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Properties and applications of foamed concrete; a review

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DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2015.10.112

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 Construction and Building Materials 101 (2015) 990–1005

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Review

Properties and applications of foamed concrete; a review

Y.H. Mugahed Amran ⇑, Nima Farzadnia, A.A. Abang Ali
Department of Civil Engineering, Housing Research Center, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia UPM, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

h i g h l i g h t s

Stability of fresh foamed concrete is controlled by type and volume of foam agent added.

The compressive strength is a primary function of the desirable density design.

Foamed concrete has potential characteristics to produce structural applications.

Foamed concrete is superior fire resistance compared to normal concrete.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Foamed concrete possesses characteristics such as high strength-to-weight ratio and low density. Using
Received 14 April 2015 foamed concrete reduces dead loads on the structure and foundation, contributes to energy conservation,
Received in revised form 14 September 2015 and lowers the labor cost during construction. It also reduces the cost of production and transportation of
Accepted 17 October 2015
building components compared to normal concrete and has the potential of being used as a structural
material. This paper provides a review of foamed concrete constituents, fabrication techniques, and
properties of foamed concrete. This literature review also aims to provide a comprehensive insight into
Keywords:
possible applications of foamed concrete in the construction industry today.
Foamed concrete
Mechanical properties
Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Durability
Physical properties
Applications

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991
2. Constituent materials and preparation methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991
2.1. Binder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991
2.2. Foam agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 991
2.3. Water and plasticizers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992
2.4. Fibers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993
2.5. Foamed concrete mix proportion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993
2.6. Foamed concrete preparation techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993
3. Typical properties of foamed concrete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993
3.1. Fresh properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993
3.1.1. Consistency and rheology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 993
3.1.2. Stability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995
3.1.3. Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995
3.1.4. Workability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995
3.2. Mechanical properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995
3.2.1. Compressive strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995
3.2.2. Splitting tensile and flexural strengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 997
3.2.3. Modulus of elasticity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 997

⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mugahed_amran@hotmail.com (Y.H.M. Amran).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2015.10.112
0950-0618/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Y.H.M. Amran et al. / Construction and Building Materials 101 (2015) 990–1005 991

3.3. Physical properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 997

3.3.1. Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 997
3.3.2. Drying shrinkage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 998
3.3.3. Porosity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 998
3.3.4. Sorptivity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999
3.4. Durability properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999
3.4.1. Permeability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999
3.4.2. Resistance to aggressive environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999
3.5. Functional properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1000
3.5.1. Acoustic insulation resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1000
3.5.2. Thermal conductivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1000
3.5.3. Fire resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1001
4. Applications of foamed concrete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1001
5. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1002
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1002
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1002

1. Introduction mortar, plus aggregates to produce concrete, whilst the supplemen-

Foamed concrete is defined as a light cellular concrete
which can be classified as a lightweight concrete (density of
400–1850 kg/m3) with random air-voids created from the mixture
of foam agents in mortar. Foamed concrete is recognized for its
high flowability, low cement content, low aggregate usage [1–3],
and excellent thermal insulation [4]. Furthermore, the foamed con-
crete is considered as an economical solution in fabrication of large
scale lightweight construction materials and components such as
structural members, partitions, filling grades, and road embank-
ment infills due to its easy production process from manufacturing
plants to final position of the applications [2,5–7]. In practice,
foamed concrete has been commonly used in construction applica-
tions in different countries such as Germany, UK, Philippines,
Turkey, and Thailand [8,9].
Historically, the Romans first realized that by adding animal
blood into a mix of small gravel and coarse sand with hot lime
and water and agitating it, small air bubbles were formed making
the mix more workable and durable [10,11]. However, the first
Portland cement based foamed concrete was patented in 1923 by
Axel Eriksson [12]. Further, the initial comprehensive review was
conducted by Valore on cellular concrete [1,12]. Over the past
20 years, substantial improvements in production equipment and
better superplasticizers, foam agents have permitted the use of
foamed concrete in a larger scale and many efforts have been made
to study the characteristics and behavior of foamed concrete com-
prehensively in order to simplify its usage in structural applica-
tions. So far, some researchers [2,13–16] reported that the
foamed concrete possesses superior properties such as low density
which helps to reduce structural dead loads, foundation size, labor,
transportation and operating costs. Besides, it enhances the fire
resistance, thermal conductivity and sound absorbance due to its
textural surface and micro-structural cells. This review paper
mainly tends to evaluate the material properties of foamed con-
crete and then it is expanded to elaborate the improvements in
foamed concrete design proportions and selection of constituent
materials in order to enrich its performance at fresh and hardened
states. Table 1 compares typical parameters between foamed con-
crete and other types of concrete in terms of raw material, method
of production, compressive strength, insulation performance, and
environmental relationship.
2. Constituent materials and preparation methods
Foamed concrete consists of basic and supplementary compo-
nents. The basic components are cement, sand, and water for
tary materials are fly ash, plasticizers, and fibers. All the above men-
tioned materials will be described in detail in sub-sections below.
2.1. Binder
Cement is the most dominant binder in foamed concrete. The
types of cement used in the foamed concrete are namely ordinary
Portland cement, rapid hardening Portland cement, calcium sulfoa-
luminate cement, and high alumina cement, which can be used in
ranges between 25% and 100% of the binder content [3,17–19].
However, other supplementary materials such as silica fume, fly
ash, lime, incinerator bottom ash and Lytag can also be replaced
with a percentage of cement ranging between 10% and 75%
[14,20–22]. The supplementary materials are used to improve
mix design consistency, long term strength and to reduce costs
[23]. Each supplementary material may contribute to properties
of foamed concrete in different fashions. For instance, the purpose
of using silica fume is to strengthen the foamed concrete in a short
time due to their filler characteristics and pozzolanic behavior
[3,24–26], while fly ash needs a longer time to reach the maximum
strength comparing to cement [17]. Therefore, the supplementary
materials should be used as partial replacements according to
desirable foamed concrete properties.
2.2. Foam agent
Foam agents control the concrete density through a rate of air
bubbles created in the cement paste mixture. Foam bubbles are
defined as enclosed air-voids formed due to the addition of foam
agent. The foam agents are commonly synthetic, protein-based,
detergents, glue resins, hydrolyzed protein, resin soap, and saponin,
[19,27,28]. The most common foam agents are synthetic and protein
based. The protein based foam agents result in a stronger and a more
closed-cell bubble structure which permits the inclusion of greater
amounts of air and also provides a more stable air void network
while the synthetic ones yield greater expansion and thus lower
density [7,10,29]. The content of the foam agent has a considerable
effect on properties of both fresh and the hardened concrete [11,30].
It is reported that the excessive foam volume results in a drop in
flow [26,31]. However, the flow is significantly affected by mixing
time. As reported, the greater the mixing time, the more the
entrained air, albeit, prolonged mixing may cause the loss of
entrained air by dropping the air content [10,12]. Moreover,
water-reducing chemical admixtures are likely to cause instability
in the foam and subsequently are not usually used. The stability of
foam agent should be confirmed based on ASTM C 869-91 and ASTM
992 Y.H.M. Amran et al. / Construction and Building Materials 101 (2015) 990–1005

C 796-97 test procedures [32,33]. The air voids range between 6%

Pre-cast, stationary or in-

Sand, water cement, and
and 35% of the total volume of final mix in most foamed concrete

Structural components,
Conventional concrete

applications [34]. The foam as introduced by ACI 523.3R-93 [35] is

Contamination free
produced by blending the foam agent, water and compressed air
aggregate [63]

(generated by an air-compressor) in pre-calculated proportion

30–150 [12]

ratios in a foam generator calibrated for a discharge rate. Another

Any shape

130–200%
2400 [63]

Up to 2.1
With age
Needed

Normal
production process was also introduced by Taylor, Valore and

Good
Brossard [1,36–38]. In their approach, the foam quality was influ-
situ

enced by the dilution ratio of the agent, the process of forming,

the compressed air pressure, its density, and the adding and blend-
ing process with the mortar. The foam quality was of great impor-
Structural and non-structural,
Pre-cast, stationary or in-situ
Concrete blocks (void core)

tance because it represented the stability of foamed concrete and

Sand, water cement, and

also it affected the strength and stiffness of the resultant foamed

components, 1700 [63]

concrete [26]. In foamed concreting, the compressive strength is

Contamination free
Fabrication blocks

mostly affected by the foam content rather than its reliance upon
the water–cement ratio [39]. Particularly, the compressive strength
Up to 42.5

110–120%
of foamed concrete is highly influenced by the type of foam agent
aggregate

Up to 1.7
With age
Needed

Normal

such as by protein based foam agent more than synthetic foam

Good

agent [11]. However, Wee et al. [22] reported through both

experimental and numerical studies, that the inclusion of air
bubbles in foamed concrete is more influential on compressive
Non-structural components,

