International Journal of Civil, Structural,

Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering

Research and Development (IJCSEIERD)
ISSN 2249-6866
Vol. 3, Issue 2, Jun 2013, 83-88
© TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.

ENGINEERING BEHAVIOR OF SOIL REINFORCED WITH PLASTIC STRIPS

PRAGYAN BHATTARAI1, A. V. A BHARAT KUMAR2, K. SANTOSH3, T. C. MANIKANTA4 &

K. TEJESWINI5
1,2&3
Student, Civil Engineering Department, K. L. University, India
4&5
Student, Civil Engineering Department, NalandaInstitute of Engineering and Technology

ABSTRACT

Rapid improvements in the engineering world have influence a lifestyle of human beings in utmost extends but
day to day activities of mankind are augmenting risk in the environment in the same proportion. Plastic wastes have
become one of the major problems for the world. The harmful gas which is being produced by this agent leads to
tremendous health related problems. So, effective engineering implementation of this has become one of the challenging
jobs for engineers. Engineer are seeking for astute implementation of these wastes in ample amount and implementing
these wastes in Soil stabilization helps to reduce the risk of natural destruction which is caused due to rainfall or other
aspect and also it aid in reducing the waste in an ample amount. Plastic is considered as one of the major pollutant of
environment as it would not decay or can’t be destroyed so implementing this for some good purpose helps to reduce its
effect also. This implies that stabilization using waste plastic strips is an economic method where use of waste materials
as plastic and other cheaply available material of plastic can be used which is found accessibly. This paper reflects that
plastic wastes can be used in stabilization of soil which is concluded from various tests conducted on fiber reinforced soil
with varying fiber content and different aspect ratio and profound analysis of their results depicts that it can be used in
the fields. Therefore, it is of utmost importance considering the design and construction methodology to maintain and
improve the performance of such pavements. In this paper, different means of plastic waste as shopping bags and other
plastic material which is locally available are used so as a reinforcement to perform the CBR studies while mixing with
soil for improving engineering performance of sub grade soil. In this the Plastic strips which are collected for
stabilization of soil were mixed randomly with the soil. With this a series of California Bearing Ratio (CBR) tests were
carried out randomly reinforced soil in which the percentage of plastic strips with varying percentage of plastic strips
with different lengths and proportions were carried on. And the results and conclusion were summed up which shows that
use of plastic in soil in an appropriate amount really aids in improving the strength of soil and also helps in modification
of soil properties which might be in term of strength of sub grade soil

KEYWORDS: Environment, Plastic Waste, Fiber Reinforcement, California Bearing Ratio (CBR), Strength of Sub
Grade Soil

INTRODUCTION

Plastics are considered as one of the important invention which has remarkably assisted in different aspect of life
whether it might be in scientific field or others. Due to omnipotent scope of plastic other different materials such as paper
and other are being replaced with it which was used for different purposes like household packing purposes, used by
restaurant and all. It has omnipotent use in today’s context but the use of plastic and its effect in the environment has made
the use of this material in an ambiguity. It has become one of the major problems for the environment. The use of plastic
has to be limited by now otherwise there would be harshly circumstance that human and environment has to face in near
 84 Pragyan Bhattarai, A. V. A Bharat Kumar, K. Santosh, T. C. Manikanta & K. Tejeswini

future. It is the fact that we can reuse the plastic and make it usable for number of times so that its wastage will be reduced
remarkably. This steps are still in progress but this only hasn’t been able to paced up as per expectation because the use of
this materials has increased in such a way that it is very difficult to limit them instead the alternative for those must be
identified and process must be taken accordingly. India itself has witnessed a substantial growth in the consumption of
plastics and increased production of plastic waste. It has become very tedious job to limit it. It is fact that the plastic waste
is now considered as environmental hazard due to the "Use and throw" mechanism. So it can be used for the alternative
method where its important will be counted and stabilization of soil is the best place where this material can be used up.

Stabilization was coined as to make anything in an stable condition which itself is a challenging task and
improvement of anything in particular stabilization of soil by increasing the bearing ratio of the soil with the aid of the
plastic material which is being used up for the soil. The proper proportion in soil helps in controlling the compaction factor
and also proportion makes the use very useful.

In this process some technique or process is undergone and those can be coined as basic principle of this
stabilization process in which firstly the sample of any soil is to be considered and if the bearing capacity of the soil is not
good enough then the further properties of the soil need to be concluded which helps to determine various properties of
soil. Then, after the methods to be determined for the stabilization process. All the process encompasses designing and
other procedure in the same manner stabilized soil mix design must be done in order to make the stability and durability
value. Then the construction procedure is considered by compaction of the stabilized layer in a profound manner.

