Behavior of Clayey Soil Reinforced with Throwaway Shredded Face Mask under Static and Impact Loading Considering the Effect of Shape, Size, and Content of Waste Materials

During the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, a huge amount of personal precautionary equipment, such as disposable face masks, was used, but further usage of these face mask leads to adverse environmental effects. Here, we evaluated the feasibility of using mask chips to reinforce clayey soil, testing this with static and impact loading, including uniaxial compression, diametral point load, and drop-weight impact loading tests. The concurrent influences of shape, size, and percentage of waste material were considered. Generally, the contribution of shredded face mask (SFM) was majorly attributable to its tensile reinforcement. As a consequence, the strength of the mixture, measured by the static tests, was increased. This property was enhanced by the addition of rectangular mask chips. We determined the optimum percentage of SFM, beyond which the uniaxial compression strength and the point load strength index decreased. An increase in the percentage of SFM in the soil produced a higher damping coefficient and lower stiffness coefficient, causing greater flexibility. This trend increased beyond 1.2% of SFM (by volume of clay soil). Generally, based on our results, 1–1.5% of SFM was the optimum content.