Smoke, wastes agricultural

strength than on modulus of elasticity. In general, the foam should

Manufacturing brick kilns
Use agricultural soil and

be added immediately after its production in a viscous state to guar-

managed by extruder
Clay bricks (Burned)

antee the stability of the foam. Stability can be further achieved by

Fabrication blocks

addition of foam stabilizing fluorinated surfactant into the foamed

Loss over time

concrete [41].
Up to 0.4

78–135%
Needed

Normal
Normal
wastes

7.5–20

2.3. Water and plasticizers

1900

land

A water requirement in foamed concrete depends upon the con-

stituents and the use of admixtures. Water content is also gov-
Lime, cement, sand, energy input as main tool

Pre-cast, prepared with auto-claves of high

erned by the uniformity, consistency and stability of the desired

Non-structural components, 700 [120,158]

mix [16,42]. Nambiar et al. [25,26] reported that a low water con-
tent caused the mix to be too stiff and bubbles broke during mixing
Autoclave aerated concrete (AAC)

which resulted in an increased density. Similarly, at high water

pressure and with steam cistern

Any shape in prepared mould

content, the slurry was too thin to hold the bubbles which caused
High energy consumption

segregation of the foam from the mix and consequently the final
Used as plaster and glue

density was increased [26]. In general, the water to cement ratio

range was suggested to be from 0.4 to 1.25 or in a range of from
6.5% to 14% of the target density [40,43]. Furthermore, the quality
Loss over time

of used water counts in the production of foamed concrete. Based

Up to 12.0

175–310%
0.08–0.25

on ACI 523.3R-93 [35], it is recommended that the water used for

Advance

the foamed concrete mix design should be clean, fresh and abso-
None

lutely drinkable. Organic infection can have a negative effect on

the usage of protein based foam agent quality, which would affect
Water, sand, cement and foam, (silica fume, fly

Free from pollution, (less energy consumption)

the foamed concrete mix formation specified by the British Cement

Advance, easy to be drilled, cut, and nailed
Structural components, 1200–1950 [1,81]
Pre-cast and in-situ (foam generator and

Association [44]. However, undrinkable water could also be used

Up to 0.66 (on the basis of density) [11]
Comparison between foamed concrete and other types of concrete.

Non-structural components, 600 [102]

when foamed concrete gains 90% of strength at 7–28 days similar

or equal to samples made with water from a municipal supply [23].
Grouting, thermal insulation, 400

Further, Valore [38] reported that whenever the water/cement

ratio was increased the sand proportion should be increased as
ash – optional) [3,15,97]

well. He also noted that the addition of the proper amount of water
in a mix should be visualized by consistency rather than by a pre-
Foamed concrete

determined water/cement ratio [1,38]. Also, the amount of water

Any dimensions
concrete mixer)
Up to 58 [57]

must be appropriate to guarantee that the workability of the pre-

mixed paste or mortar was acceptable for foamed concrete fresh
With age

Advance

design mix. Otherwise, the cement would absorb water from the
None

100%

foam and cause rapid degeneration of the foam [32,43,44]. The

optimum water/cement ratio should be limited between 0.5 and
Production and setup

Shape and size of the

Cost of raw materials

0.6 as suggested by British Cement Association [44].

Thermal insulation
Dry density, kg/m3
Primary materials
Types of concrete

Sound absorption
Vibration process
strength, MPa

The plasticizers are significantly utilized to improve workability

development

Ease of working

relationship
Environmental
procedures

and to stabilize the compatibility of foamed concrete [7,45,46].

Compressive

element

(W/mk)

They are practically defined as water-reducers used to increase

Strength

the performance of fresh concrete by easing its mobility and plas-

Table 1

ticity; however, no significant effects on concrete segregation were

observed [47,48]. One of the most popular plasticizers in the
 Y.H.M. Amran et al. / Construction and Building Materials 101 (2015) 990–1005
foamed concrete production is fluorosurfactant (FS1). The FS1 is
generally used to reduce the amount of mixing water and also mar-
ginally accelerates the strength gain of the produced foamed con-
crete. The plasticizers content is approximately between 0.45% and
5% of foam agent volume [49].
2.4. Fibers
Fibers used in the foamed concrete are either synthetic or nat-
ural fibers, namely: alkali resistant glass, kenaf, steel, oil palm fiber,
and polypropylene fiber [28,34,50,51]. The volumetric fraction of
these type of fibers range between 0.25% and 0.4% of the total vol-
ume of mix design constituents [52]. Previously, it was reported
that a significant improvement of mechanical and impact proper-
ties was observed when the foamed concrete was reinforced with
polypropylene fibers [53,54]. It was later revealed that the usage of
fiber reinforcement could change the typical behavior of foamed
concrete from brittle into ductile elastic–plastic [54]. Steel fibers
were also used to reinforce foamed concrete [55], albeit, the usage
of steel fibers is not suggested in the literature due to their heavy
weight [23,27,56].
2.5. Foamed concrete mix proportion
Practically, there are no specific mix proportion methods to
obtain targeted properties in foamed concrete. However, some trial
and error methods are utilized to design the appropriate mix such
as net water content, content of foam by percentage, and binder
content. These methods are considered to be sufficient calculation
techniques to propose the desired strength [28,57]. In general, the
mix proportion is designed to obtain and control the target densi-
ties by measuring several factors such as water/cement ratio or
partial replacement of cement by adding fly ash or silica fume with
a quantified percentage [58–63]. Moreover, Kearsley [17] proposed
equations in order to calculate the mix proportions based on
cement and the foam contents. Target density can be obtained by
solving the following equations:

w
a
s
a
w
s
w
pm ¼ x þ x þx þx þx þx þ RDf
c c c c a c s
 Vf ð1Þ
 
w  a   s 
a
w
x foamed concrete; they are usually measured by a flow cone and
1000 ¼ þx þx c þx c þx
RDc c RDa RDs c a

s
w
þx þ Vf ð2Þ
c s
where pm = target casting density, kg/m3, s/c = sand/cement ratio,
x = cement content, kg/m3, w/a = water/ash ratio, w/c = water/
cement ratio, w/s = water/sand ratio, a/c = ash/cement ratio,
Vf = volume of foam, RDf = relative density of foam, RDa = relative
density of ash, RDc = relative density of cement, and RDs = relative
density of sand. Table 2 illustrates different mix proportions
conducted by researchers targeting compressive strength of
7–365 days.
2.6. Foamed concrete preparation techniques
There are two techniques that could be used in the process of
foam concreting; pre-foaming method and mix-foaming method.
Both methods control the mixing process and the quality of
foamed concrete [42,64]. The pre-foaming method encompasses
generating the base mix and stabilizing the preformed aqueous
foam independently. Then, the foam is completely blended into
the base mix. The pre-formed foam could be produced by either
dry or wet method. The dry foam is generated by pushing the foam
993
agent solution over sequences of high density constraints and by
pushing compressed air concurrently inside a mixing chamber.
The dry foam is quite stable and generates bubbles with sizes smal-
ler than 1 mm. The small sized bubbles facilitate a stable and uni-
formly blend of foam with the basic material in order to produce
pumpable foamed concrete [65]. The wet foam is generated by
spraying the foam agent solution through a fine mesh. The wet
foam bubble size is generally between 2 and 5 mm and the foam
produced is somehow less stable compared to the dry foam [66].
In the mixed foaming method, the surface active agent is
practically mixed along with base-mix constituents specifically
cement slurry during the mixing process [58]. The obtained foam
results in a cellular structure in the foamed concrete [58]. The foam
is strongly recommended to be steady and stabled to be able to
resist the mortar pressure until the cement initially sets. It helps
to build up a strong skeleton of concrete all over the voids filled
with air [67].
3. Typical properties of foamed concrete
In this paper, the properties of foamed concrete are classified
into fresh, mechanical, physical, durability, and functional proper-
ties. Each property has its own specific characteristics influenced
by the manufacturing process and performance quality. The fresh
state of the foamed concrete includes the mixture consistency,
rheology and stability. In the hardened state, the authors focus
on physical, functional and mechanical properties as described in
the following paragraphs.
3.1. Fresh properties
In the fresh state, the foam concrete mix has a flowing and
self-compacting rheology [3]. Hence, different parameters such as
consistency and rheology, stability, workability and compatibility
should be taken into account. These parameters are mostly
influenced by the proportion of either water to cement (w/c),
supplementary materials, fine/course aggregate, plasticizers, and
the volume and type of foam agents added [57].
3.1.1. Consistency and rheology
The consistency and rheology are first assessments of fresh
the flow marsh test to investigate the mixture performance [17].
The performance of consistency and rheology of foamed concrete
is acceptable when the spreadability of fresh concrete mixes is lim-
ited between 40% and 60% of the flowing time. The flowing time
should be within 20 s for a sufficient mix to be placed into molds
and get self-compacted without any external aids [16].
Reportedly, different factors influence the consistency and
rheology of the mix; which are basically related to the mix design
constituents. One important factor that affects rheology and con-
sistency of the fresh foamed concrete is the water content in the
mix design. It was recommended that the water to cement ratio
should be minimized because the excessive volume of water
causes segregation of foamed concrete during casting which affects
the workability performance [68]. For that, the mixture compo-
nents should be calculated accurately in order to enhance the
consistency and rheology of foamed concrete, to achieve the self-
compacting characteristics, to improve the cohesion and adhesion
between foam agent and the binder [42]. The other important fac-
tor is the density of coarse aggregate in the mix. For example, the
addition of lightweight coarse aggregate adversely affects the con-
sistency of the mix. To settle this problem, it was suggested to add
fly ash to the mix [16], albeit, the content of the course aggregate
with the maximum size of 4 mm should be limited to 25% of the
 994
Table 2
Summary of foamed concrete materials type and properties.

