CIVIL ENGINEERING PROJECT PLASTIC PAVING TILES

 CIVIL ENGINEERING PROJECT REPORT PLASTIC PAVING TILES 

          

Image credit - Bihar Govt.

CIVIL ENGINEERING PROJECT REPORT ON PLASTIC PAVING TILES

 

Synopsis of  the project

Submitted to

A department of  Civil engineering

New Government Polytechnic Patna-13 (Bihar)

         By :-              

1. NEERAJ KUMAR (6112115170xx)

2. ANKAJ KUMAR (6112115170xx)

3. RAHUL KUMAR (6112115170xx)

4. ADARSH KUMAR (6112115170xx)

Project guide :- Prof. Syed Aftab Ahmed (Lecturer,civil engineering)

Project co-guide :- Prof. Anandi Prasad (Civil engineering)

Department:- Civil engineering

Acknowledgement

 

It is our pleaser to be indebted to various people, who directly or indirectly contributed in the development of project. We express our sincere gratitude to Dr. Chandra Shekhar Singh, principal, New Government Polytechnic Patna-13 for motivating us to work on this project. We are thankful to Mr. Shambhu Kumar, department of mechanical engineering, New Government Polytechnic Patna-13 for his support and co-operation, provided to us during the Project construction. We also extend our sincere appreciation to the H.O.D of our branch civil engineering Mr. Rohit Kumar and our class faculty Mrs. Antra kumari, Mr. Tribhuwan kumar and Mr. Syed Aftab Ahmed, department of civil engineering, N.G.P. Patna-13, who provided their valuable suggestions and precious time in accomplishing our project report. Lastly, we would like to thank our friends with whome we shared our day-to-day experience and received lots of suggestions that improved quality of our project work.

        

 

ABSTRACT

 

Most of the developing nations lack a proper solid waste management system owing to the difficulties faced during the sample collection and treatment phases. Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) contribute as a major source of such pollution due to the wide spread use of its products which include water sachets, thin bags, wrapping paper etc. Improper disposal of this waste in the form of land filling can not only cause environmental impact but also negatively harm the surrounding soil and water bodies. A relatively simple technology has been proposed in this paper that produces LDPE - bonded sand blocks and paver. Developing countries (DCs) typically have inadequate solid waste management, with low waste collection rates, disposal primarily by dumping and limited outlets for reusing potentially recyclable materials. It was observe that LDPE-bonded sand is a strong, tough material with compressive strength up to 17 MPa when produced under optimum processing conditions. The density and compressive strength were found to be increased as the particle size of the sand was decreased. The samples also exhibited far superior impact resistance as compared to traditional clay paver blocks.

 

CONTENTS

 1. Introduction                                                                       05

 2. Objectives                                                                          06

 3. Literature review                                                              06

 4. Material used                                                                     07

 5. Methodology and procedure                                            08

 6. Advantages and disadvantages                                        11

 7. Result and discussion                                                        12 

 8. Conclusion                                                                          16  

 9. References                                                                          17

List of figures

1. Figure 01                                                           05

2. Figure 02                                                           08

3. Figure 03                                                           09

4. Figure 04                                                           09

5. Figure 05                                                           10

6. Figure 06                                                           11

7. Figure 07                                                           12

8. Figure 08                                                           15

List of tables

1. Table 01                                                           13

2. Table 02                                                           13

3. Table 03                                                           14

4. Table 04                                                           14

INTRODUCTION

 

 

Plastic waste which does not degrade easily, and may not produce dangerous gases such as methane which can make land fill sites hazardous. This of course is no justification for simply dumping plastics waste and to ensure plastics are correctly disposed of alternative methods must be used. Most plastics are made from petroleum and could be used as a fuel alternative, since many have an energy value similar to coal. Recycling by burning to produce energy would save raw materials such as crude oil and coal, and the gases produced through burning plastics are also valuable resources, which may be recycled. Although steps are being taken to curb the use of plastics in our society, they have become an inseparable part of our culture. It is estimated that if the current production and waste management trends continue, roughly 12,000 Mt of plastic waste will be in landfills or in the natural environment by 2050.

