Technological University of the Philippines

College of Engineering

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

CE 520
CIVIL ENGINEERING PROJECT

Activity No. 6
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

BSCE-5C
“The Avengineers”

Agravante, John Dave L.

Engr. Teodinis C. Petalcorin – Garcia

July 17, 2018

In the Philippines, construction industry has grown rapidly over the past years. According

to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), 36,002 approved building permits for construction

has been recorded for the first quarter of 2018. This reflects an increase of 2.6 percent from the

35,101 constructions recorded during the same quarter in 2017. This statistic is an indication of

much higher number of construction projects for the years to come. Constructing these edifices,

buildings, roadways, bridges, would not be possible without the world’s most widely used

construction material---Concrete.

Concrete is a construction material composed of cement, aggregates, mixed with water

and hardens over time. Seventy percent of the world’s population lives in a structure that

contains concrete and about 10 billion tons of concrete are produced every year. However,

despite its widely use, this construction material greatly affects the environment because it uses

up large quantity of natural resources. The rapid urbanization and industrial growth has led to

spend billions in the constructions and place huge demands on infrastructures and public-sector

buildings, which increases the demand in construction materials including concrete. As a result,

it generally became construction wastes which increases the burden on landfill sites.

Demolishing of old infrastructures is not also excused to this as the removed concrete and other

demolished materials are automatically considered as waste.

Studies showed that U.S. makes over 100 million of tons of these wastes every year,

approximately 29% came from construction sectors. Another study shows that 70 million tons

are produced every year in U.K. and 50% of landfill volume are consists construction and

demolition waste (C & D waste). Countries that are part of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
such as Saudi Arabia and UAE generates 80 million tons of waste, 53% of these originates from

construction and demolition. Other countries like Hong Kong, China, India and Australia have

the same problem with these wastes. Globally, approximately 10-30% of C & D wastes are

disposed in landfills. The excessive usage of blast mountain rock for production of gravel is also

very alarming as it becomes an environmental concern. This signify the importance of reduce,

reuse and recycle in every local state regarding with this waste-generated problem. Applying the

3Rs in C & D waste, which contains mostly of concrete waste, gives a solution for both

utilization of natural resources and waste disposal. In this thesis, thorough study to establish a

recycled material to eliminate C & D wastes has been developed.

Aggregates is primarily one of composition of concrete that can be recycled. Most

common method is crushing the concrete to produce coarse aggregate. Over the years, this

method is used in the construction industry to eliminate or lessen the consumption of natural

resources as well as preventing more wastes from entering the landfill. In addition, this method

can attain an environmentally-friendly concrete. As of 2005, Countries like Netherlands (93%),

Turkey (90%), Australia (87%), Denmark (82%), Germany (18%) have the most construction

waste to recycle. Thus, the potential use of concrete waste from C & D waste, or sometimes

metals like rebars, as a recycle aggregate (RA) is possible. Still, these aggregates cannot be used

without evaluating first the strength that it can give to the concrete produced. Fortunately, many

studies have already concluded regarding the use of RA in concrete and many authors have

proved the possibility of using these aggregates to concrete. For instances, a study from Egypt by

Ashraf M. Wagih and company showed that concrete rubble can be completely replaced by

recycled aggregate for most structural concrete. Superplasticizers and higher cement content

ranging from 400 to 450 kg/m3 are used because the results point that full replacement of natural
aggregates has less workability and less concrete strength, although tensile strength and elasticity

in this concrete are reduced by 25% and 15% respectively. Replacement by 25% RA is okay

when it comes to structural concrete performance but replacing 50% of RA can reduce the

compressive strength ranging from 7% to 13% as well as in elastic modulus and split tensile

strength. Silica fumes is also used for better interfacial zone between new and old mortar and

works as micro filler. A study by Shahid Kabir proved that the specific gravity of crushed RA

was lower than the natural aggregate due to the fact that RA from demolished concrete has

concrete crushed stone with old mortar adhering in it. On the other hand, absorption value in RA

is higher than the other. This was studied in saturated surface dry condition. The bulk density of

RA is lower than the natural aggregate mainly because the number of voids in RA is higher

resulting to higher porosity. Previous studies showed that some characteristics of RA are

consistently lower than the usual aggregate that is why it is suggested to use different pozzolanic

materials to enhance its properties. It is also necessary to combine RA to a good quality of

natural aggregate to achieve its structural standards. This certain problems in RA hinders its way

to be commonly adopt to the real-world application. For now, the said aggregates are still being

of inferior quality and more research must be conducted in the area of supplementary

unconventional materials along with the structural analysis of recycled aggregate concrete on

long term scale.

