Cleaner Materials 6 (2022) 100147

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Cleaner Materials
journal homepage: www.journals.elsevier.com/cleaner-materials

Effect of waste PET strips as reinforcement in concrete under cyclic loading

Vimal Panara, Vedang Bhonde, Shivam Patel, Shivang Jayswal, Kannan K. R Iyer *,
Mahesh Mungule *
Department of Civil Engineering, Institute of Infrastructure, Technology, Research and Management, Ahmedabad 380026, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Reuse of waste PET bottles in construction industry is emerging as a potential option for improving the properties
Cyclic loading of unreinforced concrete. Although earlier studies have explored the effect of PET reinforced concrete under
Poisson’s ratio monotonic loading, limited studies have explored its behaviour under cyclic loading. In this context, the present
Waste PET
study quantifies the impact of PET strips on characteristics of concrete under low frequency cyclic loading at
Sustainable
Confinement effect
different stress levels. A comparative assessment of stress–strain response, deformation characteristics, loading/
unloading modulus, Poisson’s ratio and strain energy density for PET macro-reinforced concrete has been per­
formed with conventional concrete (CC). PET concrete exhibits higher loading capacity, lower variability, delay
in damage propagation and better damage tolerance under cyclic loading. The study also proposes a simple
equation for quantification of confinement effect developed due to the presence of PET strips in concrete.
Overall, the utilization of waste PET in concrete presents a sustainable approach for improving the properties of
unreinforced concrete (viz., pavement application, flowable fill application, brick manufacturing), while
reducing the negative environmental impact of waste PET.

Introduction aggregate results in soft inclusion and contributes to reduction in the

The global surge in usage of plastic bottles have contributed to an
environmental challenge comparable to climate change. It has been
reported that the plastic usage has increased by 200 times from 02
million tonnes/year in 1950 to around 400 million tonnes/year in 2015
(Geyer et al. 2017). Poly-ethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles contribute
significant proportion of plastic with reported production of 300 billion
units in 2004, with projection of 583 billion units by 2021 (Ryberg et al.,
2019; United Nations 2018). Though PET and high-density polyethylene
(HDPE) plastic is recyclable, the recycling rate has been reported to be
relatively low, viz., upto 30 % (Mashek, 2017). The chemical recycling
of PET bottles contribute towards reduced CO2 emissions and lower
consumption of fossil fuels, due to reduced manufacturing of new PET
bottles. However, studies have noted that the chemical recycling itself
enhances environmental burden and impacts local environment (Ma
et al. 2020). In this context, the application of waste untreated PET
bottles in construction industry, can enhance its reutilization and also
reduce the negative impact on environment.
Application of waste PET bottles in construction industry have been
attempted in the form of aggregates and fibres. The usage of PET as
mechanical properties of concrete (Frigione, 2010, Bachtiar et al. 2020).
The utilization of PET fibres as reinforcing material holds promise, and
limited studies carried out in this direction highlight its potential for
improvement in compressive and tensile strength, as well as toughness
of concrete (BaeKim et al. 2010, Irwin et al. 2013, Khatab et al. 2019).
Recent studies have indicated that PET strips obtained from bottles
exhibit favourable tensile strength and ductility (Nagarkar et al.1987,
Kayali et al. 2003, Song et al. 2005, Zhang et al. 2009, Shah et al. 2019),
which would be beneficial in enhancing the properties of concrete for
unreinforced concrete applications such as pavement construction, bed
concrete, flowable fill and brick manufacturing. Similar studies in the
past decade, focussed on application of metallic and non-metallic fibres,
have reported that presence of fibre reinforcement in concrete increases
its strength and ductility, by restraining the lateral deformation through
confinement effect (Mirmiran and Shahawy 1997). The reaction of
reinforcement to restrict lateral expansion and micro cracking, results in
development of confining pressure due to Poisson’s effect (Shin and
Andrawes 2010). It has also been suggested that discontinuous rein­
forcement or encasement, delays the damage accumulation due to
reduction in the dilation effect (Shin and Andrawes 2010). In fibre

* Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: vimalpanara1998@gmail.com (V. Panara), vedangbhonde98@gmail.com (V. Bhonde), shivamsatapara@gmail.com (S. Patel), shivang.jayswal.
17pc@iitram.ac.in (S. Jayswal), kannaniyer@iitram.ac.in (K. K. R Iyer), maheshmungule@iitram.ac.in (M. Mungule).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clema.2022.100147
Received 28 April 2022; Received in revised form 30 July 2022; Accepted 11 September 2022
Available online 16 September 2022
2772-3976/© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/).
V. Panara et al. Cleaner Materials 6 (2022) 100147

reinforced concrete, in addition to aggregate interlocking, an additional Table 1

bridging action is introduced due to presence of fibres, which resists Basic properties of concrete ingredients.
formation and propagation of cracks (Li 1993). Application of steel fi­ Sr. No. Property Value
bers have been observed to improve confinement; wherein, the extent of
For cement
confinement is proportional to the volume of steel fibers (Gao et al. 1. Specific gravity 3.15
1997, Carillo et al. 2019). Similarly, usage of polypropylene fibers is 2. Initial setting time 45 min
noted to improve the spalling behavior, mechanical properties (viz., 3. Final setting time 300 min
compressive strength, tensile strength and flexural strength) and dura­ 4. Soundness 1 mm
5. Consistency 29 %
bility of concrete (Nagarkar et al. 1987, Kayali et al. 2003, Song et al. For coarse aggregates
2005, Zeiml et al. 2006, Zhang et al. 2009). 1. Range of particle size 4.75–20 mm
Application of PET reinforcement has been observed to provide soft 2. Specific gravity 2.98
confinement with increased axial and lateral deformation compared to For fine aggregates (sand)
3. Range of particle size 0.15–4.75 mm (Zone-III)
other fibre reinforced plastics, FRPs (Dai et al. 2011); resulting in
4. Specific gravity 2.54
reduction of spalling, as well as plastic and drying shrinkage in concrete
(Mangat and Manarakis 1993, Khayat and Roussel 2000). Another study
by Hacini et al. (2021) noted that the expansion due to alkali-silica re­ reinforcement. The tensile strength and the corresponding strain of
action in mortar is reduced with addition of aggregates of shredded the PET strips in aged and unaged conditions have been determined
polyethylene terephthalate strapping bands. Huang and Zhou (2021) according to ASTM recommendations (ASTM D882, 2002; ASTM
have reported that lower PET proportion in concrete (0.1 %) would D3045-92, 2003) and the values are listed in Table 2.
result in improvement in compressive strength, split tension strength,
flexural strength and static elastic modulus. However, with increase in Casting of specimen
proportion of PET fibres, reduction in these properties have been
observed. Contradictory results have been reported in another study, To derive the PET strips used as reinforcement in concrete, waste
which noted that the compressive strength and elastic modulus were not plastic bottles have been cleaned free of dirt/dust and the truncated part
affected by PET fibres in concrete; however, the tensile strength was of the bottles are discarded. The bottles have been shredded in the
observed to improve with addition of PET fibres (Pellisser et al. 2012). longitudinal direction to obtain approximately 150 mm long, 6 mm wide
Hydrolyzing PET fibres in salt solutions such as NaOH, reportedly en­ and about 0.2 mm thick strips. To obtain the stress–strain relationship
hances the adhesion of fibres to the cementitious matrix, resulting in for CC and PET concrete, cube specimen has been casted. In order to
improved performance of concrete (Machovic et al. 2008). Foti (2019) ensure that there is no lump formation, the PET strips have been
noted that PET fibres improve ductility and toughness of concrete, introduced in the mix just prior to the vibration stage. For all the
however proportion of fibres beyond 1 % is reported to reduce the specimens, the casting is ensured under the same environmental con­
workability of concrete. The study also recommended utilization of PET ditions to ensure uniformity in the casting process. For cube specimens,
strips as localized reinforcement in high stress regions. the PET strips are placed at 20 mm c/c horizontal spacing and 25 mm
Further to static loading, limited studies have also explored the vertical spacing. Firstly, on a thin layer of concrete, the PET strips are
behaviour of fibre-reinforced concrete under the effect of cyclic loading, placed in horizontal layer at 2 cm spacing. Subsequently, about 2.5 cm of
and it has been concluded that the addition of steel/polypropylene fibres concrete is poured on the PET strips, followed by another horizontal
delays concrete spalling, enhances first cracking load and post-peak layer of PET strips. This process is continued until the complete cube is
ductility, increases damping ratio and energy dissipation, while casted.
reducing the natural frequency of concrete (Pellisser et al. 2012, Mor­ For obtaining the deformation characteristics of CC and PET concrete
rison et al. 2012, Ranjbaran et al. 2018, Chariolis et al. 2019, Minguez under cyclic loading, cylindrical specimen has been utilized. For the
et al. 2019). However, such studies for quantification of performance cylindrical specimen, PET strips of 70 mm length are placed in radial
under cyclic loading are rare for PET reinforced concrete. In this view, pattern (450 apart) in plan. The pattern is repeated at a vertical spacing
the present study explores the applicability of waste PET plastic strips as of 25 mm. The casting process for cylindrical specimen is similar to that
reinforcement, and evaluates the performance of PET concrete under explained above for cube specimen. The volume fraction of PET strips in
cyclic loading conditions, in comparison with the conventional concrete cube specimen and cylindrical specimen is computed as 0.23 % and 0.15
(CC). The study also evaluates the loading/unloading modulus and %, respectively. Fig. 1 depicts the arrangement of PET strips in cylin­
Poisson’s ratio at different stress levels. A hypothesis for quantification drical and cube specimen. The specimens are de-moulded after 24 h of
of the confinement effect due to presence of PET strips in concrete has casting and kept submerged in water at room temperature, for a period
also been presented. of 28 days.

