To preserve the natural materials, applying the principles of sustainable engineering, to approach the principle of zero waste and to contribute the solution of the negative environmental impact of two decades, which is caused by excessive use of bottles of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in packaging, has led to the approach of alternative, clean and innovative technologies aimed at recycling and reuse to address this environmental problem. Proposed re-use empty bottles as a way to get rid of them and benefit from them at the same time the way, this method through which the empty bottles cutting into fibres using these fibres made of PET to improve the properties of concrete. Percentage of fiber that has been used are 1%, 1.5%, 2%, 3%, 4%, and 5%. Suitable tests were performed to measure properties of concrete reinforcement by recycle PET fibre such as compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, four-point bending strength, modulus of elasticity and toughness index. Flexural toughness tests were performed to measure the ductility capacities of reinforced concrete members with recycled PET fibre reinforced concrete. The results obtained indicate Toughness index was enhanced by using PET fibre reinforced concrete specimens, compared to no ductility performance of concrete specimens without fibre reinforcement. A significant change in ductility was when observed PET used fibre with 3%.
AbstractThis research includes the study of the effect of adding steel fibres resulting from cutting chicken wire (which is available in Iraqi markets now) as fibres added to the polymer concrete. These fibres were added with percentages of concrete volumes. These percentages were (0.5%) and (1%). Reference concrete mix was also made for comparative reasons. From the results, it can be noted that the increasing of compressive strength of SFPC1 comparing with RPC at 28 days equal to 9.90%, whereas the increasing of compressive strength of SFPC2 comparing with RPC at 28 days is equal to 15.48%. The increasing of splitting strength of SFPC1 comparing with RPC at 28 days equal to 15.50%, whereas the increasing of SFPC2 comparing with RPC at 28 days is equal to 21.40%. The increasing of flexural strength of SFPC1 comparing with RPC at 28 days equal to 10.80%, whereas the increasing of SFPC2 comparing with RPC at 28 days is equal to 20.63%.Results proved that adding of steel fibres with these percentages lead to improvements in compressive strength, splitting strength and flexural strength of concretes containing steel fibres, but the improvement in flexural strength appeared more clearly. Results proved also an increasing in densities of fibre concrete samples according to these made of reference mix.
Today waste plastic bottles are spread widely throughout our world especially in Kurdistan, an autonomous region in Iraq. These waste products cause many environmental problems and at the same time some soils are weak and need reinforcement using cheap materials such as Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste plastic bottle. Use of waste plastic bottles as a reinforcement of soil is highly recommended to reduce the amounts of plastic waste, which creates a disposal problem. In this study an attempt was made to use plastic fibres produced from waste bottles to reinforce sandy soil. This can solve both environmental and geotechnical problems. In the research, the effect of plastic fibres content as well as fibre length on shear strength parameters (cohesion and internal friction) were experimentally predicted using the direct shear test method so as to improve bearing capacity of weak soils. The results showed that under low normal stress the inclusion of plastic fibres increased both angle of internal friction and cohesion; however, under high normal stress (greater than 100 kPa) the cohesion increased and the internal friction was roughly unchanged. Also, it was concluded in this study that the suitable amount of fibers that can be added to weak soils is 1% of dry weight of sand.
In this study, the structural behaviour of RC-deep beams of glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) rubberized concrete is investigated. Rubberized concrete is manufactured by replacing fine sand aggregate with rubber crumbs in volumetric replacement ratios. The main variables were the crumb rubber content (0%, 10%, and 20%) and the main reinforcement ratio. Tested Six samples of deep beams with different dimensions (b = 150, h = 300 mm, L= 1400 mm) were under a four-point load until failure. The parameters under investigation were the mechanical properties of mixtures, load-midspan deflection curves, toughness, and the load-strain relationship. The results indicate that the increased crumb rubber content led to a decrease in the mechanical properties of rubberized concrete mixtures. It was found that the behaviour of all samples of rubberized concrete affected the deflection load curve, the ultimate load, and the increase in deflection. The sample R2-10% Rub showed the highest toughness among the tested samples, with an increase of 301.6% compared to the reference.