Reinforcing Effect of Polypropylene Waste Strips on Compacted Lateritic Soils

Régis Marçal, Paulo César Lodi, Natália de Souza Correia, Heraldo Luiz Giacheti, Roger Augusto Rodrigues and John S. McCartney
Additional contact information
Régis Marçal: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Av. Engenheiro Luiz Edmundo Carrijo Coube 14-01, Bauru, SP 17033-360, Brazil
Paulo César Lodi: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Av. Engenheiro Luiz Edmundo Carrijo Coube 14-01, Bauru, SP 17033-360, Brazil
Natália de Souza Correia: Department of Civil Engineering, Federal University of Sao Carlos (UFSCar), Rodovia Washington Luiz, São Carlos, SP 17033-360, Brazil
Heraldo Luiz Giacheti: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Av. Engenheiro Luiz Edmundo Carrijo Coube 14-01, Bauru, SP 17033-360, Brazil
Roger Augusto Rodrigues: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Av. Engenheiro Luiz Edmundo Carrijo Coube 14-01, Bauru, SP 17033-360, Brazil
John S. McCartney: Department of Structural Engineering, University of California at San Diego (UCSD), 9500 Gilman Dr., SME 442J, La Jolla, CA 92093-0085, USA

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 22, 1-16

Abstract: This study evaluated the strength properties of compacted lateritic soils reinforced with polypropylene (PP) waste strips cut from recycled plastic packing with the goal of promoting sustainability through using local materials for engineering work and reusing waste materials as low-cost reinforcements. Waste PP strips with widths of 15 mm and different lengths were uniformly mixed with clayey sand (SC) and clay (CL) soils with the goal of using these materials as low-cost fiber reinforcements. The impact of different PP strip contents (0.25% to 2.0%) and lengths (10, 15, 20, and 30 mm) on the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of the soils revealed an optimum combination of PP strip content and length. Statistical analysis showed that PP strip content has a greater effect than the PP strip length on the UCS for both soils. Results led to the definition of an empirical equation to estimate the UCS of strip-reinforced soils. The results from direct shear tests indicate that the SC soil showed an increase in both apparent cohesion and friction angle after reinforcement, while the CL soil only showed an increase in friction angle after reinforcement. California bearing ratio (CBR) tests indicate that the SC soil experienced a 70% increase in CBR after reinforcement, while the CBR of the CL soil was not affected by strip inclusion.

Keywords: soil improvement; polypropylene strips; geotechnical properties; sustainable reuse of plastic waste (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/22/9572/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/22/9572/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:22:p:9572-:d:446585

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().