Shrikant Charhate

of construction proven to be more economical in terms of time, cost, labour & resources. EPS system provides great
satisfaction among the residents of building and also provides high ranking performance in case of recyclability, reliability,
versatility and moisture resistance [5].This technology also been proven economical in overall life cycle cost of the
building, if used on the earlier design stage[6].When it comes to the load carrying capacity of material ,EPS panel possess a
high strength [7].EPS panel also help in improving the thermal conductivity, sound insulation thus making the structure
sustainable & economical [8].

MATERIAL DESCRIPTION & METHODOLOGY

Expanded polystyrene is one of the biggest product polymers produced in the world. It is stiff foam with a unique
combination of features such as its lightweight, good thermal insulation, strong absorption of shock, high compressive
strength and good moisture resistance In building & construction industries EPS is been used on a very large scale to make
insulation foam for walls, roofs and floor insulation EPS also has a great application in Infrastructure like roads bridges
also making a sound proof room EPS is made from styrene which is a byproduct of crude oil extraction. Thousands of
small unit of styrene called monomers are link together to form a large molecules of polystyrene this process is called as
polymerization. These processes take place in three stage area pre-expansion, intermediate maturing & final moulding. At
initial stage raw materials called beads are introduced in a vessel were it is heated with help of steam at temperature of
1000C. The steam cause pentane to releases and help beads to swell up to 50 times of the original size once the desired
volume is archived it is released in the bed dryer were it is kept to become dry. Once its dried it is taken to second stage
intermediate maturing stage were the cooled expanded beads which has form an vacuum in there interior must be
equalized to atmospheric pressure to prevent collision or impulsion of the beads this process is called as aging processes
which also help to achieve a greater mechanical elasticity and improve expansion capacity of the beads.at the final stage of
this pre expander beads are transferred to a mould where they are compressed to form a block with the help of steam[9].
This block are further cut into desired shape & thick ness and with help of reinforcement assembly machine a galvanised
steel truss is been installed at both face of the EPS panel. This panel are then used for wall, floor, staircase & roof. They
also possess good load carrying capacity, earthquake resistance, moisture resistance [10].
The main part of the project is to compare the various quantity of the material like sand cement brick ,steel
,concrete ,panels used for the construction using the expanded polystyrene panel and the conventional method for
constructing of the building The cost of the material & labour has been taken for the Mumbai, Maharashtra zone.
The time factor has been calculated using the help of MS project while the quantity of the various material has been work
out using the Microsoft excel the difference in the cost of some activity is also been work out using rate analysis method.
A flow chart indicating the work (Refer Figure 1)

Impact Factor (JCC): 6.3724

NAAS Rating: 3.01

Comparative Study of EPS System on Conventional Method of

Construction with Reference to Time, Labour & Cost Factors

15

Figure 1: Flow Diagram for Methodology

RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS

Various data like drawings, rate of material for brick ,sand, cement, reinforcement, labor etc. has been consider
for the Mumbai zone . The site is been located at Nallasopara near Mumbai, India,. This project is been built using only
EPS panel i.e. there is no. RCC frame structure. For this paper some modification has been done, which is been carried out
with help RCC Consultant has provided the various drawings for carry out the study For rate analysis purpose of EPS &
brick work, The material quantity for brick work is taken from the book [2]. The differences in the rate is been plotted with
help of MS excel in from of a graph. As seen from Figure 2 there are almost 13% saving in the cost when we used an EPS
panel instead of a brick work as an infill material in RCC frame structure.

Figure 2: Rate Comparisons of EPS & Brick Work

For analysis of concrete quantity two structure, a residential building & row house of same built up area, both this
structure were constructed with two different method one with EPS panel technology& other with conventional method.
From Figure 3 & 4 it was observed that when this structure were built using EPS panel as a slab & in replace of brick wall,
there was about 19-25% saving in the concrete quantity.

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Yagnesh. M. Joshi & Shrikant Charhate

Figure 3: Comparisons of Concrete Quantity for Residential Building

Figure 4: Comparisons of Concrete Quantity for Row House

For analysis the steel quantity, two structure of same built-up area i.e. a residential building & a row house both
are made from EPS technology& with conventional method is been taken in respect to show the saving achieved in
consumption of steel. As from Figure 5 & 6 it is observed that while constructing of these two same structure with different
technology there was about 11- 12% saving in steel quantity when we use EPS as an infill material i.e. in replacement of
brick wall & as a slab panel.