Details of experimental studies and analysis of results Application of cyclic loading on CC and PET concrete specimen

Material properties and composition Prior to performing the cyclic loading tests, stress–strain curve for CC
and PET concrete have been obtained by performing displacement
For this study, M40 grade conventional and PET macro-reinforced controlled monotonic compression tests on six cube specimens (150 mm
concrete specimens have been tested under compressive cyclic loading × 150 mm), each for CC and PET concrete. Based on the stress–strain
conditions. For discussion, the conventional concrete is designated as CC response, the pre-peak stress strain curve is divided into four stages and
and PET macro-reinforced concrete as PET concrete. The weight mix limiting stress values for each stage of cyclic loading have been identi­
proportioning of 1:1.35:2.4 for cement, sand and coarse aggregate, fied. Further, cyclic loading at different stress ranges have been applied
respectively with a water-cement ratio of 0.4 has been considered. The
basic properties of ingredients obtained as per recommendations of Table 2
Bureau of Indian standards (BIS) and ASTM codes are as listed in Table 1 Properties of PET strips.
(IS 383-1970, 1997; IS 8112, 2013; ASTM C33/C33M-18, 2018; ASTM
Sr. No. Property Un-aged Aged
C150, 2007; IS 2386-Part-1, 1963; ACI 318, 2014; BS: EN 12620, 2002).
The plastic strips used for the study have been derived from the dis­ 1. Tensile strength (MPa) 63.0 54.2
2. Strain at peak stress (%) 6.4 3.9
carded waste PET bottles and are included in the concrete as macro-