Many researches demonstrated that it is possible to produce new concrete from concrete

waste, without requiring new cement, by adding fly ash, with the novel concrete containing 79%

of concrete waste, 11% of fly ash and 10% of water.

Although the development of new composites from CDW combined with other industrial

residues offers economic and environmental advantages, all current research is devoted to the use
of construction or demolition wastes combined with mostly Portland cement. One way to

minimize the environmental impact, is the use of industrial by-products as cement replacing

material. As a result, the CO2 emissions and energy demands associated with the Portland

clinker production can be reduced. Industrial by-products have been used successfully as

supplementary cementitious materials. Waste glass from demolition that end up only also in land

fill has a chemical composition and phase comparable to traditional cement.

A large fraction of the carbon dioxide that is released by construction materials industry

is from the production of Portland cement. One-ton cement manufacturing results in emission of

0.9 ton of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Cement production also involves emission of

moderate quantities of NOx, SOx, and particulates. Recycling of each ton of glass saves over one

ton of natural resources. Waste glass is not bio-degradable and therefore, rational consideration

for alternative utilization dictates a diversion of the material away from landfill disposal sites.

Combination of both recycled aggregates and binder from construction waste are the

subject of this research. Addition of certain amount of glass in cement will can save large

percentage in cost of construction from cement itself. At the same time replacing cement will

reduce production and release of CO2 in the environment. Considerable amount of NOx, SOx,

and particulates will also be reduced with this CO2 emission reduction.

The Philippines’ waste generation continues to rise with the increase in population,

improvement of living standards, rapid economic growth, and industrialization. The construction

industry is a major generator of wastes and other seemingly unusable materials that can easily be

discarded as solid waste. In developing countries most of the demolition rubble is dumped.

Recycling waste materials for use in the construction will cut down costs of consumption of raw
materials thereby reducing consumption of natural resources like energy and reduces usage of

landfills.
Topic 2: Water Quality Management

Water is an important element for human life. Most of the area of the earth is covered by

water, but the availability of safe water is already limited today. Approximately 1.6 million

people die every year due to water and sanitation-related diseases caused by using unsafe water.

Water-related problems are especially severe in Asia.

Surface water and ground water table is both used by the people. In spite of that, ground

water is still the most reliable source of safe water.

Only a little percentage of earth’s water can be considered as usable. People uses the

ground water table as an alternative source of fresh water. But then using the ground water

table’s water can affect the earth’s ground water table surface. Resources of freshwater or water

areas are already contaminated. The availability of safe ground water is decreasing due to a

decreasing water table, arsenic contamination, and salinity. Water from the ponds, river, or any

water areas where people can use it is already contaminated because of the contaminants coming

from the factories, garbage, chemicals and other materials that can make the water contaminated.

The availability of fresh water must be sustained for human’s survivability.

Based on the previous researches, the pre‐filtration device was very effective in removing

algae and solid particles to protect the membranes from clogging and to enable an almost

maintenance‐free operation. Residues of pharmaceuticals and some other organic contaminants

have almost totally been removed from the surface water where they were detected at individual

concentrations up to the μg/L‐level.

Based on the journal article entitled, “Development and Application of a Pond Water
Filtration Unit Using a Simple Ceramic Filter in a Rural Area of Bangladesh”, in Bangladesh,

ponds are used for productive purposes, such as irrigation and fish cultivation, and for non-

productive purposes, such as cooking, bathing, ablution and washing clothes and kitchen

utensils. The Khulna and Bagerhat Districts, part of the coastal zone, located in southwestern

part of Bangladesh, are seriously affected by salinity intrusion, arsenic and drought.

Rural people use pond water for domestic purposes as well as aquaculture in these

districts. However, pond water that is contaminated with various impurities, such as algae and

pathogenic bacteria, causes serious public health effects9). In Khulna District, it was reported

that 77.14 % of the people who used pond water were affected by waterborne diseases, such as

skin disease, diarrhea, dysentery, cholera and fever. To reduce the health risks of pond water,

treatment of the pond water must be applied. Filtration is one of the easy options for pond water

treatment.

