The Soil-Root Strength Performance of Alternanthera Ficoidea and Zoysia Japonica as Green Roof Vegetation

Autor: Abdullah Muhamad Firdaurs, Kasmin Hartini, Yusoff Nor Azizi, Mustafar Safwan, Salimun Shazren, Embong Zaidi, Ahmad Hanim
Jazyk: English<br />French
Rok vydání: 2017
Předmět:
Zdroj: MATEC Web of Conferences, Vol 103, p 04018 (2017)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2261-236X
92569404
DOI: 10.1051/matecconf/201710304018
Popis: The rise of awareness on environmentalism has demanded that all parties involved in built environment to implement green technology in their construction projects. Great care must be taken when designing a green roof system including the selection of plants and appropriate substrates. This study was performed to investigate the soil-root composite strength of two types of green roof vegetation (A. Ficoidea and Z. Japonica) at different growth periods for up to 6 months. Both plants were planted in six plastic plots (45 cm × 29 cm × 13 cm) containing a mixture of perlite, vermiculite and organic soil. Every two months, a series of direct shear tests were conducted on a sample from each species to determine the root-soil shear strength. The tests continued until the 6th month. The average results showed that Z. Japonica had higher soil-root shear strength (49.1 kPa) compared to A. Ficoidea after two months of growth. In the 4th month however, A. Ficoidea managed to surpass Z. Japonica (28.7 kPa versus 18.5 kPa) in terms of shear strength. However, their average peak shear strength decreased sharply compared to the previous month. Lastly, in six months, A. Ficoidea sustained a higher average peak soil shear strength (56.5 kPa) compared to Z. Japonica (14.3 kPa). Therefore, it can be concluded that A. Ficoidea may offer a better soil reinforcement than Z. japonica and thus it could potentially be a good choice of green roof vegetation.
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