Rapid development in the world has really reflected with various outcomes as the fast growth of the population
and also other development deeds has increased the waste products to the acme position and consequently this has various
disadvantages. The work must be in collaboration with the environment instead of doing the work against the environment
so this is important task to make the things better by using plastic for alternative uses. As plastics are non-biodegradable
materials which have given more and more problem to the users and also destroyed the component of the environment to
the great extent. There are different ways where the use of the plastic is being done it is not only limited to shopping bags,
storages and marketing but also many plastic bottles and other various things are made from plastic, which when thrown
away creates many hazardous. India itself produces a waste of plastic of around 40 million ton per year. The same case is
there for china and other countries the production is ample but the management of this is very limited which has created
many adverse effects. There are different techniques which are being implemented now for the control of these deeds but
still there is no remarkable improvement in this process. The use of plastic are completely limited now and also extra
charges of plastic is being imposed too each and every shopping malls and other places which will help to reduced the
consumption of those and the process of reuse and recycle would be done in a good ways. This all implies that there must
be proper management of this systems and it is not good to restrict the uses but the alternative for using in other ways or
throw out can be used to stabilized the soil which will enhance the quality of soil. It would be economical and also the
proper management of plastic would also be done. It is expected that out of total waste the plastic itself would be of in and
around of 5%, which is a huge amount and that need to be addressed. There are different researches going on for
incorporating the waste to the soil and stabilized the soil and various good outputs are being reflected back which can have
tremendous positive outcomes. In order to determine this CBR and CRV test must be done and the conclusion can be
concluded accordingly. In this paper we also have done the CBR test and the conclusion are made according to this only.

LATEST ONGOING TRENDS

Various experiments are performed for undertaking the mechanical behavior of a soil reinforced with the plastic
Engineering Behavior of Soil Reinforced with Plastic Strips 85

strips. There are innovative uses of these materials for the several candidate waste materials in geotechnical and pavement
applications. There is various researches which are done on the basis of evaluating the compressive, split tensile and
flexural strength characteristic of a material and also in order to determine the effectiveness of recycled plastic strips which
ensures in enhancing the toughness characteristics of the material. To use it as an effective reinforcing material a
dimensionless toughness index is also advised. This might ensure as an promising material for the alternative materials for
civil engineering sectors. In the same way other things also can be implemented in which the plastic soil based geo plastic
materials can be produced by heating and mixing simultaneously recycled plastic bottles with soil at a specific temperature
to melt the thermoplastic materials so that uniform fused mix can be attended. This aid in permeability and strength result
of open graded aggregates stabilized with the reinforced one. It can be seen that the performance of the paved and unpaved
roads are often poor after every monsoon and in most pavements are seen with cracking, potholes, wheel path rutting and
serious differential settlement at various locations. So there must be considered design and the implementation of those in
an effective manner is also equally important one. After the experimental work it is clear that these techniques can be used
for different things. Soil fibers composites are one of the effective agent in improving the CBR value. These experimental
shows that stress- strain-strength properties of randomly distributed fiber reinforced soil are a function of fiber content and
aspect ratio. Good improvement in frictional resistance of fine grained soil was also concluded by roughened HDPE [4].
The feasibility of reinforcing soil along with strips of reclaimed high density polyethylene has been investigated to a
limited extent. It is clear that the interaction between soil and strips which causes the resistance to penetration of the
plunger resulting into higher CBR values.

METHOLOGY AND OUTCOMES

There was some procedure which was taken into consideration during the undertaking of the project. The process
and the use of the materials for the investigation are as follows.

The materials which were considered are soil and the plastic which are being added in certain proportion and the
sample so formed was tested. The sample soil was of Boys Hostel, K.L.University, India which was used as a main source
and different study was taken place on that particular soil.

Table 1: Properties of Sample Soil

S.NO Properties of Soil Sample Value

1 Specific gravity 2.38
2 Coefficient of uniformity(Cu) 5.1
3 Coefficient of Curvature(Cc) 1.9
4 Free swell Index 42%

In the above table it is clear that the soil so collect is having some particular properties and the classification of the
soil in and accordance of this can be done and it can be called as inorganic silt of higher plasticity and organic clay of
medium plasticity which can be concluded from the unified soil classification system. In this case the maximum dry
density and maximum water content of a sample soil was being concluded which was found to be 1.65g/cc and 17.10%
respectively.

In the same way the plastic which are thrown out nearby the site were collected and were made into strips of
different aspect ratio. In order to perform a study on CBR response of waste plastic strip reinforced soil having strip width
of around 10mm and a thickness of around 40 micron. The lengths of 10mm [Aspect Ratio (AR) =1], 20mm (AR=2),
30mm (AR=3) and 40mm(AR=4) were cut. It is to be noted the that the mould diameter would be at least 4 times the
 86 Pragyan Bhattarai, A. V. A Bharat Kumar, K. Santosh, T. C. Manikanta & K. Tejeswini

maximum strip length, which ensures the sufficient room for the strip to behave freely and independent of mould
confinement. Those matrixes would fill the portion of the soil and make it a compact one. Those which are contained in a
soil are the ratio of weight of strips to the weight of dry soil. The text was carried on the basic of various content of the
strips as 0%,0.25%, 0.5% and 1% then the conclusion were done as per the conclusion of the test. The procedure that was
taken in the laboratory of K.L.University was

TEST AIM

It was simple to perform the CBR test of unreinforced and reinforced plastic strip of soil specimen and the result
so obtained would give the desire result.

