IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i7p5640-d1105594.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Flexural Behavior of Mortar Beams Strengthened with Recycled Plastic Mesh

Author

Listed:
  • Hassan Ghanem

    (Faculty of Engineering, Beirut Arab University, Beirut P.O. Box 11-5020, Lebanon)

  • Safwan Chahal

    (Faculty of Engineering, Beirut Arab University, Beirut P.O. Box 11-5020, Lebanon)

  • Jamal Khatib

    (Faculty of Engineering, Beirut Arab University, Beirut P.O. Box 11-5020, Lebanon
    Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton WV1 1LY, UK)

  • Adel Elkordi

    (Faculty of Engineering, Beirut Arab University, Beirut P.O. Box 11-5020, Lebanon
    Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, Alexandria 11 21511, Egypt)

Abstract

The generation of plastic waste is increasing all over the world at an alarming rate, therefore raising concerns related to its disposal. As space for landfilling is becoming scarce and as incinerating the plastic waste leads to the release of toxic elements into the environment, recycling becomes a viable and an attractive option in pursuit of sustainable development. This paper investigates the flexural behavior of mortar beams reinforced with recycled plastic mesh. To achieve this objective, 27 mortar beams were prepared, with 24 of them containing waste plastic mesh with different void ratios and effective widths. All beams were cured for 28 days and then tested using a three-point bending test. Mid-span deflection was measured for each increment of load to obtain the load deflection curve. Moreover, a numerical simulation was performed on all mortar specimens using finite element software ABAQUS and a comparison was made with the experimental analysis. Test results showed that the addition of plastic mesh increased the flexural toughness and ductility of mortar beams. Furthermore, it was noticed that as the effective width ratio increased from 0 to 0.58, the ultimate capacity and flexural toughness increased. Beyond this level, a decrease was observed. On the other hand, the ductility index was proportional to the flexural toughness for all mesh effective width ratios. Comparing the ultimate capacity, flexural toughness and ductility index between the experimental and numerical data, there was a difference of up to 7%. This indicates that the numerical output can be a good predictor of the performance of plastic inside the mortar. Hence, using recycled plastic mesh could be recommended for improving the flexural performance of mortar beams, creating a sustainable composite.

Suggested Citation

  • Hassan Ghanem & Safwan Chahal & Jamal Khatib & Adel Elkordi, 2023. "Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Flexural Behavior of Mortar Beams Strengthened with Recycled Plastic Mesh," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-25, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:7:p:5640-:d:1105594
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/7/5640/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/7/5640/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hatem Alhazmi & Faris H. Almansour & Zaid Aldhafeeri, 2021. "Plastic Waste Management: A Review of Existing Life Cycle Assessment Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-21, May.
    2. Abdulaziz Alsaif & Mohammad Alshannag, 2022. "Flexural Behavior of Portland Cement Mortars Reinforced with Hybrid Blends of Recycled Waste Fibers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-17, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Abdulmajeed Almadhi & Abdelhakim Abdelhadi & Rakan Alyamani, 2023. "Moving from Linear to Circular Economy in Saudi Arabia: Life-Cycle Assessment on Plastic Waste Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-22, July.
    2. Jonas Keller & Carla Scagnetti & Stefan Albrecht, 2022. "The Relevance of Recyclability for the Life Cycle Assessment of Packaging Based on Design for Life Cycle," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-13, March.
    3. Noura Al-Mazrouei & Ali H. Al-Marzouqi & Waleed Ahmed, 2022. "Characterization and Sustainability Potential of Recycling 3D-Printed Nylon Composite Wastes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-13, August.
    4. Sabah Mariyam & Logan Cochrane & Shifa Zuhara & Gordon McKay, 2022. "Waste Management in Qatar: A Systematic Literature Review and Recommendations for System Strengthening," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-23, July.
    5. Ichiro Tsuchimoto & Yuya Kajikawa, 2022. "Recycling of Plastic Waste: A Systematic Review Using Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-39, December.
    6. Dong Mu & Shaoqing Zhang, 2021. "The Impact of Reward–Penalty Policy on Different Recycling Modes of Recyclable Resources in Residential Waste," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-18, July.
    7. Luca Di Paolo & Simona Abbate & Eliseo Celani & Davide Di Battista & Giovanni Candeloro, 2022. "Carbon Footprint of Single-Use Plastic Items and Their Substitution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-16, December.
    8. Rahaf Ajaj & Wisam Abu Jadayil & Hamna Anver & Eman Aqil, 2022. "A Revision for the Different Reuses of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Water Bottles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-14, April.
    9. Ma. Cristine Concepcion D. Ignacio & Kurt A. Rosentrater & Dirk E. Maier, 2023. "Estimating Environmental and Economic Impacts of Hermetic Bag Storage Technology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-19, October.
    10. Justus Poschmann & Vanessa Bach & Matthias Finkbeiner, 2023. "Decarbonization Potentials for Automotive Supply Chains: Emission-Intensity Pathways of Carbon-Intensive Hotspots of Battery Electric Vehicles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-20, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:7:p:5640-:d:1105594. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.