Type of foamed concrete materials Volume of foam agent and/or Density kg/m3 Strength Mpa for 28 days W/C ratio S/C ratio FA/C ratio Ref.
added (Proportion of cement kg/m3 or composition) density of the pre-foamed foam
Cement, sand, and fly ash 0.5–3% by weight of water 982–1185 (DD) 1.0–6.0 0.61–0.81 1.23–2.5 – [14]
Silica fume and ultra-fine silica powder, and fly ash 70 kg/m3 1000–1500 (TD) P85.4 365d 0.60–1.17 – 0.29–0.4 [97]
OPC, sand, and fly ash (1:5) by dilution with water, 40 kg/m3 280–1200 (TD) 0.6–1091d 0.45–0.6 – – [98]
High-strength reinforced with polypropylene fibers (1:40) by dilution with water, 70 kg/m3 800–1500 (TD) 10–50 (Fi/C) – 0.2–0.76 [28]

Y.H.M. Amran et al. / Construction and Building Materials 101 (2015) 990–1005
(SF/C)
Silica fume and PP fiber (1:40) by dilution with water, 70 kg/m3 800–1500 (TD) 39.6–91.3 0.30–0.60 1–1.61 – [15,28]
OPC and course sand (1:5) by dilution with water, 40 kg/m3 800–1350 (DD) 1.0–7.0 (0–100%) – 1–3 [16]
Silica fume (10–15%) 75 – 80 g/l 1150 (TD) P4.73 0.40–1.25 1.0–1.53 – [99]
Partially (cement-fly ash) 50 kg/m3 1400–1800 (TD) 10–26 0.3 1.5–2.3 – [3]
Fly-ash alone 70 kg/m3 1200–1600(TD) P25 0.40–0.55 1.87–2.29 0.43 [100]
OPC and fine sand (1:5) by dilution with water, 40 kg/m3 650–1200 (DD) 2.0–11 (0–100%) 1–3 1–3 [2,80]
Partially (OPC-fly ash) (1:5) by dilution with water, 70 kg/m3 1000–1500 (TD) 2.0–18 0.60–1.17 – – [17]
Fine and coarse fly-ash 50 kg/m3 1000–1400 (TD) 4.0–7.37d 1.11–1.56 1.83–3.17 1.22–2.11 [3]
1.0–2.07d 0.5 –
OPC-sand 50 kg/m3 400–1800 0.5–107d 0.35–0.63 – – [101]
Cement–sand, and fly-ash (1:5) by dilution with water, 40 kg/m3 650–1200 (DD) 4.0–19 Fi/C (1–3) 1–3 1–3 [80]
OPC-fly ash (391–794) cement–sand and AAC 0.25% by weight of cement 1380 5.5–9.3 F/C (1–3)
1710 (DD) P44180d S/C (1–3) 1–3 1–3 [71]
Partially replacement (F/C) 50 kg/m3 1400–1800 (TD) 20–43 0.63–0.83 1.5–2.3 1.15–1.78 [3]
OPC-fine sand, and fly ash 0.5–3% by weight of water 541–1003 (DD) 15–3077d 0.48–0.71 – 1.48–2.3 [14]
Fly ash, lime, and polypropylene fiber (1:33) by dilution with water, 600 0.2–1180d
75–80 g/l 1000 (TD) 1.6–4.6180d 0.45–1.0 1.5–2.1 – [102]
1400 5.4–13.2
Cementitious material, fly ash (10–50%) (1:35) by dilution with water, 80 kg/m3 1500–1800 (DD) 3.9–10.5 0.3 0.5 P0.25 [13]
Cement-sand concrete sludge aggregate (CSA) 60 kg/m3 1837 (DD) P25 0.5 – – [21]
Polypropylene fibers OPC-lightweight aggregate 30–50 kg/m3 1400–1800 (PD) 25–58 0.3–0.5 – 0.25–0.5 (pp) [57]
Cement–sand (390) 59 kg/m3 1300–1900 (PD) 1.82–16.73 0.60–0.81 1.58–1.74 – [81]
Cement-classified and unclassified fly ash (up to 75% by weight) (1:5) by dilution with water, 70 kg/m3 1000–1500 (TD) Pto 40 0.3–1.17 – 0.29–0.60 [103]
OPC-sand (335–446) 50 kg/m3 800–1800 (PD) 1.8–17.9 0.35–0.57 0.79–2.8 – [84]
OPC-sand 30–50 kg/m3 1800 (PD) P28 0.3–0.4 – – [57]
OPC (500 kg/m3) and lightweight aggregate 20–60 kg/m3 1400–1800 (PD) 13.8–48 0.5–0.6 – – [104]

Annotation: (OPC), ordinary Portland cement; (W/C), water/cement; (Fi/C), filler/cement; (FA/C), fly ash/cement; (S/C), sand/cement; (d), day; (PP fiber), polypropylene fiber; (g/l), gram/litre; (DD), dry density; (PD), plastic density;
and (TD), target density.
 Y.H.M. Amran et al. / Construction and Building Materials 101 (2015) 990–1005
total volume of aggregate since the excessive volume of coarse
aggregates would drop the foam air-voids (bubbles) [55,61,69].
Also, an increase in w/c ratio and reduction of the foam content
proportionally increase the plastic density and reduces the consis-
tency and rheology of foamed concrete [26]. It was reported that
the consistency of foamed concrete was reduced when the foam
content was added due to a higher volume of air content while
addition of superplasticizers increased the flow rate [59].
3.1.2. Stability
The state of stability is an adhesive behavior of foamed concrete
mix design constituents, and their consistency and cohesiveness as
a system [60]. Foamed concrete is classified as a homogeneous
foamed concrete when mixes have a creamy, easily pourable and
closely fluid consistency which results in a fresh mix free of bleed-
ing and segregation [68]. It is reported that the mixture composi-
tion is prepared with a right mix design method and a correct
calculation procedure when the difference between the achieved
plastic density and the desirable plastic density does not exceed
2–7% [70,71]. Also, a spread flow of 45% was reported as an
appropriate value of workability to confirm a good stability of
any produced foamed concrete mix [16]. So far, different tests have
been proposed by researchers to measure the stability of the mix.
For instance, Kunhanandan Nambiar et al. [16,26] assessed the
stability of the foamed concrete by measuring the density of fresh
foamed concrete filled in standard containers and compared it
with the ratio of the target density. The other method to
investigate the stability of foamed concrete mix is to check the dif-
ference between an actual and a calculated w/c ratio which should
be close to 2% [31].
Different factors may influence the stability of the mix such as
inclusion of mineral admixtures. For example, the use of ground
granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) in the mix reduced its stabil-
ity and caused segregation and bleeding of the mix because GGBFs
paste had lower packing density compared to cement paste under
the same pressure [70]. Also, it was reported that superplasticizers
allow the reduction of w/c ratio to less than 0.3 and enhanced the
stability by 43% [72]. It was also shown that the stability reduced
when an excessive amount of foam agent was added [73].
Furthermore, it was reported that mixes formed from protein-
based surfactants were prone to segregation, probably due to
incompatibility of the additive of surfactant type with the super-
plasticizer [74]. In brief, the water to cement ratio and plasticizers
are also recommended to be proficiently added to avoid segrega-
tion or bleeding.
3.1.3. Compatibility
The compatibility of foamed concrete is known as a situation of
strong interaction between the mix design and its constituents
specifically between chemical admixtures and foam agent.
Therefore, where there was no collaboration between the mixture
constituents, the compatibility of foam mortar would be reduced.
Therewith, due to incompatibility of design admixtures, the segre-
gation problem usually occurs when there is no interaction
between the surfactant and plasticizers [57]. The compatibility
between foam agents and the chemical admixtures is strongly rec-
ommended conforming to BS EN 934-2. In general, the dosage of
plasticizers is recommended to be in a volume not exceeding
0.2% by weight of cement [47,75,76]. It was also reported that
foamed concrete mixes made from protein-based surfactants
tended to segregates due to incompatibility of the surfactant with
the superplasticizer [77,78]. The incompatibility of foamed
concrete has become a common issue reported by site workers in
Dundee University. They suggested that this issue might occur
due to a lack of knowledge about the plasticizers added to the
foamed concrete mixes. The degree of compatibility of concrete
995
could be measured by dividing the full height of a proposed cube
before compacting over full height recorded minus the reduction
in height due to retraction after compacting (for example at 3 days
of curing age).
3.1.4. Workability
Workability of foamed concrete shows an excellent perfor-
mance through the presence of air-voids in the fresh mix due to
the addition of stable foam agent [42]. Workability test, commonly
conducted by a slump test for the normal concrete is not applicable
for low density fresh concrete specified by BS EN 12350: Part 2,
part 6 [61]. Foamed concrete workability performance is visually
evaluated, which aims to achieve an appropriate viscosity of the
mix. Besides, Brewer [79] measured the workability of foamed con-
crete using a method called spreadability. Brewer recommended
this test on a fresh mix of low-strength materials (e.g. foamed
concrete) by measuring the spread in two directions of a sample
placed in a 75 mm diameter and 150 mm long open-ended
cylinder, after the cylinder was raised vertically. The average of
the two measured diameters was calculated and reported to the
nearest 5 mm [79].
Dhir et al. [152] recommended that for an acceptable workabil-
ity of foamed concrete the spreadability of the base mix should be
between 85 and 125 mm for a cement/sand mix and between 115
and 140 mm when fly ash was also included [79]. To date, few
research works have been undertaken to determine the minimum
workability required for the desirable mix. For example, high
workability of foamed concrete was reported in mixes with GGBS,
albeit, segregation was also observed. It was reported that the plas-
ticizers should not be commonly used in foamed concrete unless
the amount is limited to less than 0.2% by weight of cement; to
improve the workability for the case of low w/c ratio [70].
3.2. Mechanical properties
Mechanical properties are considered as the most important
factors to measure applicability of foamed concrete at the hard-
ened state. In this paper, compressive, flexural and tensile
strengths, and modulus of elasticity are reviewed to provide the
reader with the state of art of foamed concrete today. Furthermore,
the findings of recent studies on each property have been summa-
rized and tabulated as shown in Table 2. Also, numerical models
and empirical equations developed by researchers are briefly
highlighted in Tables 3–6.
3.2.1. Compressive strength
Table 2 summarizes recent studies on compressive strength,
density and mix design constituents of foamed concrete to date.
Table 3
Empirical model for foamed concrete compressive strength determination.
Equations Annotations Ref.
h in
f c ¼ K ð1þw1ÞþðaÞ K = empirical constants, n = strength to [14]
c c
gel-space ratio
Pcr 
f c ¼ K s ln Pcr = the critical porosity corresponding to [105]
P
zero strength
Ks = a constant, ‘‘Schiller’s equation”
fc = Kgn K = the intrinsic strength of the gel [63,71]
g = the gel-space ratio (Power’s gel-space
ratio)
fc = PO (1  P)n So = the strength at zero porosity [71]
n = a constant (Balshin’s expression)
fc = 1.27 fc7 + 2.57 fc7 = 7 days compressive strength [60]
fc = 1.5 e5ccon When using w/c = 0.5 and s/c = 0 and using
polymer foam agent
996 Y.H.M. Amran et al. / Construction and Building Materials 101 (2015) 990–1005

