Positively Shifting the Mindset in Construction Using Non-Biodegradable Materials for Sustainable Construction: An Experimental Study

Abstract

Disposing of the non-biodegradable material, scrap Tire rubber specifically, has always been a bone of contention for the municipalities around the world. Not only the land that it covers is the major issue, but also the environment is always at risk because the scrap tire being non-biodegradable, takes ages in decomposition. It is always prone to fire, which may cause disastrous situation around as it is not so easy to extinguish the scrap tire fire by whatever the resources available to the firefighters. To deal with this modernday issue which rapidly became a serious concern of many governments in terms of social, economic & environmental sustainability, many researches started working on the effective use of scrap tire rubber by using it in different infrastructure elements, for instance, road pavements, waterproofing of underground utilities, shotcrete for tunnel wall lining, floor coverings of the playgrounds. Keeping in mind the sustainability issues, this study was conducted to assess the change in the fundamental structural properties of the concrete by mixing scrap tire rubber as an additive material. Four batches of the concrete were designed to be tested in the laboratory with the first batch as plain concrete with no scrap tire rubber to be kept as a reference point, 10%, 20% and 30% addition of scrap tire rubber by weight of cement. Results showed drastic improvement in Cylinder Crushing Strength, Modulus of Elasticity, the Poisson's ratio and the Ultimate Flexural Strength of beams.