LOWERING ROAD MAINTENANCE COST USING COLD MIX

ASPHALT

Written by: Supervised by:

Alex Maina Kiai MR. Gideon Saburi.

BSCE/2865/2011 MR. Wilson Mutiso.

Abstract

From the human rights point of view, every human being has the right to live in a good
quality house or shelter and these shelters should meet the minimum acceptable quality
standards, be durable and strong. The high rate of population growth and the shortage of
affordable shelter, which are prevalent in many developing countries, have reached a point
that the need for initiating and implementing urgent actions.

Twenty-two percent of Kenyans live in cities, and the urban population is growing at a
rate of 4.2 percent every year.2 With this level of growth, Nairobi requires at least 120,000
new housing units annually to meet demand, yet only 35,000 homes are built, leaving the
housing deficit growing by 85,000 units per year. As a result of this mismatched supply
and demand, housing prices have increased 100 percent since 2004. This pushes lower
income residents out of the formal housing market and into the slums.

The main cause of housing problems is the increased cost of building materials. Materials
for the houses include: timber, masonry; stones, burnt bricks, cement-sand blocks,
concrete, etc. In developing countries common materials such as timber, cement-sand
blocks and concrete are not affordable due to high costs. Most people if properly guided
and provided with alternative cheap but quality materials are able to build better houses by
improving the clay bricks used for building houses.

This project provides this locally available and cheaper building material; which if well
adopted will reduce the housing problems encountered in our nation. Clay bricks made in
this research are easy to make and also uses the locally available materials which are clay
and plastics (polythene bags).
In the study the polythene bags which are seen as wastes and pollutants were used in the
making of bricks so as to improve their engineering properties namely strength and
absorption rate. The well shredded polythene bags were added in the proportions of 2%,
4%, 6% and 8% by weight in the clay used to make the bricks. A total of 64 bricks were
made in total and the tested for absorption rate, strength and moisture expansion. From the
laboratory experiments it was found that the mix proportion of 5.6% of plastic by weight
gave the best improvement to the engineering properties of the bricks made when
compared to the other mix proportion.

The strength the bricks were found to be an average of 7.22KN/mm2 which is above the
one required by the BS of 2.8KN/mm2. The bricks added weight by an average of 16.1%
which is within the acceptable standards of the BS which should not be more than 20%.

Generally this project was a success as the bricks samples produced met the BS
expectations in the tests conducted.

Keywords: Plastics, Compressive strength, Clay Bricks, Moisture Expansion

Introduction

We are living in a world where the majority of people live in cities and 1 billion live in
slums, a figure that will double by 2030. Urban populations are growing at a rate much
faster than can be absorbed and managed, causing demands on services and infrastructure
that massively outstrip supply. In many emerging market cities, this leaves the majority of
residents with few options but to live in slums. Increasing access to high quality affordable
housing has a profound impact both for the individual and society at large. Yet, housing is
a challenging and capital-intensive sector characterized by delays and regulatory
difficulties, and as a result, it rarely gains the limelight for impact investors and social
entrepreneurs.

Besides the lack of adequate houses also comes the problem of plastic wastes in our
country. Plastic are littered literally everywhere within our environment. Plastic being non-
biodegradable and scattered everywhere posses as an economic burden to the local
 authorities and the government in general as they attempt to collect and dispose them
properly. However, with this project these plastics could be more easily recycled and used
in the production of the bricks. This would relieve the government of the expenses to
collect and dispose them while at the same time being used in a more economical way.

This project seeks to use the plastics and naturally occurring clay in order to make cheaper
building bricks and hence solving the housing problem by reducing the cost of this
building materials. It also aims at reducing pollution caused by the plastic bags and also
looks into the improvement produced by incorporating the plastic in manufacture of the
clay bricks.

2.0 Methodology

2.1 Materials

The materials used in this study are clay and plastics. Clay was sourced from Utange area
of Mombasa County and then tested for its physical characteristics in accordance with BS
1377 and the results tabulated as below. The plastics were obtained from the school
compound then shredded to small pieces less than 1cm square.

Physical property Value observed

Plastic limit (wp)% 20
Plastic index (pi)% 17.6
Linear shrinkage (l)mm 18
Liquid limit(wl)% 37.6

2.2 Sample Preparation

The soil passing through 2mm sieve was mixed with the different percentages of plastic by
weight and the thoroughly mixed manually to obtain a well blended mix.water was added to the
mix in very small amount just to make clay more easy to mould. This wet mix was then poured
into the wooden moulds measuring 235mm by 120mm by 80mm this was with an expectation
that the brick will shrink after drying and firing by approximately 2.12%. this bricks samples
made as above were then left to dry by air for at least seven days before firing (two days while
covered n five days while exposed). Finally fired bricks were ready for testing.

2.3 Testing

Compressive strength

The compressive strength was determined by dividing the maximum compressive load by
the gross cross-sectional area of the specimen since three specimens were used, the
arithmetic average was determined

Moisture expansion

A bricks length will be accurately measured before and after soaking it in water for at
least 4-8 days and the change in length used to estimate by how much the brick will
expand over time when exposed to adverse weather conditions.