The pond sand filter (PSF) is a community-based pond water treatment system used in

these areas. However, this system has high installation and maintenance costs11), and most of

the PSF users are not satisfied with the PSF performance12). Point of use (POU) systems for

households using filters are an alternative pond water treatment system. There are many filters

available in the local markets, such as the Safi filter and Bishuddhya filter, which are used for

removing as and bacteria. However, they are too expensive for much of the rural population. The

three pitcher filter is comparatively cheap, but the performance is questionable. Porous ceramic

filters are reported to be one of the best treatment options for reducing turbidity and bacteria13).

In our laboratory, a low-cost, simple ceramic filter (SCF) was developed14) and successfully

applied for arsenic removal from ground water. This filter was expected to be also useful for

pond water treatment to obtain drinkable water quality.

bacteria (total coliforms (TC) and Escherichia coli (E. coli)) removal by filtration units using

SCF from pond waters in a rural area of Bangladesh.

Other research that can be related to water quality management, focuses on improving

water quality in an acidic river environment using water concrete aggregates. The study was

carried out to develop technique for treatments of acidified river water using water concrete

aggregates for sustainable protection of the water environment. The water quality of in the

Matsukawa River, Japan, which receives acidic mine drainage, were investigated as a model

field of an acidic water environment. The results of the field investigation suggested that

dissolved Al acts as a buffer substance, inhibiting rises in pH in acidified water environments.

The results of the neutralization tests confirmed that it was possible to neutralize acidified river

water by using concrete aggregates; dissolved Al in the acidified river water was settling

removed effectively by these neutralization treatments. Aeration decreased the requirement for

neutralization aggregates by approximately 30%. These result suggested that use of waste

concrete aggregates effectively neutralizes water that has be acidified by high concentration of

Al acting as a buffer inhibiting pH rise.

Effective utilization of natural resources in particular water resources is an important

factor in our daily lives. Alternative methods in water management systems in the country to

solve arising problems within the realization of various programs must be given special attention.
Topic 3: Traffic Management

In these days, severe heavy traffic in the metro was our country's biggest problem. Just

imagine how much time, energy, resources and patience we lost when we travel. We encounter

multiple car crash, unending road works, public utility vehicles picking up passengers at the

wrong place, probably what we hate most, broken stoplights. According to the recent study by a

Serbia-based research firm, revealed that the Philippines ranked ninth in having a deplorable

traffic situation in the world. In the number collated data on the traffic situation of 88 countries

for its 2015 Traffic Index, it shows that the Philippines obtained a “traffic index” of 202.31.

Trailing after Bangladesh, Jordan and Iran, the Philippines also ranked fourth in having the worst

traffic situation in Asia. According to the business inquirer, an average Metro Manila resident,

mostly working people travelling to and from their office, spends 1,000 hours a year in traffic

and wastes as much as 28,000 hours of his economic life. Wasted productivity hours amount to a

monetary value that could be used for other things such as earning extra income or spending

more time with the family. These figures are enough for us to know that the traffic in our country

is severe.

Past research works were conducted in solving the traffic problems by using engineering

methodologies and developing infrastructures like junction roads, fly-overs, underpass, rotundas,

intelligent transportation terminals and many more. In example, EDSA. Not only famous for its

history but also in its severe heavy traffic that this road has. Many roads now in the Philippines

are turning to be like EDSA. If the government sector could have classifications and factors
where to be considered, many roads and highways could have a better solution. By this case, the

classification and identification of the traffic on a certain road can be easier by using star ratings.

This solution aims to have the road commuters shorten their traveling time by conducting

a research on road traffic star ratings for city areas that can help the road commuters and road

authorities to identify and classify the kind of traffic that the specified road experiences. Using

star ratings, there will be clarity to the road commuters on what type or kind of traffic they will

experience in crossing the road, giving them ideas to consider other routes that can be better for a

lesser traveling time. Imagine that when the roads have ratings, we have an idea on what road we

will travel. By this, we could go faster on our destinations with considering the traffic. Also, the

star rating can help conducting an effective and valid solution on the traffic problem can be made

with considering all factors that the road has. Star rating will be made in a road with respect to

time. We all know that traffic has time factor, or what we call peak hours. Therefore, the ratings

on a road will be time to time basis, 24 hours a day.

We chose this method because using star ratings makes the traffic situation easier to

understand. Also, we think it is more effective in giving information to the road users besides

real time updates.