Behavior of plastic waste fiber-reinforced industrial wastes in pavement applications

Abstract

Large quantities of industrial wastes are being generated worldwide due to rapid urbanization and industrialization. The disposal of wastes in landfills or open areas is not an environment friendly solution. Utilization of the industrial wastes in geotechnical applications is likely to provide an acceptable solution. Keeping this in view, an experimental study was carried out to demonstrate the potential application of three industrial wastes, namely fly ash, stone dust, and waste recycled product (WRP) generated after recycling of blast furnace slag from steel plant, in pavements after reinforcing them randomly with high density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic waste strips. Three different sizes of waste plastic strips were used in this study. The effects of strip content (0·25–4% by weight) and aspect ratio (strip length to width ratio) on the California bearing ratio (CBR), peak piston load ratio (PPLR) at 12·5 mm penetration, and subgrade modulus of plastic strip-reinforced specimens were investigated. The study has revealed that the addition of waste plastic strips to industrial wastes results in an appreciable increase in CBR and subgrade modulus (ks). Based on the CBR value, the layer thickness reduction (LTR) of reinforced specimens were also determined. It was found that the proposed reinforced waste materials can be used in flexible pavement construction leading to safe and economical disposal of the wastes.