2
V. Panara et al.
Fig. 1. Schematic view of distribution of plastic strips in cylindrical and cube specimen.
on the cylindrical specimens (150 mm diameter and 300 mm height) of
both CC and PET concrete as listed in Table 3. Unless the specimens
failed, the same specimens have been used for subsequent loading stages
(viz., higher stress levels). During cyclic loading, both axial and lateral
deformation have been measured. Fig. 2(a) depicts the experimental
assembly to evaluate axial and lateral deformations under cyclic loading
conditions. During each loading stage, specimens have been subjected to
three pre-loading cycles, with load ranging from zero to lower load limit,
and three loading cycles with load ranging from lower load limit to
upper load limit. At peak value for the stage, the load is held for 10 s, and
thereafter the specimen is unloaded. Similar procedure is followed for
subsequent stages or till failure whichever is earlier. The adopted
loading pattern and the typical hysteretic response in axial and lateral
direction is shown in Fig. 2(b). The data obtained has been used to
evaluate the Poisson’s ratio, as well as the loading modulus (Elm) and
unloading modulus (Eulm) of stress–strain curve by employing procedure
outlined in ASTM C469M-14 (2014). The summary of experimental
scheme adopted in the study in presented in Fig. 3.
Results and discussion
Stress–strain response of CC and PET concrete
The stress strain response of CC and PET concrete for cube specimens
(Fadadu et al. 2020) have been obtained as an average for six specimen
and the comparison is shown in Fig. 4(a). The damage experienced by
the specimens during loading and post failure images of CC and PET
concrete are shown in Fig. 4 (b)-4(d). At relatively lower stress levels,
PET concrete is characterized with lower loading modulus (viz., slope of
stress–strain curve) as compared to CC. With increasing stress, CC ex­
hibits continuous softening of response; whereas, response of PET con­
crete is almost linear thereby allowing it to exceed loading modulus of
CC concrete. This changeover in loading modulus occurs in pre-peak
region allowing PET concrete to resist higher peak stress than CC.
Further, the post-peak response for CC and PET concrete follows a
Table 3
Cyclic loading stages for determination of Poisson’s ratio and Elm/Eulm.
Cyclic loading stages Stage-I Stage-II Stage-III Stage-IV
Upper load limit 0.33P 0.5P 0.7P 0.9P
Lower load limit 0.167P 0.25P 0.35P 0.45P
No. of Specimens at each stage of testing under cyclic loading
CC 05 04 03* – response of PET concrete confirms damage initiation. In comparison,
PET 05 05 04 03*
Note: P = 80 % of average peak load of respective cube specimens; P = 990 kN
for CC and 1116 kN for PET concrete.
*
Specimen failure stage.
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Cleaner Materials 6 (2022) 100147
similar trend implying limited contribution of PET strips in influencing
the post-peak behavior.
It may be noted that despite higher loading modulus the presence of
inherent flaws in CC leads to formation of micro-cracks that continues to
form and grow with the increasing stress values. This is reflected in the
slow but steady decrease in the loading modulus as observed in pre-peak
region. PET concrete on the other hand, has lower initial modulus and is
also prone to early micro-cracking, similar to CC. However, presence of
plastic strips would ensure stress transfer across micro-cracks main­
taining stress continuity, hence controlling the growth of cracks (Stang
and Aarre, 1992, Stang et al. 2000) and achieving nearly uniform
behavior till attainment of peak stress. The detailed assessment of the
effect of PET strips on compressive strength and stress–strain curve with
oriented and random distribution of PET strips under monotonic loading
has been reported in earlier work by the authors (Shah et al. 2019,
Fadadu et al. 2020).
Strain-strain response of CC and PET concrete under cyclic loading
The cylindrical specimens of CC and PET concrete have been sub­
jected to cyclic loading at different stress levels, viz., loading stages, as
presented in Table 3. The number of specimens tested at each stage and
that survived for subsequent stages are also listed in Table 3. Fig. 5
shows the typical variation in axial and lateral strain corresponding to
stage-I cyclic loading for CC and PET concrete specimen. In general, it
has been noted that the PET concrete exhibits lower variation in axial
and lateral response as compared to CC. Further, in order to assess the
response of CC and PET concrete at each stage of loading, the average
response is plotted in Fig. 6. For CC concrete, as shown in Fig. 6(a),
increase in the stress level (viz., incremental loading stages), enhances
softening in axial response; whereas, limited effect is seen in the lateral
response. For PET concrete, as shown in Fig. 6(b), loading curve at each
stage is nearly identical with evident softening in its unloading curve.
For both CC and PET concrete, incrementing load stages enhances the
area under the loading–unloading curve, viz., lost strain energy density;
indicating damage accumulation within the material. However, for PET
concrete, nearly identical loading paths at different stages of loading,
confirm the presumption that despite damage accumulation, effective
stress transfer through PET strips prevent significant degradation in the
loading modulus.
The comparison of cyclic response for CC and PET concrete during
stage-I and stage-II loading is shown in Fig. 7. The comparison of stage-I
loading shown in Fig. 7(a) indicates that the axial response of PET
concrete is softer than CC. Moreover, the higher hysteresis in axial
PET concrete during stage-II loading shown in Fig. 7(b) exhibits stiff­
ened axial and lateral response as compared to CC. Further, CC exhibits
higher hysteresis than PET concrete indicating higher damage accu­
mulation. This improvement can be understood as an effect of the PET
V. Panara et al.
Fig. 2. Setup and typical loading history with response for determination of Poisson’s ratio and Elm/Eulm.
Fig. 3. Flowchart showing the summary of experimental plan adopted in the study for CC and PET concrete.
strips that help in bridging over the micro-cracks, resulting in more
uniform stress distribution, and also delaying its growth and propaga­
tion. The delayed improvement in performance of PET concrete is due to
the fact that some strain is required to mobilize the tensile resistance of
PET strips.
Elm and Eulm, evaluated from the axial response of different loading
stages is shown in Fig. 8. From Fig. 8(a), it can be noted that for CC, Elm
and Eulm reduces with increasing load stages (viz., stage-I to stage-III).
Further, the values of Elm are higher than Eulm, viz., the slope of
loading and unloading paths are different, suggesting the effect of
damage accumulation. For PET concrete (refer Fig. 8(b)), Elm appears to
be similar from stages-I to III; whereas, Eulm reduces with increasing
loading stage. The decreasing value of Eulm is a representation of slow
and progressive damage accumulation, which yields a softening
response. Despite this damage accumulation, uniform value of Elm con­
firms the ability to PET strips for effective stress transfer. Interestingly,
the values of Elm during stage-IV are slightly higher than previous
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Cleaner Materials 6 (2022) 100147
loading stages. During this stage, cracks would be well developed and
widely distributed, delegating the task of stress transfer to PET strips.
Thus, PET strips would be subjected to combined effect of axial force and
bending moment and will absorb part of the deformation. This is ex­
pected to reduce the net axial deformation and contributes to the
increased modulus.
Deformation characteristics for CC and PET concrete
The strain evolution in axial and lateral direction for each loading
stage of CC and PET concrete is shown in Fig. 9. As shown in Fig. 9(a),
the reduction in slope with increasing loading stages for CC can be
interpreted as lateral stiffening that can be attributed to development
and propagation of cracks in concrete. The presence of cracks may
absorb part of the lateral strain, which could reduce further lateral
expansion of concrete. The continuous stiffening in lateral strain can be
attributed to above factor. For PET concrete, the axial and lateral
V. Panara et al. Cleaner Materials 6 (2022) 100147

