Analytical Model for Stress-Strain Response of Plastic Waste Mixed Soil

Recycling plastic water bottles has become one of the major challenges world wide. The present study provides an approach for the use of plastic waste as reinforcement material in soil, which can be used for ground improvement, sub-bases and subgrade preparation in road construction. The experimental results are presented in the form of stress-strain-pore water pressure response and compression paths. Based on experimental test results, it is observed that the strength of soil is improved and compressibility reduced significantly with addition of a small percentage of plastic waste to the soil. In this paper, an analytical model is proposed to evaluate the response of plastic waste mixed soil. It is noted that model captures the stress-strain and pore water pressure response of all percentages of plastic waste adequately. This improvement in strength due to inclusion of plastic waste can be advantageously used in ground improvement projects.