 

Figure 1 - Global scenario of fate of plastic (1950 to 2015)

LDPE - bonded sand is a resource efficient material that can transform waste LDPE into a valuable local resource. LDPE water sachets and other sources can be used to form LDPE-bonded sand. This requires simple processing and produces a durable, relatively light weight material. No water is required in the production process. The following are the salient features of this study.

Ø   ⮚ Using recycled LDPE products such as paver blocks and floor tile will not only be economical and environment friendly, but it will also create job opportunities for people.

Ø   ⮚ Cost effective recycling solutions are urgently needed to tackle the ever growing problem of waste plastics. The production of LDPE-bonded sand can have major social, public health and environmental benefits.

Ø   ⮚ By transforming waste plastics into a valuable resource this simple technology has potential to generate local employment, clean-up the environment, produce new construction materials and significantly reduce the amount of waste LDPE entering the ocean.

Ø

 

OBJECTIVES

Since the vast majority of plastic is non-biodegradable, recycling is a part of global efforts to reduce the generation of waste plastic thereby eliminating the threat they pose to the environment because of their harmful effects. Although many methods are available to recycle or reuse these plastics, most of these methods are very complicated and require sophisticated equipment’s and skilled labour. This is a problem for develop countries where both of these requirements are in scare quantity. Plastic waste can be successfully used in concrete; however reduction in density and compressive strength was reported by all. The area of focus of all the researchers was limited to compressive strength and a wide gap is left for further research on other properties of concrete produced by using waste plastics. One alternative to the above mentioned problem is the use of recycled LDPE plastic paver blocks. Since they do not require any skilled labour or a very high initial investment, they can easily be implemented in rural and semi-rural areas. This will in turn not only generate revenue by creating a green sustainable material, but also create a regular employment opportunity for the locals.

         Keeping the above said in mind, the following objectives were finalized –

 ⮚  Manufacture low-cost eco-friendly alternatives to traditional clay paver blocks using recycled LDPE plastics.

  ⮚  Finding the optimum ratio of plastic: sand for which the paver block displays the best results in terms of compressive strength, tensile strength, impact resistance, water absorption and heat resistance.

  ⮚  Analysing the effect of particle size distribution on the properties of paver blocks. 

 

LITERATURE REVIEW

⮚  Plastics are polymers, a very large molecule made up of smaller units called monomers which are joined together in a chain by a process called polymerization. The polymers generally contain carbon and hydrogen with, sometimes other elements such as oxygen, nitrogen ,chlorine or fluorine (UNEP,2009) 

⮚  Author Name – Eric Ababio Ohemeng

Title – Utilization of waste low density polyethylene in high strengths plastic pavement blocks production.

Published – 2013

The disposal of waste plastics is causing a great challenge in Ghana and the world as a whole as the usage of plastics is growing day by day and it takes centuries for waste plastics to decompose. Hence, there is the need to adopt effective methods to utilized these plastics. The main objective of this research was to investigate.

⮚ So we construct plastic paving tiles by wasted plastic bag. There are some specific property achieve by plastic paving tiles as compared to normal concrete paving tiles . Such as more durable, lighter than normal concrete paving tiles.

 

 

MARERIALS USED

Following are the materials use in our Plastic paving tiles production. They are as follows:-

Plastic  Bags :-

A plastic bag, poly bag, or pouch is a type of container made of thin, flexible, plastic film, Non woven fabric, or plastic textile. Plastic bags are used for containing and transporting goods such as foods, produce, powders, ice, magazines, chemicals, and waste. It is a common form of packaging. Open bags with carrying handles are used in large numbers. Stores often provide them as a convenience to shoppers. Some stores charge a nominal fee for a bag. Heavy duty reusable shopping bags are often considered environmentally better than single use paper or plastic shopping bags. Because of environmental and litter problems, some locations are working towards a phase out of light weight plastic bags. Looking to the global issue of environmental pollution by post consumer plastic waste, research efforts have been focused on consuming this waste on massive scale in efficient and environmental friendly manner. Researchers planned to use plastic waste in form of concrete ingredient as the concrete is second most sought material by human beings after water.