Fig. 4. (a) Average stress–strain curve for cube specimen of CC and PET concrete (b) Typical photograph of cube specimen of PET concrete during testing and after
failure (c) Typical post-failure photograph of CC, (d) Typical post-failure photograph of PET concrete.

deformation response for first two stages of loading, as depicted in Fig. 9
(b), indicates no visible change in the lateral stiffness; whereas, during
the stage-III loading, lateral strain corresponding to axial strain is lower.
This is similar to stage-II response of CC, and can be attributed to
delayed crack growth. Further, during stage-IV loading, the response of
PET concrete shows considerable softening (indicated by increment in
slope) in the lateral direction. The slope increment or softening observed
is peculiar to PET concrete and can be considered an effect of inclusion
of PET strips. This increment could be the result of expansion/slippage
of PET strips, and at this stage the damage accumulated in concrete is
expected to be widely distributed, and PET concrete is allowed to un­
dergo relatively free expansion.
Fig. 10 presents the variation of Poisson’s ratio with axial strain for
CC and PET concrete during different stages of loading. For discussion
purpose, dilation within elastic limit (viz., Poisson’s ratio) and outside
the elastic limit are collectively referred as Poisson’s ratio. It can be
observed from the figure, that Poisson’s ratio for both loading and
unloading paths are higher for CC as compared to PET concrete during
stage-I loading. Similar inferences have also been observed for stage-II
loading; however, during unloading phase, the Poisson’s ratio for CC

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V. Panara et al. Cleaner Materials 6 (2022) 100147

Fig. 5. Typical stress versus lateral/axial strain response during Stage-I loading for (a) CC specimen, and (b) PET concrete specimen.

Fig. 6. Comparison of average stress versus lateral/axial strain response for all stages of (a) CC (b) PET concrete.

Fig. 7. Comparison of average stress versus lateral/axial strain response for CC and PET concrete specimen during (a) Stage-I, (b) Stage-II.

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V. Panara et al. Cleaner Materials 6 (2022) 100147

Fig. 8. Variation of average values of loading and unloading modulus for different stages of (a) CC and (b) PET concrete.

Fig. 9. Comparison of average values of lateral and axial strain at different stages for (a) CC and (b) PET concrete.

Fig. 10. Variation of average values of Poisson’s ratio for different stages of (a) CC and (b) PET concrete.

is lower than PET concrete. With increasing loading stage, both the
loading and unloading Poisson’s ratio for CC decreases; whereas, it de­
creases in a narrow range for PET concrete. This reduction in Poisson’s
ratio is a combined effect of near constant lateral strain and increased
axial strain. It may be noted that the high initial values of Poisson’s ratio
in Fig. 10 corresponds to the initial response of material to loading.
Strain energy density of CC and PET concrete
The ability of PET concrete to resist damage contributes to wider
distribution of micro cracks resulting in higher energy absorption.
Further, relaxation of lateral deformation is restricted due to presence of
PET strips. The role of PET strips in this regard can be better understood
with quantification of strain energy density (area under the stress strain
curve at a given strain value). The strain energy density determined for
axial and lateral response of CC and PET concrete is shown in Fig. 11. For

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V. Panara et al. Cleaner Materials 6 (2022) 100147

density observed for CC concrete. Analogously, the strain energy ab­

sorption in lateral direction also increases significantly in presence of
PET strips. This observation is also confirmed by the failure images of CC
and PET concrete specimen (refer Fig. 12); wherein, the PET concrete
exhibits significant damage at failure. In contrast, the CC specimen ex­
hibits peripheral damage at failure, indicating relatively lower energy
absorption and localized damage at failure.