Table 4 Water/cement ratio is another controlling factor which influ-

Empirical model for foamed concrete tensile strength determination. ences the compressive strength of the foamed concrete. Appropri-
Equations Annotations Ref. ate content of water enhances the consistency and stability of the
ft = 0.20 (fc)0.70
For density between 1400 and 1800 kg/m 3
[110] mix and reduces the large size foam bubbles which increases the
ft = 0.23 (fc)0.67 fc = 28 days compressive strength, N/mm2 [111] compressive strength [19,81]. The production of high-strength
ft = 1.03 (fc)0.5 When w/c = 0.5 and fc = 28 days compressive [60] foamed concrete was reported when 0.19 and 0.17 of water/
strength, N/mm2 cement or binder ratio were used [82,83].
ft = 0.23 f2/3
c fc = compressive strength while using [112]
lightweight aggregate concrete
Not only did water to cement ratio affects the compressive
strength, but the amount of sand with respect to the binder is also
influential in the strength obtained by the foamed concrete.
Generally, in Europe foamed concrete is produced with sand/
binder proportions of 1:1 to 4:1. McCormick [84] reported that
Table 5
Empirical model for foamed concrete flexural strength determination. the influence of the sand content seemed insignificant with respect
to compressive strength when a sand/cement ratio of 1.0–2.0 was
Equations Annotations Ref.
used.
fcr T = fcr (0.00526T + 1.01052) 20 °C < T < 400 °C [109] Furthermore, the excessive amount of coarse sand adversely
fcr T = fcr (0.025T + 1.8) 400 °C < T < 600 °C
influences the strength of the hardened concrete because its addi-
fcr T = fcr (0.0005T + 0.6) 600 °C < T < 1000 °C
fcr T = flexural strength of foamed
tion affects the pore size in the paste and ultimately the strength of
concrete at high temperature, foamed concrete declines [25,26,84]. Moreover, the usage of fine
fcr = at ambition temperature sand and a regular distribution of pores created within concrete
fcr T = fcr(0.00526T + 1.01052) 20 °C < T < 1000 °C [108] mix design matrix relatively enrich the strength of concrete [26].
fcrT = fcr (1-001T + 0.6) 20 °C < T < 1000 °C Similarly, inclusion of fine recycled glassy aggregates, expanded
shale aggregate, lime, clay and quarry dusts aggregates may aug-
ment the strength, accordingly [1,2,23,38,85,86].
Also, cement replacements such as silica fume and fly ash
Table 6 change the compressive strength value of the mix in the course
Empirical model for foamed concrete modulus of elasticity determination. of time. High volume replacement of up to 65% was reported in
Equations Annotations Ref. foamed concrete by usage of fly ash with no reduction in strength
[17,87]. For silica fume, the reported replacement was lower in
E = 33W1.5 (fc)0.5 It used Pauw’s equation [3,84]
E = 0.99 (fc)0.67 Used when fly ash utilized as fine [84] content, albeit, the strength gain in long run was enhanced due
aggregate to its pozzolanic behavior. The application of binary mix of silica
E = 0.42 (fc)1.18 Used when sand is utilized as fume and fly ash, reportedly, increased the compressive strength
fine aggregate up to 25% [28].
E = 5.31  W  853 Density is ranged between 200 [114]
Curing method is another key factor that influences the com-
and 800 kg/m3
E = 6326 (ccon)1.5 (fc)0.5 ccon = unit weight of concrete [60] pressive strength of foamed concrete. According to ASTM C 796
fck = compressive strength of [59], lightweight and cellular concrete samples used to conduct
concrete compression test should be cured in a moist room with 100% rel-
where average Poisson’s
ative humidity (RH) at least three days before proceeding the
ratio = 0.2, and using polymer
foam agent
testing. The samples should be taken out from the curing room
E = 57,000 (fc)0.5 Density of normal concrete [115] and be oven-dried at 60 °C for 72 h. Fujiwara et al. [82] reported
limited between 2200 and that in order to obtain the desired compressive strength, the
2400 kg/m3 substituting with samples should be cured in a normal moist air for one day and
80 kg/m3 for steel
then in steam where the temperature should increase at 20 °C/
Ec = 9.10 (fc)0.33 fc = compressive strength of [116]
concrete h to preserve at 65 °C for 4 h and then cooled in air. Kearsley
Ec = 1.70  10 6 2 0.33
P (fc) P = plastic density (kg/m3) and Visagie [43] stated that a curing temperature of 40 °C
was likely to be the ideal temperature for higher ultimate
strength of foamed concrete when cement was replaced with
Experimentally, it is observed that compressive strength has a 50% fly ash.
direct relationship with density where a reduction in density Inclusion of fibers could also enhance the compressive strength
exponentially and adversely affects the compressive strength. As of foamed concrete by obstructing micro-cracks and increasing the
can be seen, the dry densities in previous studies ranged between energy absorption rate [88,89]. ACI committee 544 [90] suggests
280 and 1800 kg/m3 by which a remarkable change in the com- the usage of fibers such as glass fibers, synthetic fibers (polyamide
pressive strength was observed. In general, compressive strength fibers, polypropylene fibers, and polyvinyl alcohol fibers) [90–95].
depends on different parameters such as rate of foam agent, w/c Carbon fibers could also be used in foamed concrete but not recom-
ratio, sand particle type, the curing method, cement–sand ratio, mended due to their low cost effectiveness. Steel fibers were not
and characteristics of additional ingredients and their distribution appropriate to be used in foamed concrete either due to their heav-
[1,27,38]. iness that causes them to settle to the bottom of the concrete mix-
One of the major controlling factors in compressive strength of ture. In general, the suitable fiber volume fraction is up to 3%.
the mix is the volume/density of foam agent by which the amount However, whenever the fiber volume fraction ranged between
of air-voids in the hardened foamed concrete varies [2,80]. For 0.1% and 1%, the effect of restrain in shrinkage cracking became
example, when the plastic densities of foamed concrete were more significant [96]. Fibers must have a high modulus of elasticity
1800 kg/m3 and 280 kg/m3, the associated compressive strength and a sufficient size, length and number to develop the required
at 28 days were 43 MPa and 0.6 MPa, respectively [3,56]. The compressive strength and toughness of the concrete mass. Table 3
excessive addition of foam agent depleted the compressive shows some empirical equations developed which shows a signif-
strength because the higher volume of foam agent commonly icant relationship between compressive strength and other param-
created air-voids and resulted in a lower density [25,26]. eters included.
 Y.H.M. Amran et al. / Construction and Building Materials 101 (2015) 990–1005 997