Quarry Dust :-

A quarry is a place from which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, rip rap, sand, gravel, or slate has been excavated from the ground. A quarry is the same thing as an open pit mine from which minerals are extracted. The only nontrivial difference between the two is that open pit mines that produce building materials and dimension stone are commonly referred to as quarries. It can be used as substitute to sand fully or partially. It offers a comparatively good strength compared to sand with or without admixtures in concrete. The advantages of quarry dust are cost effective, easily available, consumption reduces the pollution in environment and effectively used as a replacement material for river sand.

Fine Aggregate :-

Fine aggregate are basically sand own from the land or the marine environment. Fine aggregate generally consists of natural sand or crushed stone with most particles passing through a 9.5 mm sieve. Fine aggregate are inter granular materials such as sand, gravel or crushed stone that are an end product in the own right. They are also the raw materials that are an essential ingredient in concrete. For a good concrete mix, aggregate need to be clean, hard, strong particles free of absorbed chemical or coating of clay and another fine materials that could case the deterioration of concrete.

METHODOLOGY

 

 

(1) Preparation of a melting barrel :-

To make the melting barrel, cut a simple oil drum in half and attach three legs made of rebar. With the legs attached, the ideal height of the barrel is 50 cm, and 80 cm wide.

Figure 2 Preparation of a melting barrel

Try to make the burner big enough that you can hold a good amount of liquid plastic but not so tall that it is tricky to mix. If you can sink the legs into the ground it will make the barrel more stable for mixing.

 

 

(2) Select the plastic :-

It is important to only select the correct type of plastic. This is because different types of plastic melt and burn at different temperatures and have different physical qualities. Such as LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene is correct type of plastic which melts at moderate temperature .

Water bag , non-woven plastic shopping bags and plastic film are usually made of LDPE. It is important that you do not use other types of plastic – it could be harmful to your health.

Figure 3  Select the plastic

 

(3) Cleaning the plastic and shredding it into uniform size :-

 

Plastic are cleaned with water and all dusts are removed and shredding into uniform size.

 

(4) Melting of plastic :-

Figure 4 Melting of plastic

Light a small fire under the metal drum and gently heat it. Add the plastic waste. As it warms up it will reduce in size. Keep mixing thoroughly until all the plastic has melted and there is a consistent black liquid. Sometimes LDPE lumps can remain even at very high temperatures. Stirring and heating must continue until all lumps are removed and a homogeneous paste is obtained, since they affect the strength of the material. This can take up to 20 minutes. Do not let the liquid get so hot that it burns strongly. Now, add sand until you have the required mixture and keep mixing. so that the plastic, which acts as a binder, is very well mixed in and looks like grey cement.

 

 

(5) Mix :-

 

Keep mixing thoroughly until all the plastic has melted and there is a consistent black liquid. Sometimes LDPE lumps can remain even at very high temperatures. Stirring and heating must continue until all lumps are removed and a homogeneous paste is obtained, since they affect the strength of the material. This can take up to 20 minutes. Do not let the liquid get so hot that it burns strongly – it will not work as a building material if this happens. A few flames from the liquid is acceptable. Add sand until you have the required mixture and keep mixing so that the plastic, which acts as a binder, is very well mixed in and looks like grey cement.

Figure 5 Mix

(6) Prepare moulding of plastic into tiles :-

Prepare the mould by making sure it is very clean, with no pieces of plastic on it from previous mouldings, and well oiled. Quickly remove the mixture using the spade with the metal shaft and put it into the mould with the trowel. The mixture is very hot so be careful and wear gloves. Press and work the mixture into the mould so there are no air gaps.

