Graduate Research Project

日期 : Aug 2016 - May 2017

Use of Plastic bags (Polythene) has increased in our daily life due to its light-weight and low cost. It has a multitude of uses in day-to-day life. The world’s annual consumption of plastic materials has increased from around 5 million tons in the 1950s to nearly 100 million tons in 2001 (Jhon 2001). Plastic production also involves the use of potentially harmful chemicals, which are added as stabilizers or colorants. When such plastics are burned, harmful quantities of dioxins, a group of highly toxic chemicals are emitted. Dioxins are the most toxic to the human organisms. Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whale sand other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags for mistaken food. Collection, hauling and disposal of plastic bag waste create an additional environmental impact. Concrete’s tensile strength ranges from 200 to 700 psi making it more vulnerable to cracks. Polythene being stronger in tensile strength as compared to concrete can be used as an additive in concrete mix to control cracking thus improving serviceability of concrete structures. The hypothesis of this study is based on the premise that concrete members containing polythene pieces, particularly in tension fibres, will have lower crack widths and better distribution of cracks.