Role of plastic strips in development of confinement stress in concrete

As observed from the experimental data related to monotonic

loading (Shah et al. 2019, Fadadu et al. 2020) as well as cyclic loading
from the present study, it is clear that PET concrete performs better in
terms of loading capacity, damage absorption, and stability in loading/
unloading modulus and Poisson’s ratio. The confining stress developed
by PET strips play an important role in enhancing the response of PET
concrete. To obtain better insight on this aspect, attempt has been made
in the study to quantify the role of PET strips in developing the
confinement at different stress levels. Fig. 13 shows the schematic of
geometry and loading conditions for CC and PET concrete. Under uni­
axial compressive loading, both CC and PET concrete are free to expand
laterally. However, in case of PET concrete, difference in the properties
of PET strips and concrete alters the stress distribution. In order to
maintain continuity, interfacial zone with PET strips and concrete needs

Fig. 11. Axial and lateral strain energy density for (a) CC (b) PET concrete.

CC, the strain energy density in axial direction increases significantly

from stage-I to stage-II loading. Correspondingly, the strain energy
density in lateral direction decreases from stage-I to stage-II. In com­
parison, strain energy for PET concrete in axial and lateral direction
increases gradually from stage-I to stage-II. The axial strain energy
density in stage-III of PET concrete is almost 3 times that of strain energy Fig. 13. Geometry and loading arrangement of CC and PET concrete.

Fig. 12. Typical failure images for specimen of (a) CC and (b) PET concrete.

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V. Panara et al. Cleaner Materials 6 (2022) 100147

Fig. 14. Compatibility criterion at concrete and PET strip interface.

to follow strain compatibility as depicted in Fig. 14. This requirement is [ ]

σx,concrete σy
in line with the general conditions of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) as εx = − − ν (4)
stated by Mirmiran and Shahawy (1997). Econcrete Econcrete
Considering that the lateral strain in concrete develops due to Pois­ Substituting, σx,concrete and σx,PETstrip from Eqns. (2) and (3), we have.
son’s effect, the interfacial shear (viz., shear at strip-concrete interface) [ ′ ]
will cause development of tensile stress in the PET strips. The strain εx = −
νσy
1−
m Ast
(5)
compatibility at interface in lateral direction can be expressed as: Econcrete bd

εx,concrete = εx,PETstrip (1) The effect of PET strips measured in terms of reduction in lateral
strain and the associated confinement stress can be expressed by Eqns.
ν σ x,PETstrip (6) and (7).
− σy =
Econcrete EPETstrip ( ′ )
( ) m Ast νσy
EPETstrip Δεx,PETstrip = (6)
σx,PETstrip = − νσ y (2) bd Econcrete
Econcrete
( ′ )
EPETstrip m Ast
(7)
′
where, = m = empirical parameter σ x,analytical = υσ y
Econcrete bd

whereas, Econcrete is Young’s modulus for CC; EPETstrip is the Young’s
modulus for PET strips; υ is poisons ratio for CC; σ y and σ x,PETstrip are
vertical stress in concrete and lateral tensile stress in PET strips,
respectively.
To satisfy the force equilibrium, the lateral tensile stress developed in
the PET strips must be balanced by compressive stresses developed in
concrete. The balancing compressive stress developed can be expressed
as,
σx,PETstrip Ast
σ x,concrete =
db
where,
b = width of cube specimen/diameter of cylinder specimen.
d = vertical distance between strips.
Ast = area of PET strips in the plane perpendicular to loading.
The confinement stress (σx,concrete) as defined in Eqn. (3), generates
local biaxial state of stress in the material and shall be used to evaluate
lateral strain in PET concrete as,
In line with the experimental observations, Eqn. (7) confirms that the
confinement effect is directly proportional to the applied stress σy, and is
inversely proportional to the spacing (d) of the PET strips. From the
experimental data, confinement stress can be computed from lateral
strain values of CC and PET concrete by using the expression given in
Eqn. (8).
( )
σ x,expt = εx,CC − εx,PET Econcrete (8)
Applicability of Eqn. (7) to obtain an estimate of confinement effect
(3) can be assessed by comparing it with the experimental confinement
stress obtained using Eqn. (8). The comparison of experimental and
analytical confinement stress for stage-I and stage-II loading is shown in
Fig. 15. For stage-I loading, experimental confinement stress is initially
negative, thus confirming the earlier argument that initial tensile force
in PET strips is required to induce the confinement effect. The formation
of distributed microcracks delegate the role of stress transfer to PET
strips thus inducing the necessary tensile force. The initial dormant
behavior of PET strips can also be understood from the initial softening
in response of PET concrete. As Eqn. (7) does not account for this initial
effect, the difference in initial confinement values between the

