Author
ABDEL WAHID HAGO1, KHALIFA AL-JABRI1, ALI AL-HARTH I1, and MOHAMMED QAMARUDDIN2
1. Department of Civil Engineering, SQU, P.O.Box 33 Al-Khod 123, Sultanate of Oman
2. Department of Civil Engineering, Aligar Islamic University, India

Abstract
An investigation into the possibility of developing lightweight concrete blocks which can be used for cladding and serve the purpose of thermal insulation was started at Sultan Qaboos University. Two indigenous materials were investigated for the production of the blocks, vermiculite and polystyrene beads. Various mixes were investigated with the objective of lowering the density and improving thermal conductivity. The results indicated a more promising use for the polystyrene beads than for vermiculite for this purpose. The project involves in addition, constructing a room from the developed blocks in order to monitor the temperature variation in houses due to the escape of heat through the walls, as compared to rooms built from widely used ordinary concrete blocks.