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Time domain reflectometer (TDR) has gained popularity among researchers in determination of soil water content due to simplicity and fast. It is a non-destructive tool to carry-out test upon soil. Rapid increment of soil water content and subsequently results in sudden reduction of soil shear strength, will cause detrimental effect to the geotechnical structure. TDR has the ability to measure soil water content on the spot without testing the moisture content of physical sample in laboratory. In this study, TDR uses two parallel probes to measure the resistance of a soil media with pre-determined volumetric water content. The results in previous study have shown that good accuracy in determination of moisture content using TDR especially for sandy and loamy soils, however in clayey soil, are yet to be confirmed. Several factors are identified to significantly affect the accuracy in measurements using clayey soils especially when the moisture content increase. The findings on determination of soil water content for Malaysian clay soil using TDR are summarized in this paper. Similar behavior were observed with past study in which the accuracy in measurement using TDR were reduced as the amount of soil water content increase of more than 30%.

Street network is a city crucial element. The current guidelines of road design generally include road width, cross-sections and street hierarchy which are to be taken into consideration during the design phase of the network. Research have shown that road orientation affects the quality of a housing subdivision. However, there are limited studies on street orientation with most of them concentrating on the effects of the orientation on housing subdivision rather than the factors which give rise to its orientation. This research aims to analyse the street network of housing subdivisions located within Majlis Bandaraya Iskandar Puteri (MBIP) to identify the aspects which influence its orientation. Street networks of 71 housing subdivisions under the administration of MBIP were extracted using the OS Mnx Python programming tool to visualize the street networks in terms of polar charts. The findings of the study imply that the size of a housing subdivision does not affect the manner of streets within it are designed. Street pattern is associated with the time of development and the socioeconomic status of the community within the housing subdivision. Such findings contribute to better understanding of street orientation and can assist urban planners to create a better living environment.

Construction waste generation is one of the challenging tasks that related to the materials used at site. Brick waste (BW) is also part of the waste generated in construction sites. This paper determines the brick waste generated in construction stages and conducts linear regression analysis for the amount of brick waste generated. The brick waste management practices are also revealed in this study. The method used in this study was Linear Regression Model. The regression model established based on the sample data reported an R2 value of 0.78; therefore, the model can predict approximately 78% of the factor (area) involved in brick waste generation. Specifically, the prediction model is focusing on the relationship between the area of work and the amount of brick waste generated. Moreover, the linear regressions can be applied as tools to predict the brick waste generated at construction sites and as a tool for the contractor to track the brick waste sources in the future.

Pollution dilemma due to plastic bottle waste disposal and buildup is a growing and persistent problem in Malaysia. Clearly, innovate use of such wastes through recycling application in engineering must be found. This research was aimed to utilize waste plastic fiber in problematic road construction project that can be both economical and environmentally friendly. Additionally, it has the potency to increase the mechanical strength of commercial sand through the CBR parameter of the road pavement sub-grades. The sand usually possesses low CBR value which on its own may not be entirely suitable for the road construction works unless additive or stabilizer was added. In this study, the specimen used as additive to the sand involved 5 mm wide × 10 mm wide plastic fiber which was obtained from shredded waste plastic bottles. There were several percentage of waste plastic fibers that had considered in the research apart from the control specimen namely at 0 %, 0.1% and 0.5% in conjunction with 5 % cement and water at optimum moisture content level. Several laboratory tests had been prescribed namely characterization tests, compressibility test and CBR test. The result shows that as the percentage of waste plastic fiber increased, the CBR value also increased indicating positive relationship between the two variables.

The lack of qualified geotechnical data for the foundation design process is a present and growing concern among the consultancy practitioners. The clients have been increasingly reluctant to commit to extensive but necessary site investigative program that has no immediate economic benefits or perceived to impede work progress. Consequently, the risk of foundation failure and over-design are a potential reality. Even so, the construction pace is unrelenting. The research attempted to address such a quandary via a project case study with not too dissimilar limitation with respect to the availability of geotechnical data. Selecting the best available data for the type of foundation selected, further analyses were carried out in order to obtain collaborative strength information with the appropriate application of the factor of safety. Next, selection of the governing value from among the derived strength parameter had been based on the currency and accuracy of the testing process. Finally, provisional qualifiers had been attached to the design proposals in case alternate scenarios were encountered during the implementation stage. In the context of the case study, a reasonable driven pile capacity of 15.55 tonnes as determined from the PDA test has been recommended contingent upon the prescribed project scale and ground conditions.