3.2.2. Splitting tensile and flexural strengths
ACI Committee 523 [33] recommends the expression for split-
ting tensile strength to be taken from the method described by
ASTM C496 [106]. In foamed concrete, the tensile strength is lower
than that of normal concrete. In general, it is reported that the ratio
of tensile strength to compressive strength of foamed concrete
ranges between 0.2 and 0.4 which is higher compared to normal
concrete that possesses a ratio of splitting tensile to compressive
strengths between 0.08 and 0.11 [60]. Table 4 presents the empir-
ical equations developed showing a significant relationship
between splitting tensile and compressive strengths. It is safe to
state that the factors influencing the compressive strength affect
the tensile strength and vice versa.
Narayanan and Ramamurthy [62] reported that the flexural and
tensile strength of foamed concrete range between 15% and 35% of
its compressive strength. Also, it was shown that when the foamed
concrete was produced with density less than 300 kg/m3, the ratio
of flexural strength to compressive strength was almost zero [62].
It is also reported that the tensile strength of foamed concrete
could be advanced with additions of mineral admixtures and fibers
to the mix design, where it can be attributed to increased shear
capacity between fine particles of sand and foam agent
[23,38,104,107]. Bing et al. [28] particularly showed that inclusion
of polypropylene (PP) fiber can increase the splitting tensile
strength about 31.7% compared to non-PP fiber foamed concrete.
Fibers can benefit foamed concrete in tensile strength through
reducing the non-load cracking of foamed concrete mass at early
ages specified by American Concrete Institute [33]. However, fibers
are required to have enough length, size and number to develop
the required tensile resistance of any fabricated section. The
advantage of fiber is to reinforce the foamed concrete mass and
transform the basic material character from brittle to ductile
elastic–plastic in foamed concrete. The contribution of fiber is to
improve flexural strength, enhance toughness characteristic, and
enrich capabilities and post cracking behavior [53,54].
In addition, the effect of fiber reinforcement on foamed concrete
at elevated temperature has also attracted some researchers
[25,108,109]. Table 5 illustrates the prediction of the flexural
strength of foamed concrete reinforced with polypropylene fibers
and fly ash under elevated temperatures. It was stated that the
fibers increased the heat resistance of foamed concrete against
crack propagation at temperatures up to 600 °C at which 60% loss
was observed in compressive strength of samples [25,26,109].
The other important factor on flexural and tensile strength of
foamed concrete is the water content. It is reported that the
excessive amount of water depletes the flexural strength due to
consequent low density of the mix [43,93].
3.2.3. Modulus of elasticity
Modulus of elasticity is associated with density of the foamed
concrete. Based on the review of existing studies conducted, when
dry densities of foamed concrete range between 500 and 1600 kg/
m3, the modulus of elasticity falls between 1.0 and 12 kN/m2,
respectively [57]. It is reported that the E-value of foamed concrete
is four times lower than the normal concrete [3], nonetheless, there
are possibilities to compensate this reduction by addition of
polypropylene fibers to the mix with the most marked increases
reported at 0.50% rate (by mix volume) and 1400 kg/m3density,
as reported by Jones and McCarthy [3]. Polypropylene fibers
(0.50% by mix volume) are considered as flexible fibers to be used
in foamed concrete applications due to its lightness that does not
influence the uniformity of foam bubbles.
Jones and McCarthy [3,113] also reported that the elastic mod-
ulus depended on the aggregate type and content. They explored
that the foamed concrete with higher content of coarse aggregate
exhibited lower E-value compared to foamed concrete with fine
aggregates. It had been also reported by Brady et al. [57] that using
fine aggregates in higher portions compared to that of coarse
aggregate increased the elastic modulus at 28 days. At the same
time, it was noticed that the addition of lightweight fly ash
aggregates maintained higher results of E-value compared to the
addition of fine sand, due to the increased interaction between
paste and the porous aggregates [70]. Table 6 shows the attribu-
tions between the three variables, compressive strength, modulus
of elasticity and density. The empirical equations support that
foamed concrete with high dry density results in higher compres-
sive strength as well as higher modulus of elasticity.
3.3. Physical properties
Some physical properties of foamed concrete include density,
drying shrinkage, porosity, and sorptivity (capillarity). Each prop-
erty has been discussed and supported with prediction model sim-
ulations developed by several researchers to verify the
experimental results obtained as illustrated in Tables 7–10.
3.3.1. Density
The density of mix can be measured in two phases; fresh and
dry densities. The difference between values of fresh and dry den-
sity is recommended to be limited to 100–120 kg/m3 [87]. The
actual fresh mix density is usually measured by filling and weigh-
ing a pre-weighted standard container of known volume with the
produced foamed concrete. Then, the variation between the design
and achieved densities should be assessed. The most acceptable
tolerance for dry density is limited to be ±50 kg/m3 which might
reach the difference up to ±100 kg/m3 for high density foamed con-
crete mixes (i.e. 1600 kg/m3) [28]. The method is described in BS
EN 12350: Part 6: 2000 [61]. The purpose to determine the fresh
density is to prepare the actual volume for the design mix and
the casting control while the dry density rigorously controls the
mechanical, physical and durability properties of hardened foamed
concrete [2,80].

Table 7
Empirical model for foamed concrete densities determination.

Equations Annotations Ref.

D = 1.2Wc + A Wc = weight of cement content, and A = aggregate in kg/m3 of concrete [84]
D = (Mc  Mm)/Vm D = density of the concrete, lb/ft3 [117]
Mc = weight of the measure holding the concrete
Mm = weight of the empty concrete measure (base of air meter)
Vm = volume of the measure (usually about 0.25 ft3 for a pressure meter base)
D = (Wc + 0.2Wc)/Vbatch Wc = weight of cement, and Vbatch = volume of batch [59]
D = 0.868ccast  55.07 Casting density is between 700 and 1500 kg/m3 [93]
Cement-fly ash mixture of varying fly ash–cement ratio (F/C = 0–4)
D=c+W+f D = Plastic density (kg/m3), w/c = water/cement ratio [61,69]
c = PC + FAfine, c = weight of cement (kg/m3), and W = weight of water content (kg/m3),
f = FAcoarse + sand and FA = fine aggregate content (kg/m3)
W = (w/c)  (PC + FAfine + FAcoarse)
998 Y.H.M. Amran et al. / Construction and Building Materials 101 (2015) 990–1005

Table 8 volume, such as the expansion of discharging foam and the loss
Empirical model for foamed concrete shrinkage determination. of some volume during mixing time, were not considered.
Equations Annotations Ref.
Sfc = 0.981  4sc(PR) 0.693
Sfc = shrinkage of foamed concrete, and [80] 3.3.2. Drying shrinkage
PR = 0.974 Drying shrinkage is considered as one of drawbacks of foamed
sc = base max, and used for cement–sand concrete that usually occurs during the first 20 days of casting time
ratio [74]. The typical range of drying shrinkage of foamed concrete is
Sfc = 0.999  3sc(PR)0.7721 PR = 0.966, where it used for cement-fly
ash-sand
between 0.1% and 0.35% of the total volume of the hardened con-
crete matrix [102]. Also, drying shrinkage of foamed concrete is
V
Ssf ¼ 0:0239:657V
p For pore radii 20–550  1010 m [120]
p
Ssf = the drying shrinkage, (%)
deemed as 4–10 times higher than normal concrete due to aggre-
Vp = micropore volume, (cm3/g) gate type in the mix design, higher cement and water contents and
For pore radii 55–200  1010 m mineral admixture in foamed concrete.
V p þ2:787
Ssf ¼ 1:9
Actually, there is a lack of knowledge about the effect of cement
content on the drying shrinkage of foamed concrete, but some
researchers reported that cement content had negative influences
on the performance of foamed concrete in terms of drying shrink-
age which can be overcome by partial substitutions of Portland
Table 9 cement with other supplementary materials such as fly ash, silica
Empirical model for foamed concrete saturated porosity determination.
fume, and lime due to a lower heat of hydration [118]. It is also
Equations Annotations Ref. reported that the drying shrinkage is decreased due to the restrain-
p¼
W sat þW dry
 100 Wsat = Weight in air of saturated sample [130] ing effect of increased aggregate and moisture contents [8,119]. In
W sat þW wat
Wwat = Weight in water of saturated the range of higher moisture content, loss of moisture would be
sample from relatively larger pores which do not cause significant shrink-
Wdry = Weight of oven dried sample
p = 18,700 D0.85 D = dry density (kg/m3), and p = porosity [103]
age. Jones et al. [69] reported that the higher shrinkage restraining
in (%) capacity of foamed concrete with sand when they compared the
W
p ¼ W sat
W p = the apparent porosity (%), Ws,w = is [123] drying shrinkage of foamed concrete with sand and fly ash as filler,
W oven  100
sat dry