Impact Factor (JCC): 6.3724

NAAS Rating: 3.01

Comparative Study of EPS System on Conventional Method of

Construction with Reference to Time, Labour & Cost Factors

17

Figure 5: Comparison of Steel Quantities for Residential Building

Figure 6: Comparison of Steel Quantities for Row House

Time analysis is been carried out in form of a work breakdown structure using the help of site experiences graph
of various activity against time is been plotted using the excel. For Brick work [1],the output for a single skilled mason &
two labour in a day is about 150 sqft for 4 thick wall, For EPS panel from site experiences a single skilled worker &
single helper can install about (1.2mtr x 3.05mtrs = 3.66 sqmtr i.e. equal to 39.39 sqft) 600 sqft of panel in a day.
From Figure 7 & 8 it is observed that time taken for EPS panel to construct the wall is less than that of the time take to
construct same wall using bricks.l

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Yagnesh. M. Joshi & Shrikant Charhate

Figure 7: Time Required for Constructing A Wall Using Brick

Figure 8: Time Required for Constructing Wall Using EPS Panel

The overall construction cost of any project decides the success of that project. From figure 9 & 10 it is seen that
the construction which is carried out using EPS technology is about 22-25% less in comparative to the cost of making the
same structure with a conventional method i.e. construction with RCC beam, column, slab & brick as an infill material.

Figure 9: Comparison of Construction Cost for Residential Building

Impact Factor (JCC): 6.3724

NAAS Rating: 3.01

Comparative Study of EPS System on Conventional Method of

Construction with Reference to Time, Labour & Cost Factors

19

Figure 10: Comparison of Construction Cost for Row House

Time plays an important role in any project. It helps in lowering the overall cost direct or indirect cost also the
outcome of the project i.e. profit ratio is also been maximize Using MS project the time duration required to construct a
residential building with both the method i.e. using EPS & conventional method we can see from the figure 11 & 12 were
the conventional methods takes 125 days to complete the work, EPS system is requires only 111 days to complete the same
work i.e. there is a saving of almost 14 days.

Figure 11: MS Project for Conventional Structure

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Yagnesh. M. Joshi & Shrikant Charhate

Figure 12: MS Project for EPS Structure

CONCLUSIONS
These results were calculated on a residential building G+ 3 structures& row house with an area of 12402.22 sqft
& 1103.14 sqft. As seen from the result the EPS panel system is found to be economical i.e. in terms of material, time &
also labour requirement is less compared to the conventional system of construction. Expanded polystyrene can be one of
the alternative materials used in achieving the affordability & sustainability in the construction sector. There was about
22 - 25 % of saving on overall construction cost when we built a structure using EPS as an infill & slab material.
This result depends on the mass housing construction, as the area of construction reduce, the saving will also be reduces.
Also there is huge time difference when we replaced brick with EPS panel. From study it is seen that use of such
construction method is not made popular since people are not aware about the technology. However proper use of this
technology in construction project will lead to achieve long run of life of building & can be used as green building
structure.
Impact Factor (JCC): 6.3724

NAAS Rating: 3.01

Comparative Study of EPS System on Conventional Method of

Construction with Reference to Time, Labour & Cost Factors

21

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B.N Datta A text Book on Estimation & Costing, UBS publisher distributors pvt ltd Pg no. 188 2010

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Sandip mantri A text Book on the A to Z of practical building construction & is management, Satya prakashan new
Delhi,pg.no.184.2011

3.

Report of the technical group on urban housing shortage (TG-12), National building organization, ministry of housing &
urban poverty alleviation New Delhi, pp. 3-9. September 2012.

4.

Report from PRAJA Organization on The State of Affordable Housing in Mumbai,pp. 6-25 November 2014

5.

Anthony Nkem Ede1 (PhD), Valentine Alegiuno and Paul Oluwaseun.Awoyera (2014) Use of Advanced Plastic Materials in
Nigeria: Performance Assessment of Expanded Polystyrene Building Technology System American journal of engineering
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Anthony N. Ede, Adeniyi J. Salami, David O. Olukanni , Adebanji S. Ogbiye , David O. Omole& Isaac I. Akinwumi (2014)
Life cycle cost evaluation of using expanded polystyrene for residential buildings International journal of engineering
science and management, vol. 4 Issue 2, pp. 11-15.

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Ibrahim D. Bankole, O.C.Maaji, S. A ,Ohize, E. J, Abdul B. K (2013) Assessment Of The Strength Properties Of Polystyrene
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Rohit Raj, Manoj Kumar Nayak, MdAsifakbari& P. Saha (2014), Prospect of Expanded polystyrene Sheet As Green Building
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Foam Fabricators: What is EPS?;http://foamfabricatorsinc.com/Page.aspx?nid=118.

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