Homogeneity of papercrete with 10% waste paper substitution using Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity (UPV)

Paper waste production in DKI Jakarta according to data from The Jakarta's Environmental Services reaches an average of 40% of total waste production per month for each municipality (kotamadya). On the other hand, Indonesia's necessity of construction development, notably residential home, is increasing constantly along with the amount of Indonesia's population. This condition stimulates innovation of eco-friendly, inexpensive building material with suitable strength. Since 1990's, papercrete, concrete with waste paper as substitution of fine and/ or coarse aggregate, has been studied. Its use for structural materials has evolved and required supporting research for application on larger structural components. In this research, homogeneity aspect of papercrete from domestic waste (office) is investigated along a certain height of vertical beam. To do so, Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity (UPV) propagation measurement on 5 vertical prismatic beam specimens was conducted. By using direct mode transmission, two transducerswere used through 15 cm of width. Rate of propagation can detect the density of concrete at each level since early age of concrete (2 hour after casting). It describes the distribution of material inside. This homogeneity study is beneficial in evaluating papercrete application in real beam structure in the future.