Flexural behavior of reinforced concrete beams using PET plastic as partial replacement of coarse aggregate

The growth of daily consumption of different types of plastic containers such as Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) is observed over the world. Using plastic wastes in conjunction with other building materials such as concrete has a promised future. This study investigates the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete beams using Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) plastic as partial replacement of course aggregate. Four beams were tested under static load, which consisted of two control beams (CB) and two PET plastic beams (PB). The dimension of beams was 150 mm x 250 mm and length of 3300 mm. A 10% of course aggregate was replaced by using PET plastic. In addition, 0.5% 3D steel fiber by weight of cement was added to the mixture to increase the tensile strength of the normal concrete and PET concrete. The load-displacement and strain graphs of all beams were drawn, and the flexural capacity, stiffness, and failure mode were compared and discussed. The results indicated that the flexural strength of PB was decreased by 18.77% compared to CB due to the lower compressive strength of PET concrete. Moreover, all the beams were failed under flexure due to concrete crushing at the compression zone of the beams.