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V. Panara et al. Cleaner Materials 6 (2022) 100147

Comparison of the performance of PET concrete with steel/polypropylene

fibre reinforced concrete

In order to understand the performance of PET concrete in com­

Fig. 15. Comparison of experimental and analytical values of confine­
ment stress.
analytical equation and experimental values can be attributed to this
effect. Further, the confinement stress increases with increase in the
axial stress values; and as stress value increases, analytical and experi­
mental confinement stresses follow similar trend. Further, for stage-II
loading also, a similar trend is observed for experimental and analyt­
ical values of confinement stress. Thus, it can be stated that Eqn. (7)
reasonably predicts the confinement effect developed by PET strips. It is
recommended that the proposed equation be verified with more studies
on fibre reinforced concrete for different grades of concrete.
Table 4
Comparative performance of different types of fibres/strips in concrete under
monotonic loading.
parison with steel/polypropylene fibre reinforced concrete reported in
earlier studies, Table 4 presents the comparative assessment of gain/loss
in compressive strength for fibre-reinforced concrete. It can be noted
that although steel fibres in comparison to non-metallic fibres have been
utilized in higher proportion, non-metallic fibres have yielded
improvement in compressive strength in range of about 4–13 %, while
concrete with steel fibres have yielded both gain/loss of compressive
strength. The strength gain with waste PET strips in concrete, as
observed in the present study, is even higher than the strength gain
achieved with polypropylene fibres of similar proportion, and hence
merits its utilization as a potential reinforcing material for sustainable
development of fibre reinforced concrete.
A comparative assessment of performance of steel/polypropylene
reinforced concrete under cyclic loading (from past studies) has been
carried out with the observed response of PET concrete from the present
study, and has been presented in Table 5. The findings of these earlier
studies (mainly steel fibres, polypropylene fibres or blended fibres)
indicate that fibres contribute positively to concrete in improving its
behaviour under cyclic loading such as damping ratio, energy dissipa­
tion and hence fatigue life. The present study further extends the
beneficial effects of fibre-reinforced concrete, by establishing the
contribution of PET strips in concrete such as delayed damage propa­
gation, lower variability in results, consistent performance up to higher
stress levels and ability to survive higher cycles of loading.
Overall, the present study contributes towards establishing the role
of PET strips on improving the properties of concrete. The present work
focused on horizontally oriented strips in concrete; however, the study
can be extended for randomly oriented PET macro-reinforcement in
concrete. This would be a step forward towards possible sustainable
application of such waste PET strips in unreinforced concrete in real life
applications, such as pavement concrete and improving ductility in high
strength concrete.
Conclusions

