Flexural Behavior of Concrete Beams Reinforced with Recycled Plastic Mesh

The production of plastic material continues to increase around the world. Consequently, large amount of waste plastic is generated. This will lead to environmental concern due to its disposal. In order to reduce the environment effects and cost, waste plastic can be recycled and utilized in other applications including construction. This paper investigated the flexural behavior of non-structural concrete beams containing waste plastic meshes as a replacement of traditional steel reinforcement. To achieve this objective, beams with steel reinforcing bars and waste plastic sheets with different effective widths and patterns were prepared. After 28 days of curing, the beams were subjected to an increasing load until failure and the central deflection was measured at each load increment. Furthermore, a numerical analysis was performed on the specimens using ABAQUS software. This will allow the comparison between the experimental and numerical results. The experimental data indicated that using plastic sheets improved the flexural toughness and ductility of concrete beams. Additionally, correlations were carried out between the ultimate capacity of the beams, the flexural toughness and the effective width of the plastic meshes. As the effective mesh width increased, the flexural toughness and ultimate capacity of the concrete beams increased. The results of this investigation will allow greater utilization of waste plastic in construction activities.