Figure 6 Prepare the mould

(7) Allow for set :-

Allow the hot mixture in the mould to set for a few minutes, repeatedly shaking the mould to loosen the edges (a rocking motion works well). Keep trying to lift the mould. When the mixture has hardened enough that the slab will not collapse, remove the mould and leave. It should harden in around 2 hours.

 

ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES IN PLASTICS PAVING TILES

         Advantages :-

 

          i.  We can make a variety of building materials that are cheaper than the concrete version.

         ii.  They set quickly and are very strong. Depending on the mould, you can make floor or paving tiles or even bricks for walls.

        iii.  They also make good rainwater harvesters: being non-water absorbent, the risk of dew, algae and fungus is almost eliminated, and this ensures clean water.

        iv.  The cost of paver block is reduced when compared to that of concrete paver block.

         v.   It can be used in Non-traffic and light traffic road.

  Disadvantage :-

          i.  Concrete block paving can be expensive if specialist blocks such as tumbles or those imitating natural stone setts are chosen.

         ii.  Inadequate and poorly prepared sub-bases can result in block paving surfaces sinking in high use areas such as those which regularly take the weight of cars.

RESULT & DISCUSSION

Three samples each were tested for their compressive strength, tensile strength, water absorption, impact resistance, and thermal resistance, for varying plastic: sand ratio of 1:2.5, 1:3, 1:3.5, 1:4 and 1:4.5.

Compressive Strength Test :-

It can be clearly seen from Table 1 that the compressive strengths obtained for PB2 batch were the highest and the strength kept decreasing for further batches with larger sand proportions. This can be attributed to the fact that with increase in sand content, it becomes difficult for the plastic binder to uniformly spread out and bind all the sand grains together, thereby forming a strong cohesive mass. The samples were tested 4 hours after moulding and an average compressive strength of 8.14 N/mm2 was observed for a plastic: sand ratio of 1:3 i.e. PB2 batch, after just a small cool down period of 4 hours. This means the samples are suitable for rapid production and distribution making it an ideal end product in terms of market supply. 

Figure 7 Crushed paver block sample of PB2 after CTM testing

 

It was also observed that the paver block only deformed around the contact area i.e. the area surrounding the actual contact area of load bulged and cracked, whereas the actual area under the load remained more or less unaffected. The only visible difference was the change in colour from black to white over the contact area (Figure 7).

Table 1 Results of compression strength test

Tensile Strength Test :-

As observed in Table 2, a total of 15 samples were evaluated for their tensile strength too. Three briquette samples were tested for each batch. Similar to the previous results, the tensile strengths obtained for PB2 batch were the highest and the strength kept decreasing for further batches (Table. 2).

Table 2 Results of tensile strength test

Water Absorption Test :-

Three samples of each batch were immersed in cold water for 24 hours straight, to determine their water absorption. It was found that the water absorption was extremely small for PB1 which increased with increase in the sand content (Table 3). This can be attributed to the fact that higher sand content in the mix leads to more number of voids. The plastic binder itself becomes insufficient to uniformly cover up the entire surface are of the sand grains, which not only reduces the sample's strength, but also leads to an increased water absorption characteristic.

Table 3 Results of water absorption test

 

Drop Impact Strength Test :-

Table 4 Results of Drop Impact Strength Test     Observations for varying drop heights Batch   Plastic: Sand Ratio Drop Height = 4 m Drop Height = 7 m Drop Height = 10 m PB1 1 : 2.5 No visible deformations No visible deformations Surface disintegration at edges PB2 1 : 3 No visible deformations No visible deformations No visible deformations PB3 1 : 3.5 No visible deformations No visible deformations Surface disintegration at edges PB4 1 : 4 No visible deformations Surface disintegration at edges Sample broke in two halves PB5 1 : 4.5 No visible deformations Surface disintegration at edges Total failure (sample crumbled and broke)

Three samples of each proportion were used for this test. One sample each from PB1, PB2, PB3, PB4 and PB5 batch was dropped from a height of 4 m, 7 m and 10 m to evaluate their resistance against impact (Table 4). It was observed that no visible dents or deformations occurred on any of the sample for a drop height of 4 m. However, when dropped from higher heights, slight dents were formed and in some cases, the sample of paver broke down in two pieces (Figure 8). The samples of PB2 batch displayed the highest impact resistance with no visible deformations on the surface even for a drop height of 10 m.