the weight of the oven-dried sample
p = 2.4  1.52 pe0.21 p = the density (g/cm3)
pe = porosity as determined by mercury
intrusion porosimetry, (cm3/g)
p = pp  Vp + pA  (1  Vp) pp = porosity of the concrete
pA = porosity of the aggregate
Vp = volume of the paste
Table 10
Empirical model for foamed concrete sorptivity determination.
Equations Annotations
S = I/t2 S = sorptivity in mm
Dw
I ¼ AD t = elapsed time in mint
w
Dw = change in weight = W2  W1
W1 = Oven dry weight of cylinder in grams
W2 = Weight of cylinder after 30 min/g
A = surface area, mm2, Dw = density of water, kg/m3
So far, the effect of mix constituents such as foam agent volume
and supplementary cementitious materials on the density has been
reported in the literature. For example, it is reported that the
foamed concrete fresh density commonly decreases with an
increase in the foam volume content [28]. On the other hand, the
addition of fly ash reportedly increased the dry density of the
foamed concrete at a given foam agent volume (10%), nonetheless,
the changes in the density as a result of ash inclusion could be con-
trolled with foam agent volume [26]. In general, the lightweight
foam concrete obtains up to 50 MPa of strength when the fresh
density volume is only up to 65% of normal concrete (the surfac-
tant solutions are foam agent having a density between 20 and
90 kg/m3) [28].
The density could also be affected by the types of fine aggre-
gates and aggregate gradation. McCormick [84] reported that as
the proportion of aggregates increases the density would be higher.
Table 7 illustrates the theoretical equations provided by research-
ers, albeit they do not sufficiently represent the exact desired den-
sity since some factors influencing and distorting the estimated
in which foamed concrete with fly ash particles revealed higher
[131]
drying shrinkage. Also, the inclusion of lightweight aggregates of
fly ash has been suggested as an efficient way to decrease the dry-
[132] ing shrinkage [8,119]. Besides it is reported that the increase in the
foam volume decreased the shrinkage due to grow in the pore size.
A decrease of up to 36% in drying shrinkage was observed when the
foam volume increased to 50% of the total volume [80].
In general, it is recommended to minimize the addition of water
to binder ratio as well as to maintain the drying shrinkage by mod-
ifying the mix with lightweight aggregate or by selecting a suitable
foam agent type at an appropriate volume [2,70,80]. Table 8 shows
Ref. that the empirical equations developed by some researchers used
[139,140]
to determine the value of drying shrinkage theoretically based on
the mix design constituents.
3.3.3. Porosity
Porosity of foamed concrete is an important characteristic to be
taken into account because it influences the other considerable
properties such as compressive and flexural strengths as well as
durability. A relationship between water vapor permeability and
porosity in foamed concrete and cement pastes was studied by
Kearsley and Wainwright [17]. However, studies showed that the
permeability and the degree of fluid flow through concrete matrix
were more a function of larger capillary pores rather than the total
porosity [125]. Reportedly, the water movement into concrete is
not a simple function of porosity but depends on the pore diame-
ter, distribution, continuity and tortuosity [121]. Porosity of
foamed concrete is measured by apparent, total vacuum saturation
and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) methods. However, the
most significant method to measure the porosity of foamed con-
crete is the total vacuum saturation method as the accuracy of
results is reportedly 66% and 13% higher than apparent and MIP,
respectively [122,123].
The porosity of foamed concrete eases the transport of aggres-
sive fluids inside hardened matrix of foamed concrete. The porosity
depends on degree of infusion characteristics such as water
absorption, sorption, and permeability [62]. Many factors can
affect the porosity of hardened concrete such as the mix design
compositions, foam agents and the curing type. It is reported that
high w/c ratio significantly affects the foamed concrete and caused
 Y.H.M. Amran et al. / Construction and Building Materials 101 (2015) 990–1005
porosity [97]. Previous works indicated that the permeability and
pore size distribution of Portland cement pastes increased when
w/c ratio was incremented from 0.3 to 0.9 at which considerable
volumes of larger pores with larger diameters were observed
[124,125].
Mineral admixtures can be used to reduce the porosity and the
pore size distribution in foamed concrete. Recently, a binary mix of
ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) or pulverized fuel ash
(PFA) were used in sufficiently cured cement pastes to initiate a
blocked pore structure in order to reduce diameter of pores and
consequently the permeability through concrete structure [126].
Also, it was observed that fine materials could help to informally
and regularly distribute the bubbles [70,80]. For example, lime
powder had the capability to reduce the porosity higher than that
of fly ash due to its fine particles that could improve the compact
composition of microstructure of hardened foamed concrete
[127]. In addition, pozzolanic/filling behavior of some additives
such as silica fume could enhance cement paste/aggregate bonds
resulting in a reduction of foamed concrete porosity [123,128].
The other influential factor on the porosity of the foamed con-
crete is the volume of foam agent. A majority of researchers
reported that the higher volume of foam agent resulted in a signif-
icant effect on the porosity since the foam structure is highly
attributed with the shape, size, spacing between air-voids, size dis-
tribution, and volume of microspores. An excessive foam agent can
expand the size of bubbles which decreases the strength accord-
ingly [3,80,97,113,123]. Furthermore, curing temperature has a
significant influence on the strength gain of mixtures having large
volumes of fly ash. The increase of curing temperature caused a
reduction of time for fly ash in contribution towards developing
strength and decreasing porosity [129]. Table 9 reviews the empir-
ical equations used to calculate the percentage of saturated
porosity.
3.3.4. Sorptivity
The sorptivity is defined as a measure of the capability of the
medium to absorb a liquid by capillarity action. Sorptivity affects
the durability of foamed concrete, and it mainly depends on foam
agent, type of mineral admixtures, density as well as permeability
characteristics and curing conditions [121]. The abovementioned
parameters influence the tendency of water transmissions in terms
of size of bubbles (pores), tortuosity, and the uniformity of distri-
bution and continuity characteristic. The sorptivity can be deter-
mined based on the theory of unsaturated flow and the
measurement of the capillary rise absorption rate in reasonably
homogeneous concrete such as foamed concrete [133–136].
Table 10 shows formulas used to determine the sorptivity. The rea-
sonable range of sorptivity of foamed concrete is controlled by air
content ranging from 4 to 8% as stipulated by ACI 213R [137] for
lightweight material.
Several researchers have conducted studies regarding the nat-
ure of sorptivity in foamed concrete. For examples, it is reported
that the water movement into foamed concrete is not a simple
function of porosity but relies on the pore distribution, diameter,
continuity and tortuosity and consequently the behavior of foamed
concrete is more complex due to larger volume of air voids [121].
As the presence of pores widens, it jeopardizes integrity and ser-
viceability lifespan of foamed concrete [15,121]. As mentioned ear-
lier, the pore system in foamed concrete is influenced by different
factors such as mineral admixtures, water to binder ratio and etc. It
was reported that a foamed concrete mix free of mineral admix-
tures had higher water absorption compared to ones with admix-
tures as partial replacement of cement such as fly ash [121,138].
For instance, the replacement of cement–sand mixes with
cement–sand-fly ash mixes (86–691 kg/m3) increased the water
absorption and sorptivity of foam concrete because of its higher
999
water–solids requirement for achieving a stable and workable
mix [121]. Also, the sorptivity decreases with an increase in foam
volume because sorptivity is characterized by capillary suction
and air entrained does not contribute to the mechanism of trans-
port, while the tortuosity is usually reduced resulting from lower
foam volume [26]. Table 10 lists the equations developed to
determine foamed concrete sorptivity property.
3.4. Durability properties
The durability property of foamed concrete is defined as the
ability of concrete to resist any external interference that might
influence or cause deterioration and reduce the serviceability of
the concrete lifespan. In this study, the permeability and resistance
to aggressive environment are reviewed and discussed as follows.
3.4.1. Permeability
The permeability is defined as a measure of the water flow
under pressure in a saturated porous medium [136] and it funda-
mentally depends on the measurements of water absorption as
well as on vapor permeability in foamed concrete. In general, the
water absorption of foamed concrete is almost twice the normal
concrete at similar water to binder ratio, but independent of
volume of air entrained, ash type and content [17,138].
So far, researchers have studied the effects of aggregates and
mineral admixtures on the permeability of the foamed concrete.
Nyame [141] found out that the permeability of concrete mortars
decreased as the porosity was reduced by the inclusion of aggre-
gates. He also reported that increasing the aggregate volume in
the mix caused an increase of the permeability [141]. Furthermore,
