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International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7 (4.20) (2018) 602-607
International Journal of Engineering & Technology
Website: www.sciencepubco.com/index.php/IJET
Research paper
Behavior of Plastic Tubular Specimens Filled with
Brick-Aggregates Concrete Under Compressive Loads
Haider Sadiq Al-Aasam
1
*, Ruaa Yousif Hassan
2
, Riyadh Jawad Aziz
3
1
Al-Esraa University College, Baghdad, Iraq.
2
Al-Esraa University College, Baghdad, Iraq.
3
Al-Esraa University College, Baghdad, Iraq.
*Corresponding author E-mail: haider.sa@gmail.com
Abstract
This study represents results of an experimental test to investigate the effect on the compression strength of gravel and recycled brick
aggregates concrete specimens confined using plastic tubes. Plastic tubes used to confine concrete which is produced using river gravel
or broken brick as a replacement for river gravel. A compressive load was applied to the specimens gradually up to failure.
The results have indicated that as concrete compressive strength increased from (21.0 to 27.5)MPa, an increase in peak load of (3-46)%
was achieved. Moreover, the brick aggregates concrete specimens have lower peak load as compared to gravel concrete and the peak
load of confined specimens increased (3-6) times as compared to unconfined. Also, when the ratio of (height/diameter) of the concrete
specimen increases from (2-4) the peak load decreased by about (2-12)%.
The use of brick aggregates as a replacement to river aggregates results in significant decrease in weight and cost of concrete members.
As well, the use of plastic tubes as a concrete form is superior to other construction materials such as wood or steel forms, since plastic
tubes reduce the cost of forms and time of construction, and it protects concrete used for underground construction.
Keywords: Broken Brick; Concrete Column; Confinement; PP-R Pipes; Strength.
1. Introduction
The continuous decadence in piers and piles of structures,
especially those constructed in harsh environments such as piles of
bridges, has raised the request for repairing and modifying
existing concrete columns in building and passway substructures
[1]. It is needful to repair the decadence and damaged concrete
columns to raise their carrying capacity and ductility to get better
durability and realization [2].
A composite system such as Concrete-Filled Tube (CFT) may be
used for such rehabilitation and retrofitting. For many years,
different types of confined columns had been used such as steel or
FRP (fiber-reinforced polymer) pipes as the confinement material.
But these types of materials are facing a lot of difficulties due to a
number of factors such as abrasion resistant of steel when used in
under-sea piling, and the high cost of industrialization FRP
material [4]. An alternative to the use of composite materials
tubing is to use plastic pipes. The pipes are corrosion resistance
and are rather cheap as compared to the steel and FRP [4].
The plastic jacket also acts as permanent formwork. Formwork
methods must be capable of carrying its own weight, the weight
developed by fresh concrete, also live loads associated with the
construction operation and equipment. The formwork that stay-in-
place has been lately used as an alternative to the conventional
formwork methods. Stay-in-place formwork methods are mainly
assembled on site, hence facilitate the construction operation and
reducing the construction time as the removal proceedings are
eliminated. Furthermore, many of the stay-in-place formwork
methods are made of lightweight and prefabricated materials [5].
Recently, many research efforts have been conducted to study the
structural behavior of confined concrete columns using the
commercially available UPVC plastic pipes. Thus this study
focused on investigating the behavior of columns concrete filled in
tubular made from plastic using Polypropylene random copolymer
(PP- R) pipes. Due to good and important physical properties of
PP - r such as properties of mechanical resistance, inertia to
chemical aggression impact strength, corrosion resistance and
higher working temperature and has general properties of low
density, good balance of stiffness to toughness, low tendency to
stress cracking and is easy to process and installation. PP-r
becomes the most popular material used in the world’s market as a
construction material. [11].
The normal weight of concrete (self-weight) varies from (2200 to
2600) kg per cubic meter. And this is one of the main
disadvantages of traditional concrete as this heavy-weight
concrete makes it uneconomical construction material. For
increase the efficiency of concrete as a construction material,
attempts have been made to minimize its weight per cubic meter.
A type of Concrete having self-weight ranging from (300 to 1850)
kg per cubic meter is called light-weight concrete. Recently years,
lightweight concrete has become more popular due to various
advantages it offers over the traditional concrete [6]. Recycled
aggregates (from construction, demolition and excavation wastes)
are increasingly used as partial replacements of natural aggregates.
Concrete can be successfully produced using recycled materials.
The use of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) has steadily
increased during the last two decades and its current field of
applications includes: lightweight concrete, lightweight aggregate,
asphalt concrete, concrete exposed to high temperatures and road