Mohd Erwan Sanik

Site Investigation Of Road Drains For Rural Road On Batu Pahat Soft Clay (BPSC)

Road failures may be caused by many factors. In Batu Pahat district, open channel system is adopted and built on Batu Pahat Soft Soil and may be a crucial factor to probable damage of the rural roads structure. This study is focused on the drainage system for rural roads in Parit Raja, Batu Pahat. The type of damages is observed and the causes are identified. Recommendations on the best method are made to improve the effectiveness of current drainage system. Both site and laboratory geotechnical testing are carried out to analyze the causes of failure to the drainage system. Laboratory testing such as sieve analysis, moisture content, Atterberg limit, specific gravity and shear strength are conducted. While Mackintosh probes testing and vane shear test are conducted for site testing. From the analysis, four categories of drainage failure such as soil movement, edge drop, cracking and erosion due to the characteristics of soft clay that have low shear strength and high compatibility, have been determined. The propose methods to increase the effectiveness of the drainage system are to stabilize the soil using geotextiless, combination geotextiless and geocontainers, soil anchor and lime.

Aquaculture System Management and Water Conservation

Aquaculture or aquafarming is the cultivation of aquatic populations, including both aquatic animals and plants, under controlled environments. This chapter describes the environmental issues and regulations regarding aquaculture. Aquaculture water management, water supply, waste management, waste characterization and water quality related to aquaculture operation, and design of aquaculture system are emphasized. The use of three aquaculture systems (water hyacinth system, natural wetland system, and man-made Living Machine) for wastewater treatment and water conservation are presented.

Bolts connection technique of bamboo in construction work

The construction industry is increasingly developing and growing rapidly with more advanced technologies. The world timber demand is increasing at a rapid rate but the timber supply is however depleting. It has been found through research that bamboo can suitably replace timber and other materials in constructions. This study was conducted to investigate the structural strength of bamboo connections involving only spliced joint and compared with control samples strength of bamboo which were not connected. Bending test was conducted on four types of bamboo connection structures which werehalf-lapped splice joint using 3 bolts, half-lapped splice joint using 2 bolts, side plate splice joint, sleeves and insert joint and control sample bamboo. Every connection had six samples to determine the structural strength of the bamboo connection. From the tests conducted, the maximum load that can be borne by the bamboo structure and the bending ofthe bamboo structure will be obtained. Data were compared with the theoretical calculation based on the study of Janssens. The connection structure that can bear maximum load was sleeves and inserts which was 5.997 kN. The control samples bamboo maximum load was 4.504 kN. Meanwhile, half-lapped splice joint using 3 bolts and 2 bolts were 4.789 kN and 4.04 kN. Structural connections that carriedthe lowest load was side plate splice joint which was only 2.659 kN.Compared with the bending moment of Janssen’s theory, all the connections did not exceed the maximum allowable bending moment. This showed that the study was in accordance with the standards approved by Janssens theory. The study found that the structure of connections that can be used in the construction work was sleeves and inserts.

Site Investigation of Groundwater Potential at Jasin Using Electrical Resistivity Imaging

Groundwater is one ofthe alternatives for water resource to meet the increasing demand ofclean water supply in Malaysia. Groundwater is water that accumulates in crevices of rock, soil and sand atthe bottom of the earth resulting from water flowing along the surface of streams or lakes. Many researcheshave been carried out to overcome theissues on demand and supply of clean water including the usageofgeophysics analysis with electrical resistivity method. The Vocational College in Jasin, Melaka was chosen as a potential area to detect the groundwater sources. Three horizontal lines were identified at the location namely Jasin-1, Jasin-2, and Jasin-3, before running the resistivity testing using the ABEM Terrameter SAS 4000. The protocol of Pole-Dipole was used for Jasin-1 and Jasin-2 while the Schlumberger was used for Jasin-3 in order to read the data. Then, the data was analysed using the RES2DINV software and presented in 2-dimensional images. Based on the findings, Jasin Vocational College is a potential area to produce groundwater with resistivity reading of 25 to 100 ohm at 30 to 135 meter depth. Of the three lines, Jasin-1 was recommended as atube well potential spot. The analysis also shows that Jasin-1 area consistsof alluvium form sand, clay and gravel.

Performance of asphalt mixture incorporating recycled waste

Nowadays, the amount of premix waste was increased every year, especially at the batching plants. Normally, the waste materials will be discarded without doing any innovative and effective research about those materials. This situation has become one of the global concerns due to the increasing number of premix waste produced every year. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of hot mix asphalt (HMA) using premix waste on improving asphalt mixture fatigue behaviour.The method used in this study was Superpave mix design method. The sample conducted in this study were 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 100% of premix waste respectively. For a binder test, the laboratory test conducted were penetration test, softening test and thin film oven test while for the performance test were resilient modulus test and indirect tensile fatigue test. From the laboratory test, the resilient modulus test was conducted with two different temperature which was 25oC and 40oC. The result from that test was 20% of premix waste had higher resilient modulus at that two different temperatures compared to another samples. From that test also shown that the sample at the lower temperature which was 25oC has higher resilient modulus compared to the temperature of 40oC. Indirect tensile fatigue test showed that the 30% of premix waste sample was suitable for the modified asphalt mixture with referring to the maximum deformation and strain for comparison control, 10%,20%, and 100% of premix waste samples. So, it can be concluded that premix waste inhibits great potential as road construction material and suitable for repeated traffic loading.

Investigation of breakdown event at merging section of Federal Highway

Congestion is an issue that continuously occurs on urban roads which is part of a so-called breakdown phenomenon. Breakdown can be defined as the transition between proper operation and non-acceptable flow conditions. This study was carried out to determine the speed-flow relationship with respect to breakdown event at the Federal Highway as well as to analyse time series for flow rate and speed in order to justify the breakdown occurence. Data consist of speed, traffic flow, density, and several others were collected by the Automatic Incident Detection device. The speed-flow curve was reconstructed using the Greenshields Model. Based on the model obtained, value of maximum flow rate is 1634 veh/hr/ln and the critical speed is 65 km/h. Understanding the breakdown phenomenon at merging sections is a key parameter for more effective geometric design and control strategies.