entraining air in the cement paste produced discrete, nearly spher-
ical bubbles almost 50 micrometer in diameter resulting in the for-
mation of very few channels for the flow of water and very little
increase in the permeability [63].
Inclusion of mineral admixtures such as fly ash was also
reported to be influential in the pore structure characteristics
and the permeability of cement paste due to their pozzolanic
behavior and filling effect particles [142]. It was investigated that
the increase in ash/cement ratio in foam concrete mixtures propor-
tionally increased the water vapor permeability especially at the
lower densities [103]. However, it was also reported that when
the fly ash was used as 75% of cement replacement, the degree of
permeability was demonstrated to be relying on the volume of
foam agent to a higher extent than that of mixes with no fly ash
due [97,103]. In addition, Kearsley and Wainwright stated that a
cementitious material has a minimum of 20% of the volume con-
sists of foam that is entrained into the plastic mortar, so that the
water absorption of foamed concrete is relatively higher than other
types of concrete [143,144].
Just [145] and Ramamurthy et al. [2,62] stated that air-void dis-
tribution is one of the most significant micro-properties influenc-
ing strength of foamed concrete and it was also reported that
foamed concrete with narrower air-void size distribution results
higher strength [2,145].
Table 11 shows empirical equations expressing the volume of
vapor flow as per unit area through foamed concrete specimen. It
also provides the degree of permeability as age and size of
specimens increase [17,97,146].
3.4.2. Resistance to aggressive environment
The severity of the aggressive environments on foamed con-
crete relies on the size and volume of the pores, its distribution
mechanism as well as the mixture composition. In general, the
foamed concrete resistance against aggressive environment
parameters depends on its cell-like structure while it does not
necessarily make the foamed concrete less resistant to penetration
1000 Y.H.M. Amran et al. / Construction and Building Materials 101 (2015) 990–1005
Table 11
Empirical model for foamed concrete permeability investigation.
Equations Annotations
kd ¼ Gd
Ac t Dp
kd = vapor flow time rate through unit area
G = weight loss thorough t time in hours
AC = cross sectional-area perpendicular to flow (m2)
d = thickness of specimen in m, and t = time in hour
Dp = distance between dry and moist sides of the
specimen
kd ¼ KðDLmHAÞ K = the coefficient of permeability by ‘‘Darcy’s law”
kd = the rate of fluid flow
m = the viscosity of the fluid
DH = the pressure gradient
A = the surface area, and L is the thickness of the
solid
of moisture compared to normal concrete; the air-voids reveals to
act as a buffer preventing rapid penetration [121].
Sulfate is one of the aggressive agents that may affect foamed
concrete in its service life. In fact, sulfate attack is a complex
mechanism and depends on several factors such as cement type,
inclusion of mineral admixtures, type of cation associated with sul-
fate anion, w/c ratio, permeability, sulfate concentration, time and
duration of exposure [148–151]. A study conducted by Jones et al.
[57,104,152] showed that during the design of low density con-
cretes, it is recommended to consider many factors influencing
the foamed concrete such as water adsorption rate, depth of
primary penetration, and the degree of a sufficient resistance to
freezing and thawing phenomenon. It was reported that foamed
concrete demonstrated a very high resistance to sulfate and car-
bonation attacks. In a study by Ranjani and Ramamurthy [153]
the foamed concrete behavior with densities varying between
1000 and 1500 kg/m3 in solutions of 0.5% and 5% sodium sulfate
and 0.424% and 4.24% by mass of magnesium sulfate was evaluated
for a period of 1 year. The investigations indicated that the expan-
sion was 28% higher when foamed concrete was exposed to
sodium sulfate than to magnesium sulfate environment due to a
higher rate of ettringite formation in sodium sulfate environment,
but the major deterioration mechanism in magnesium sulfate
environment was due to disintegration of cementing material
and this contributed to 1% mass loss of samples [153].
The resistance of foamed concrete to carbonation was also
assessed by a few researchers. In a study by Jones et al. [69] it
was observed that replacement of fly ash with cement in the mix
contributed to higher resistance to carbonation than the resistance
capacity of mixtures with fine sand. Also, the higher volume of
foam content was reported to reduce the carbonation resistance
as the density reduced causing an acceleration of carbonation in
foamed concrete. Jones and McCarthy [3,113] also reported that
the carbonation occurs at a relatively higher rate in lower density
concrete. On the contrary, it was discovered that a low density
design protected the foamed concrete with a greater range in
terms of corrosion than the higher density volume [154,155]. Sim-
ilarly, the resistance to corrosion was found to be increasing with a
decrease in the density in the foamed concrete samples [118]. As
for chloride ingression, it was reported that the performance of
foamed concrete against chloride ingress was equivalent to the
resistance of a normal concrete of 25 MPa compressive strength.
In addition, the same research on foamed concrete indicated that
the risk of damage by alkali–silica reaction was not remarkable
with recycled aggregates even though such aggregates may be
classified as ‘highly reactive’ [156].
3.5. Functional properties
Functional properties explain the actual behavior of lightweight
foamed concrete in its life span; for instance its acoustic and
thermal insulation, and fire resistance. This section reviews the lat-
est studies on the functional properties of the foamed concrete,
Ref. albeit, more research is indispensable.
[103,146]
3.5.1. Acoustic insulation resistance
Recent studies show that the foamed concrete demonstrates
higher acoustic insulation than normal concrete due to its cell-
like microstructures [27,37,62]. However, the sound insulation
resistance or the reflected frequency volume basically depends
[147]
on the actual rigidity of concrete mass (surface density). Based
on the theory of solid wall sound resistance, it has been expressed
that the frequency of sound reflection hypothetically relies on the
thickness of the wall and its bulk density [157]. Thus, when
concrete wall is very rigid, it can reflect the sound higher than
the cellular wall that can absorb it [158]. The foamed concrete
cellular wall transmits the frequency of sound with a value up to
3% higher than the normal concrete wall. The foamed concrete
has 10 times higher rates of absorbing sound compared to the
dense concrete [1,69]. The sound insulation of foamed concrete
can be influenced by the inclusion of foam content, amount, size
and distribution of pores and its uniformity [3,62,113].
3.5.2. Thermal conductivity
Foamed concrete is one of the lightweight concrete materials
that consist of closed-cell structure which has thermal conductiv-
ity of up to 0.66 W/mK at 1600 kg/m3 density. Normal concrete has
thermal conductivity of 1.6 W/mK at 2200 kg/m3 [159]; 59% higher
than foamed concrete resistance. It was observed that the thermal
conductivity reacts proportionally with a density and the thermal
insulation characteristic decreases when the density volume
increases. In another study by Jones and McCarthy [31] it was
shown that the thermal conductivity ranges between 0.23 and
0.42 W/mK at dry densities of 1000 and 1200 kg/m3. Besides, the
moderate filling of porous mortar with polystyrene granules can
produce foamed concrete with density range of 200–650 kg/m3
with thermal conductivity of 0.06–0.16 W/mK [160]. It is specified
that with each 100 kg/m3 reduction of density, the thermal insula-
tion will drop by 0.04 W/mK of the total thermal insulation of
foamed concrete. In practice, foamed concrete slabs demonstrate
a superior thermal insulation behavior enhanced with minimized
sorptivity and increased strength [161]. Also, another study on wall
brick masonry revealed that using the foamed concrete with den-
sity of 800 kg/m3 in the inner leaf of the wall increased the thermal
insulation by up to 23% comparing to normal concrete [162].
Some studies showed that the degree of thermal insulation in
foamed concrete depends on the mixture composition such as
aggregate type and mineral admixtures. Previously, it was reported
that the inclusion of lightweight aggregates in foamed concrete
was beneficial in decreasing the level of thermal conductivity
[8,163,164]. For example, foamed concrete with dry density of
1000 kg/m3 using lightweight aggregate obtained the thermal con-
ductivity 1/6 of the value of typical cement–sand mortar [65]. The
addition of mineral admixtures may also change the thermal prop-
erties of foamed concrete by altering its density. Giannakou and
Jones [165] reported that thermal conductivity reduced by 12–
38% when cement was replaced with 30% Pulverized Fuel Ash.
The lower thermal conductivity of the foamed concrete was attrib-
uted to the lower density and cenospheric particle morphology of
fly ash particles which increases the heat flow path. Table 12 illus-
trates empirical equations developed to determine the thermal
insulation based on the theory of thermal conductivity, It is shown
that the thicker the foamed concrete specimen is, the lower ther-
mal conductivity values are. In addition, the effect of density vari-
ation on thermal conductivity was also reported [166]. It was
reported that the mortar/foam ratio affects density performance
and causes a massive impact on insulation capacity [98].
 Y.H.M. Amran et al. / Construction and Building Materials 101 (2015) 990–1005 1001