Where L2= original length after soaking and L1 = length before soaking

Moisture absorption

Three bricks of each mix proportion after measuring their weights were immersed in
water for 24 hours. The bricks were then reweighed and their change in weight tabulated.
 Where; m2 is weight after soaking and m1 is weight before soaking

4.0 Results and Discussion

Compressive strength

Time Type Marked Crushing Area Compressive strength

Of Loading strength(X) (Y) ( X/Y)
(seconds) (KN) (Mm2

90 Control A 19 25850 7.35

90 B 20.5 25850 7.93

90 C 19.8 25850 7.66
Average 59.3 25850 7.64
90 Clay plastic D 15.5 26400 5.87
(11.1%)
90 E 22 25850 8.51
(5.6%)
90 F 18.8 25850 7.27
(2.8%)
Average 56.3 25850 7.22
The value of 8.51N/MM is the highest as compared to all the rest .It can be concluded that 5.6%
of the brick by weight when replaced by plastic will increase the compressive strength of fired
clay bricks.

This does not state that 5.6% plastic will give the optimum values but it should be between 2.8%
and 5.6%. The plastic bricks also give a better finish.
Moisture expansion

Type Marking Period(days) Original New Difference(L1- %

length(L1)mm length(L2)mm L2)mm change
in vol
Control A 4 10 10.1 0.1
B 4 7.5 7.5 0
C 4 4.2 4.3 0.1
Volume 315 325.5 10.5 3.33
A 8 10 10.1 0.1
B 8 7.5 7.7 0.2
C 8. 4.2 4.3 0.1
315 334.41 19.41 6.16
Clay D 4 15.3 15.3 0
plastic

E 4 10.5 10.7 0.2

F 4 3.4 3.5 0.1
Volume 546.21 573.0 26.8 4.91
D 8 15.3 15.5 0.2
E 8 10.5 10.7 0.2
F 8 3.4 3.5 0.1
Volume 546.21 580.48 34.27 6.27

A normal brick is more affected by moisture as compared to the clay plastic brick and hence the
clay plastic brick is a better building material as compared to the former .This is so for it will in
the long run absorb less moisture making it more resistant to reduction in compressive strength
caused by moisture absorption.
Moisture absorption

Type Marking Wet Dry weight(g) Difference (X- DIFFERENCE

weight(g)X Y Y) %
Control A 675.7 640.7 35.0 7.9
B 693.5 645.5 48.0 7.4
C 978 924 54 5.8

Clay D 2864.1 2452.5 411.6 16.7

plastic
E 2943.2 2494.0 449.2 18.0
F 767.8 688.9 78.9 11.5
(sample)

The BS code allows fired clay bricks to add weight by a maximum of 20%. The highest being
18%.

Conclusion

From the above result analysis and comparison with the control the following conclusion can be
drawn

 For compressive strength the clay plastic bricks shows improvement in the strength
compared to the normal bricks with the tested strength being 8.51KN/mm2 which is
higher than one required in the BS (2.8KN/mm2). This shows plastic succeeded in
improving strength of bricks.
 The clay-plastic bricks also show little moisture expansion as compared to the bricks
without plastics.
  The case of moisture absorption showed same results that though the plastic brick met the
BS requirements it did not fair well compared to clay bricks. The clay bricks expanded
less compared to clay-plastic brick.
 It was also established that plastic addition by 5.6% b weight when making blocks gave
the best results. However, this does not mean that this percentage gives the optimum
results. It’s therefore generally concluded that the percentage that gives the optimum
results is between 2.8% and 6%.

Recommendation

Based on the above result, I recommend that further tests be carried regarding the moisture
absorption of the clay-plastic brick. This is because though the bricks moisture absorption
rate did not exceed 20% which is recommended by the British standards it’s important to
make that value less. This is because moisture absorption of the bricks determines the
durability of the structures they build.

References

1. British Standard Institution. BS 1377-2:1990—Method of the Test for Soils

for Civil Engineering Purposes. Classification tests. In BS 1377; British Standards
Institution (BSI): London, UK, 1990.

2. Chen, F. H. , (2008) “Foundations on expansive soils”, Chen & Associates, Elsevier

Publications, U.S.A
3. Dr. Arcort Ramachandran, 2006, Journal of the Network of African countries on local
building materials and technologies,
4. Dr- Ing. John Makunza, 2005, Environmental Friendly Low Cost Housing Technology,
5. Erdal Cokca (2001) “Use Of Class C Fly Ashes for the Stabilization – of an Expansive
Soil” Journal of Geotechnical and Geo-environmental Engineering Vol. 127, July, pp.
568-573.
6. Handy, R.L. and Spangler, M.G. (2007) “Geotechnical Engineering: Soil and Foundation
Principles and Practice”, McGraw-Hill, Fifth Edition,
7. Heinrich Mueller, Dr. Soumen Maithy, 2008 Green brick Making Manual