Figure 8 Breaking of PB4 batch sample when dropped from a height

 

CONCLUSIONS

     The method presented in this paper is very simple and can thus easily be utilised by people in rural and semi-rural India. The following are the key findings of this study

 

v Adding LDPE plastics over heated sand effectively melted the plastics which formed a layer over the sand particles, thereby enabling easy blending of the mix.

 

v Finally, prepared sample needs to be moulded quickly before it has a chance to cool down. The initial setting takes place at around 20 minutes and the final setting of the paver block takes place at about 4 hours (at standard temperature & pressure and moderate humidity conditions).

 

v Compaction method and cooling rate are critical to attain optimum properties. Entrapped air bubbles needed to be expelled in order to achieve higher degrees of compaction. These bubbles were noticed during the time of cooling and hence a moderate degree of supervision was needed during the cooling period.

 

v The sample of sand bonded recycled LDPE paver blocks were evaluated for their compressive strengths. Sample 2 (Plastic: Sand = 1:3) exhibited the highest average compressive strength of 8.14 N/mm2 which is comparable to that of a second class brick or an ordinary clay paver block (used for residential and non-commercial paving purposes).

 

v The particle size of the sand played a crucial role in determining the final behaviour of the paver blocks. Coarser particles sizes led to lower sample strengths.

 

v The tensile strengths of the paver blocks were in the range of 1.26 - 3.15 N/mm2. The tensile strength decreased with an increase in the sand content. Sample 2 exhibited the highest tensile strength of 3.15 N/mm2 as determined from the briquettes.

 

v The water absorption was very low in the range of 2.8 - 11.3% with Sample 1 (Plastic: Sand = 1:2.5) showing the best performance. This indicated that even the worst plastic paver blocks were far superior to the traditional clay paver blocks and bricks.

 

v The paver blocks were dropped from varying heights of up to 10m. No major deformations were observed on the surface, suggesting that the blocks possess a high impact resistance. 

 

    

                                                              

REFERENCES

1. Achitra, M., Rajasree, R.A., Pandit, R.V., Saranya, V. Recycled Plastic and Coconut Fibre used in Concrete Paver Block. Int. J. Eng. Sci. Comput. 2018.16827–16830 p.

2. Bassey, G.I., Egbe, J.G., Ewa, D.E., Ettah, E.B., Antigha, R.E. Reprocessing Of Low-Density Polyethylene ( LDPE ) Waste Materials for The Formation Of PVC Ceiling Tiles Using Sawdust As A Reinforcement. J. Archit. Civ. Eng. 2017.3: 9–15 p.

3. Chowdhury, S., Maniar, A.T., Suganya, O. Polyethylene Terephthalate ( PET ) Waste as Building Solution. Int. J. Chem. Environ. Biol. Sci.2013. 1.

4. Geyer, R., Jambeck, J.R., Law, K.L. Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made. Sci. Adv. 2017.3:25–29 p.

5. Jain, A., Siddique, S., Gupta, T., Sharma, R.K. Utilization of shredded waste plastic bags to improve impact and abrasion resistance of concrete. Environ. Dev. Sustain. 2018https://doi.org/ https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-018-0204-1

6. Jassim, A.K. Recycling of Polyethylene Waste to Produce Plastic Cement. Procedia Manuacturing. 2017.8:635–642p. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2017.02.081

7. Jnr, A.K., Yunana, D., Kamsouloum, P., Webster, M., Wilson, D.C., Cheeseman, C. Recycling waste plastics in developing countries : Use of low-density polyethylene water sachets to form plastic bonded sand blocks. Waste Manag. 2018.80:112–118p. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2018.09.003

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