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.