PROCEDURE

The process of calculation of CBR test was done as per the prescribed ISI code which was done in the remolded
soil by the mean of static compaction. Four such compacted specimens were prepared and comparison of that with that of
one of normal unreinforced soil sample was done and the comparisons of those were done.

Firstly the collection of soil sample and the plastic waste were collected from the site and then required amount of
the strips and soil was weighted and then the one sample of soil was kept as it is and other were mixed with the strip in
order to obtain the moisture content. The so formed soil were compacted for six equal layers by applying 60 evenly
distributed blow with 4.89 kg hammer at free fall height of 80-90cm. When the homogenous mix was obtained then the
surcharge of 3 kg was placed over the specimen which was attached over the base plate and then that sample would be
taken and placed in the testing machine. The penetration plunger was seated at the center of the specimen and was brought
in contact with the top surface of the soil sample by applying a seating load of 4Kg. The dial gauge for measuring the
penetration values of the plunger was fitted in position. The load reading was done by the dial gauge of the proving ring
and the penetration dial gauge was set to zero. Then the application of the load with the penetration reading of.5 to 15mm
in the interval of .5 mm was done. Then the proving ring calibration factor was noted.

DISCUSSIONS OF THE RESULTS

When the test was done due consideration was taken care of and minimum fault due to instrument and
environment were also taken into consideration. When the text was over then dismantle of the sample was done and strip
condition was examined which showed that the strip were elongated and the impression of soil particles were very distinct
to that strip. The soil sheared during penetration, strip fixed in the soil by friction, elongated and collectively provided
strength against the deformation during the test. CBR can be said as the indirect measure of the strength as soil deformed
was shear in nature. The load penetration curves so obtained was done by taking the varying aspect ratio as 1,2,3 and 5 and
also at different strip content as .25%, .5% and 1% with one sample with 0%.

The so observed from the experiment is plotted in the figure enlisted below and from this various conclusions can
be drawn. It is very much clear that mixing of the strip in the soil can increase the strength of the soil because the soil
sample without the strip is having less strength than that of the one which encompass the strip. It also can be seen that the
waste plastic reinforced helps to increase the CBR value. There is a major increase in the CBR value when the soil sample
of unreinforced is taken and compared with that of the reinforced one which is clear in the figure below. Where the plot of
the load applied to the samples and the penetration value are to be plotted. It is also clear that when the aspect value is
further increased by definite proportion then in such a case CBR values improvement is remarkable. This can be clearly
seen through the Figure which is enlisted below. The CBR value keeps on increasing when the aspect ratio is increased to
Engineering Behavior of Soil Reinforced with Plastic Strips 87

some particular value. It is also clear that in compare to that of the previous one or unreinforced one the value of CBR is
high for reinforced one and the gradual increase in this value indicated that use to plastic strip can modify the soil
characteristics and helps to provide the strength to the soil. The Figure clearly reflects this..

Figure 1: Load Penetration Curve of Strip Content 0.5% for Varying Aspect Ratios

Figure 2: Load Penetration Curve for Aspect Ratio (AR: 3) with Varying Strip Content

CONCLUSIONS

The uses of plastic are in various field but after that the waste that it becomes really has adverse effect in nature
and its not easy or possible to restrict its uses but it can be used as an soil stabilizing agent which would be economical and
effective implementation in engineering field. Recently, many expensive methods for the stabilization process are carried
on such as geosynthetic materials and other techniques. So, this techniques can be replaced by the reinforcement with
plastic strips which will make the construction process economical and also make the proper arrangement of plastic waste
conserving the various component of the environment. From the paper various conclusion in the aspect of strength, cost
and other various field can be recommended. Plastic can be one of the material which can be used as a soil stabilizing agent
but the proper proportion of this must be there, which aids in increasing the CBR of the soil and also when the aspect ratio
is increased then the strength parameter is also increased but use of more Aspect ratio also decrease the CBR value as a
CBR value at AR 4 and 0.5% plastic strip decreased whereas in AR3 and .5% plastic strip it had increased. This all implies
that benefits of reinforcement increases to certain level and after that it will decrease the strength so careful observation
must be done. All this shows that plastic strips can be used as a reinforcing materials in stabilization of the sub grade soil if
used in right proportion. This can be used for stabilization of soil of embankment, pavement sub grade and other different
fields as per the needs and flexibility. Further research is advisable for its more effectiveness.

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