Fibre/Strip Reference Volume % Increment / Reference

Type Average Fraction Decrement in
In the present study, waste PET macro-reinforced concrete (PET
Compressive (%) Compressive concrete) has been studied and compared with conventional concrete
Strength Strength* (CC) under low frequency cyclic loading at different stress levels, with
(MPa) an objective of sustainable reutilization of waste PET bottles in con­
Steel (Hooked) 36.6 0.5 1.1 (Thomas and struction industry. The conclusions derived from the study have been
1.0 2.5 Ramaswamy summarized below:
1.5 3.6 2007)
66.6 0.5 0.8
1.0 1.4
1. PET concrete exhibits softened response coupled with higher hys­
1.5 2.7 teresis in comparison to CC for cyclic loading at lower stress level
Steel (Hooked) 24.4 0.4 − 7.8 (Fatih et al. (stage-I), which confirms the role of PET strips as soft confinement.
0.8 − 7.4 2007) However, the improved response of PET concrete evident from
34.8 0.4 − 11.5
subsequent higher stress levels, confirms the role of PET strips in
0.8 − 15.2
Polypropylene 34.5 0.05 − 4.5 (Alhozaimy bridging over micro-cracks developed during initial loading, result­
fibres 0.1 8.6 et al. 1996) ing in more uniform stress distribution. Absence of such mechanism
0.2 15.0 for CC contributes to early damage accumulation resulting in failure
0.3 4.8 during stage-III loading (70 % of peak load, P); whereas, the same for
Polypropylene 28.0 0.3 4.7 (Hsie et al.
fibres 0.6 9.1 2008)
PET concrete is recorded at stage-IV loading (90 % of peak load, P),
0.9 13.3 indicating higher damage tolerance of PET concrete.
PET strips 35.6 0.23 11.8 (Shah et al. 2. During cyclic loading, the presence of PET strips contributes to
(Aligned and 0.23 8.5 2019) slower reduction in loading/unloading modulus (Elm/Eulm) and
Random)
Poisson’s ratio. The variability in these parameters increases faster
PET fibres 25.0, 30.0 0.1 7.2 (Khayat and
Roussel 2000) for CC concrete as compared to PET concrete, indicating faster
PET strips 55.4 0.23 13.4 Present damage accumulation in CC. Higher strain energy absorption
(Cube Study observed for PET concrete as compared to CC concrete suggests
specimens) enhancement in damage tolerance due to addition of PET strips.
*
Positive values indicate increment, while negative values indicate decrement 3. The study proposes a simple equation for estimation of confinement
in compressive strength, as compared to unreinforced concrete. stress due to PET strips in macro-reinforced concrete. Overall, the

10
V. Panara et al. Cleaner Materials 6 (2022) 100147

Table 5
Studies on Fibre-Reinforced Concrete under Cyclic Loading.
Fibres/Strip type Volume fraction Effect of fibres on concrete properties Remarks References

Steel fibres 0.38–4 % • Delayed concrete spalling, reduction in shear cracks, • Optimum proportion of steel fibres varies Morrison et al. 2012;
improved energy dissipation and damping ratio, from 1 to 3 % Ranjbaran et al. 2018;
enhancement in loading/unloading secant modulus, Increase in proportion of steel fibres Chariolis et al. 2019
improved ductility and crack control increases the ductility of concrete
Flexural failure with little chances of
concrete spalling or shear failure
The enhancement of first cracking load of
upto 47 % at 3 % steel fibres
Polypropylene 0.25 and • Natural frequency reduces by 90 % for 1 % fibres as • Improves performance of concrete under Pellisser et al. 2012
fibres 1% compared to concrete without fibres. dynamic/seismic loading
Concrete with fibres improves the damping ratio and Ductile failure with improvement in
energy dissipation damping of concrete due to presence of
Energy dissipated in one cycle with 1 % fibres
polypropylene fibres equivalent to energy dissipated in
three cycles for concrete without fibres
Steel fibres, 1–2 % • Elastic modulus increases by 15–20 % under low stress • Blended fibres are more effective than only Xu et al. 2018; Minguez
Polypropylene level (25–40 % of compressive strength), increase steel or polypropylene fibres et al. 2019
fibres, marginal at higher stress levels Elastic properties improved at lower stress
blended fibres Blended fibres have more effect on improving the levels, but beneficial effects at higher stress
(steel + ductility as compared to only polypropylene fibres. levels is not conclusive
Polypropylene)
PET strips 0.23 % (Cube • The loading/unloading modulus and Poisson’s ratio • PET strips effective in improving properties Present study
specimen); reduces at slower rate for PET concrete than concrete of concrete under cyclic loading
0.15 % without fibres. The present contributes to the existing
(Cylindrical PET strips contribute towards improving concrete state-of-the-art in terms on demonstrating
specimen) performance, viz., better ductility, delay in damage the role of PET strips enhancing concrete
propagation, lower variation in results and ability to properties
sustain higher cycles of loading

study contributes towards quantification of the role of waste PET
strips on improving the concrete performance in terms of higher
loading capacity, delay in damage propagation, lower variation in
results for different specimen and ability to sustain higher cycles of
loading. It is opined that such studies will encourage sustainable
reutilization of waste PET strips in unreinforced concrete (e.g.,
pavement applications) and in high strength concrete for improving
its ductility.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
The authors are thankful to their institute IITRAM for funding the
project through internal grants.
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