Efeito da adição de pó de PET em um solo argiloso para aplicação em pavimentação

Abstract

One of the biggest engineering challenges today is to make technological development allied to sustainable development. In Brazil, there is an annual increase in the generation of urban solid waste. Although Brazil is a world leader in Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) recycling, just over half of this material was recycled, considering the amount of approximately 637,000 tons of discarded packaging. One of the most efficient ways of combining sustainable development with civil construction activities is to incorporate waste from other sectors into the materials used in civil construction. Given this scenario, this work aimed to investigate the mechanical behavior of composites consisting of clayey soil plus PET powder, at levels of 5, 7 and 9%, in order to evaluate their use as subgrade reinforcement in pavements. For this investigation, characterization tests were carried out with the basalt residual soil, typical in the municipality of Campo Mourão, and this material was classified using the AASHTO system. For mechanical evaluation, compaction and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) tests were carried out, with the aim of comparing the parameters of optimal moisture content, maximum dry density and the bearing capacity of natural soil and composites at different levels of addition of PET powder. The results obtained in this work were compared with the results of Thomas et al. (2019). Based on the results of the characterization tests, the natural soil was classified as A-7-5(16). In the compaction tests, an increase in the maximum dry density and a decrease in the optimum moisture content were observed for all investigated composites. In the CBR tests, all composites showed an increase in bearing capacity and a decrease in expansion. This behavior was proportional to the addition of PET powder. The results of the tests carried out in this work suggest that the composites can be used as a subgrade reinforcement layer, since all the samples presented a bearing capacity superior to that of the natural soil, as well as an expansion of less than 1%.