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

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.