In today’s times, every investor—whether building a home for their family, a business owner, a municipality, or a developer—is looking for cost savings. This is one reason why foam concrete is increasingly replacing conventional solutions and technologies. Sometimes, it turns out that using foam concrete is the only viable option. This was the case during the construction of an embankment in Niewierz near Brodnica.
Problems that arise during the execution of various projects are a norm in the construction industry. However, sometimes these issues can be insurmountable, making it impossible to continue the work. Such was the situation on national road No. 15, where an embankment and a pedestrian-cyclist path were to be built in Niewierz near Brodnica.
The obstacle turned out to be the non-bearing soils where the embankment was to be created. Peat layers up to 5 meters thick, a high groundwater level (50 cm), a culvert for a stream, and a high-voltage line prevented the use of traditional piling methods.
Foam Concrete Embankment: Saving the Investment
The non-bearing soil ultimately did not hinder the completion of the project near Brodnica. Similar to many other cases where ground stabilization is necessary, foam concrete proved effective—in Niewierz, an embankment with a total weight of approximately 400 tons was built using this material. It was constructed in a place where soil weighing about 500 tons was removed. This maintained the principle of soil equilibrium, and the load on the soil was completely nullified.
A significant advantage of foam concrete, which made it the best material in this case, was the ability to carry out the work quickly—since it is produced directly on the construction site and immediately used, the work progresses rapidly.
For the Niewierz project, the work lasted only 6 days—a result impossible to achieve with, for example, piling technology. The method of applying foam concrete not only speeds up the construction process but also reduces the overall cost.
Foam Concrete as a Construction Material
As a lightweight concrete, foam concrete successfully replaces traditionally used technologies due to its much faster implementation time and significant economic benefits. Adding to this are the load reduction on structures, its complete frost resistance, and thermal insulation, which prevents ground heaving, making the benefits clear.
In the case of the embankment and pedestrian-cyclist path in Niewierz, piling was not feasible due to the stream culvert and high-voltage line in the area. At the same time, the non-bearing soils required stabilization, and the investor also wanted to avoid increasing the overall project cost. Using foam concrete allowed for significant savings on ground stabilization costs. In this project, PB600 foam concrete with a density of 600 kg/m³ and a compressive strength of over 1 MPa was used.