Renovation and the Home

LECA® LWA can be used in all elements of construction from foundations to chimney fill.

Civils & Infrastructure

Leca® LWA is used extensively as a lightweight aggregate for civil engineering and structural applications, such as Rail, Highways and Bridges.

Water Management and Reducing Gas Emissions

Leca LWA can be used to manage the rainwater from a catchment. Water interacts with Leca LWA in a way that allows the material to provide water detention.

Bridges

The ‘pull out’ resistance of LECA® Lightweight Expanded Clay Aggregate makes it an ideal solution for reinforced soil retaining walls and bridge design. Particularly when constructed over weak sub-soils or voids, this method has been proven to cut overall construction costs considerably. LECA® Lightweight Expanded Clay Aggregate is used extensively to reduce vertical loading.

THE ABILITY TO BLOW THE LECA® LIGHTWEIGHT EXPANDED CLAY AGGREGATE INTO HARD TO REACH AREAS AND IN CONDITIONS WHERE THE GROUND MAY BE DELICATE AND UNSAFE FOR HEAVY ACCESS USING HEAVIER, MORE TRADITIONAL MATERIAL, MAKES LECA® LIGHTWEIGHT EXPANDED CLAY AGGREGATE THE IDEAL SOLUTION WHICH HAS BEEN INVALUABLE TO CIVIL ENGINEERS ACROSS THE UK.

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Reducing Earth Pressure

Structures such as underground parking, tunnels or roof garden benefit greatly from the reduction in pressure and avoid additional costs of strengthening. Being light weight and round in nature, LECA® Lightweight Expanded Clay Aggregate can be transported and placed more easily than that of traditional fill in these difficult to access areas.

Earth pressure of fill soil affects a supporting structure on a boundary surface between the supporting structure and earth. Supporting structures loaded by earth pressure include among others, retaining walls, sheet pile walls, back fill of bridges, basement walls, and foundations.

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Specifying Leca® Lightweight Fill within Bridge Development

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Optimising Supporting Structures

As a fill material, LECA® Lightweight Expanded Clay Aggregate can effectively decrease the earth pressure. Due to its lightness the vertical earth pressure impacting the structure is up to 75% lower that induced by the natural rock fill. Lower earth pressure enables optimized dimensioning of supporting structures; and therefore application of LECA® Lightweight Expanded Clay Aggregate as backfill in these circumstances is usually a cost-efficient solution.