Experimental and Environmental Investigation on Natural and Polymer Fiber Reinforced Concrete

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an experimental work and life cycle analysis of reinforced mortar samples retrofitted with natural, and virgin and recycled polymers. The objectives of this study were to investigate the behavior of retrofitted concretes experimentally, and to compare the defined fiber reinforced concrete samples from environmental point of view using life cycle analysis. The mixtures of reinforced concretes was prepared as control mixture which includes no fibers, natural (palm) fiber reinforced mixture, virgin and recycled polypropylene (PP) and low density polyethylene (LDPE) reinforced concrete mixtures, natural fiber and virgin and recycled PP reinforced concrete mixtures, and natural fiber and virgin and recycled LDPE reinforced concrete mixtures. The experimental tests were performed to investigate the behavior of reinforced concrete samples in such a way that either durable or not. Moreover, those concrete mixtures were also compared using life cycle assessment method according to their environmental effects. Within the scope of the study, GaBi software was used for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis. Landfilling was considered as reference scenario and compared with filled recycled plastics. A quantitative impact assessment was performed for four environmental impact categories, global warming (GWP) over a hundred years, human toxicity (HTP), abiotic depletion (ADP) and acidification potential (AP) were taken into consideration during LCA. At the end of the study, according to the compressive strength tests results, it was seen that natural fiber reinforced concrete did not perform well at each testing age, and also according to the pore definition test, permeability of natural fiber reinforced concrete was higher than that of the control mixture which means that durability of natural fiber reinforced concrete against harsh environment is very low. Moreover, according to life cycle analysis, recycled polymer fibers reinforced concrete mixtures have lower environmental effect for all impact assessment categories. On the other hand, natural fiber reinforced concrete mixtures has the worst environmental effect, but when the natural fiber mixed with recycled or virgin polymers those concrete mixtures have better environmental effect.