Table 12
Empirical model for foamed concrete affected by thermal conductivity, keff.

Equations Annotations Ref.

keff = k (dT/dt)
keff = 0.544  0.005076x1  0.300x2 + 0.000259x3
Thermal conductivity theory Fourier’s law
keff = heat flux in watt, and k = thermal conductivity (W/m K) [167]
dT = temperature gradient in Kelvin
dt = thickness of the material in m
x1 = w/c of foamed concrete, and x2 = foamed content (%) [168]
x3 = temperature of foamed concrete and the specific gravity is between 0.2 and 0.5.
Measurement @ 28 days

Table 13
The summary of foamed concrete properties.

Properties of foamed concrete Ref.

Physical Durability Mechanical Functional
Dry Porosity Sorption Permeability Modulus of Compressive Splitting, tensile Fire Acoustic Thermal
shrinkage elasticity strength strength resistance insulation
x x x x x x – x x x [14]
x x – – x x x – – – [103]
x x – – – x – x – x [98]
x – – – x x x – x x [28]
x – – – – x – x x x [15,28]
x x x x x x x x x x [16]
– – – – – x – x x x [99]
x – – x x x – – – x [3]
x – – – – x – x – x [100]
– x x x x x – – – – [17]
x – – – – x – – – x [3]
x x x x – x x x x x [16]
x x x x – x – – – – [71]
– – x x x x – – x – [28]
x x – x – x x – – x [102]
x x – – x x – – – x [13]
– – – – x x – – – – [21]
x – – – – x – x – x [81]
x – – – – x – – – – [17]
– – – x x x – – – – [84]
x x x x x x x x x x [1,172]

Annotation: (x) = property has been investigated.

3.5.3. Fire resistance 4. Applications of foamed concrete

The available research works show that foamed concrete pro-
vides an acceptable fire resistance compared to normal concrete
although it suffers from an excessive shrinkage due to high evapo-
ration rates when exposed to elevated temperatures [169]. The
capacity of foamed concrete to resist fire depends on its mixture
proportions, compositions and constituents. In general, whenever,
the density of foamed concrete decreases, its fire resistance pro-
portionally increases. Foamed concrete has the capability to resist
fire with a range close to normal concrete. Reportedly, concrete
with densities of 950 kg/m3 and 1200 kg/m3 can withstand fire
for 3.5 h and 2 h, respectively. Vilches et al. [170] reported that
foamed concrete with a density of 400 kg/m3 showed a rate of
resistance to fire which was three times lower than the one with
dry density of 150 kg/m3. Cement composition can also affect the
behavior of foamed concrete at elevated temperatures. Kearsly
and Mostert [171] reported foamed concrete containing hydraulic
cement with an Al2O3/CaO ratio higher than two can withstand
temperatures as high as 1450 °C without experiencing signs of
damage since foamed concrete has a high energy flame held close
to the surface and does not cause the concrete to spall or explode
as is the case with the dense normal weight concrete. For the sake
of clarity, Table 13 is summarized all the properties of foamed con-
crete that have been investigated by the researchers worldwide.
Due to distinctive properties of foamed concrete including
density reduction, low thermal conductivity, high flowability and
self-compacting concrete, and given the ease of producers and its
relatively cost-effectiveness, foamed concrete has found applica-
tions in many civil and structural engineering areas [2,145]. For
example, the low density foamed concrete has been used for cavity
filling and insulation while the high densities were used in struc-
tural applications [2,7,145]. Other applications of foamed concrete
include (1) production of lightweight blocks and pre-cast panels,
(2) fire insulation, (3) thermal and acoustic insulation, (4) road
sub-base, (5) trench reinstatement, (6) soil stabilization and (7)
shock absorbing barriers for airports and regular traffic [2,5,145].
Also, due to flowability features, it is a superlative material for
voids such as old sewers, storage tanks, basements, ducts and voids
under roadways occurred by cliff of heavy rains [12].
Application of foamed concrete has become popular worldwide,
especially at the regions suffering from housing shortages or
subjected to adverse weather, hurricanes and earthquakes [12].
In North America, the overall demand was more from the southern
US and to be equal to the actual production. But, in Canada, cement
based foam has been widespread used for tunnel annulus grouting,
flowable fills and in geotechnical applications. This growing
1002 Y.H.M. Amran et al. / Construction and Building Materials 101 (2015) 990–1005
interest seems to be partially due to a significant increase in the
costs of other lightweight building materials such as dry wall
and wood and in part to the environmental issues [6,7]. Besides,
an additional feature of foamed concrete encouraged it as to be
appropriate for large volumes of supplementary cementing admix-
tures because of the manufacturing and environmental cost associ-
ated with cement production [12].
In the UK, foamed concrete is estimated the annual market size
about 250,000–300,000 m3 including one very large mine stabiliza-
tion project. Western Canada is estimated the year market size
approximately 50,000 m3 [11,105]. Besides, In Korea, foamed con-
crete of approximately 250,000 m3 by construction volume is used
annually as an essential component in a floor heating system [173].
In the Middle East, foamed concrete superior properties such as
thermal insulation and lightweight nature made it as suitable
material used to reduce the adverse effect of earth-quakes and to
solve the negative effect of temperature changes. In Holland,
foamed concrete was used as road sub-base because the load to
be carried is low, to construct bridge abutments due to its low den-
sity and a significant savings in cost caused by reducing the foun-
dation size and the walls thickness. In addition, foamed concrete
applications are cost-effective at the times of repair and rehabilita-
tion [8,12].
Other typical usage of foamed concrete are used under concrete
paving, to prevent frost heave in roads, to insulate shallow founda-
tion systems and placements, to prevent frost heave under pile caps
and frost jacking of shallow piles, to use as a grout to fill abandoned
pipes and as backfill under buried oil field modules, to decrease the
temperature under hot oil tanks and the tank support and to fill
voids under slabs and to reduce the thermal stress and the thermal
gradient in hot concrete pits and thus insulate shallow [12].
5. Conclusion
Based on the review conducted, it was observed that the major-
ity of investigations were limited to evaluating the foam concrete
properties, rather than focusing on the characteristics of the foam
itself, or how it affects the strength of the foamed concrete matrix.
Foam stabilization mechanism in concrete should be considered as
one of the most important features in ensuring a smooth geometry
as well as uniform stages and processes of hardening. Although the
desired density and required strength depend on certain condi-
tions namely the methods of proportioning of materials, guideli-
nes, and trial and error methods, there are no standard methods
available to precisely determine the material mix proportion
design for foamed concrete. Stable foamed concrete production
depends on many factors such as type of foam agent, method of
preparation of foam agent to initiate a uniform or homogeneous
distribution of air voids (bubbles), the process of foaming materials
section, design calculation accuracy of the mixture, and foamed
concrete production; hence the enhancement of performance in
fresh and hardened states are significantly elaborated. In order to
produce foamed concrete with high consistency and stability, it
is recommended to reduce the volume of foam agent, using a par-
tial replacement of cement by either fly ash or silica fume, and
lightweight aggregates, which reduces the process of heat of
hydration.
The compressive strength is considered as the primary function
of the desirable density design, as a main consideration for this
lightweight concrete, which can finally be used to fabricate struc-
tural, non or semi-structural components. Meanwhile, durability is
another property of foamed concrete that needs to be at a level
which can effectively allow it to resist the aggressive environ-
ments. This can be achieved by selecting the most suitable type
of foam agent added. Foam agents produce a uniformed
distribution of pores, where they decrease the segregation problem
in an early state, prevent the ingression of chloride, prohibit sulfate
attack and increase the time range during fire while enhancing its
fire resistance.
The above review mainly intended to evaluate the current
material properties of foamed concrete and then was expanded
to the improvement of foamed concrete design proportions and
selection of constituent materials such as using supplementary
materials as partial replacement of Portland cement, utilizing
quarry dusts as a full/partial foamed concrete aggregate, and
enriching the foamed concrete workability at fresh state with an
appropriate amount of plasticizers. In addition, the review
included effort to improve the strength at hardened state by inclu-
sion of steel or polypropylenes fibers. Based on the previous stud-
ies the following recommendations for further studies are (1) to
study the engineering properties of foamed concrete in more
details such as the Poisson’s ratio, modulus of elasticity and creep
to be suited for structural concrete design, (2) to clarify the mech-
anisms by which foamed concrete shows good fire resistance com-
paring to conventional concrete, (3) to study the properties of
foamed concrete reinforced with different types of fibers, where
this behavior is still very limited, and (4) to develop appropriate
superplasticizers used for higher foamed concrete density with
no negative effect on the stability of foam and segregation of the
mix.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support for
this research from the Housing Research Center (HRC), Universiti
Putra Malaysia and NAIM SDN BHD.
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