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Article | Civil and Sustainable Urban Engineering | Volume 6 - Issue 2 - 2026 | 445−467 | https://doi.org/10.53623/csue.v6i2.1443
© 2026 by the author(s), and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License

Quantifying the Porosity–Strength Relationship of Porous Paving Blocks Containing Mechanically Processed Waste-Paper Fibre as a Partial Fine-Aggregate Replacement

Author(s): Pengki Suanto , Mulyadi Sugih Dharsono , Nadia Diandra , Rayesa Bimo Pasya , Randhy Ramadhan Jaenudin
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Civil Engineering Study Program, Faculty of Science and Technology, Pradita University, Scientia Business Park, Tangerang, Banten 15810, Indonesia

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Civil and Sustainable Urban Engineering

Volume 6 - Issue 2 - 2026

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Waste paper is a large waste stream, and porous paving materials are increasingly investigated for urban stormwater management. However, quantitative information linking porosity to mechanical performance in porous paving blocks that contain waste-paper fibre remains scarce. This study quantifies how replacing fine aggregate with mechanically processed, chemically untreated waste-paper fibre affects open porosity, water absorption, dry density, compressive strength, and flexural strength, and expresses the porosity–strength relationship with confidence intervals. Paving blocks (200 × 100 × 60 mm; cement-to-sand ratio 1:3; nominal water-to-cement ratio 0.30) were produced with 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20% fibre by bulk volume of the sand replaced. Ten specimens per mixture were tested for each property at 28 days. Data were analysed using analysis of variance, Welch's test, Games–Howell and Tukey comparisons with 95% confidence intervals, effect sizes, linear regression, and Pearson and Spearman correlations. Substitution increased open porosity from 11.99% to 17.87%, reduced dry density by 13–15%, reduced compressive strength from 37.28 MPa to 18.18–25.40 MPa, and reduced flexural strength from 6.25 MPa to 3.25–4.15 MPa. Across the five mixture means, each 1-percentage-point increase in porosity corresponded to 2.78 MPa lower compressive strength (95% CI: 0.13–5.43 MPa; p = 0.045) and 0.43 MPa lower flexural strength (95% CI: −0.91 to +0.05 MPa; p = 0.065). The relationship largely vanished within the waste-paper mixtures alone (r = −0.39 for compressive strength), indicating that porosity is a useful indicator but not the sole determinant of strength; fibre dispersion and material heterogeneity (coefficients of variation of 19–29%) also matter. The 10% mixture (16.20% porosity, 25.40 MPa, 8.30% water absorption) is identified as a screening candidate for light-traffic porous paving, subject to infiltration, durability, and variability-control studies.

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SUBMITTED: 28 September 2026
ACCEPTED: 27 October 2026
PUBLISHED: 28 October 2026
SUBMITTED to ACCEPTED: 30 days
DOI: https://doi.org/10.53623/csue.v6i2.1443

Cite this article
Suanto, P. ., Dharsono, M. S. ., Diandra, N. ., Pasya, R. B. ., & Jaenudin, R. R. . (2026). Quantifying the Porosity–Strength Relationship of Porous Paving Blocks Containing Mechanically Processed Waste-Paper Fibre as a Partial Fine-Aggregate Replacement. Civil and Sustainable Urban Engineering, 6(2), 445−467. https://doi.org/10.53623/csue.v6i2.1443
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