IMPLEMENTATION OF BUBBLE DECK SLAB : PERCEPTION IN THE

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY FOR HOUSING AMONG CONTARACTORS (G5 G7)

IN PENANG . MOHAMAD FADHILATUL AZRYN BIN MOHD ALI

1.0 RESEARCH BACKGROUND

Bubble deck slab is a method of virtually eliminating all concrete from the middle of a floor
slab, which is not performing any structural function, thereby dramatically reducing structural
dead weight. It is made from incorporation of recycled plastic bubblewhich is called as PEPSI
balls, these balls are made up of HDPE (High Density polyethylene) and it is a direct way to link
between steel and air. In building constructions, the slab is a very important structural member to
make a space and it is one of the largest member consuming concrete. A slab being the essential
part of the structure has to be effectively designed and utilized. It tends to use more concrete than
requirement, hence has to be optimized. When the load acting on the slab is large or clear span
between columns is more, the deflection of the slab is also more. Therefore the slab thickness is
on increasing. Increasing the slab thickness makes the slabs heavier because of self-weight of
slab also increase, and will increase column and foundations size. Thus, it makes buildings
consuming more materials such as concrete and steel reinforcement. The new prefabricated
construction technology using Bubble Deck slab is recently applied in many industrial projects in
the world. Bubble Deck slab uses hollow balls made by recycled plastic and therefore it is an
innovator method of eliminating the concrete part in the middle of conventional slab which does
not contribute to the structural performance. By applying this method in the construction
industry, There has a lot of advantages can be made such as it can reducing the amount of
concrete from the neutral axis of floor slab some more it will reducing almost 30% dead weight
and also it can increasing the efficiency of floor. Implementing bubble deck slab in the
construction project is commonly used in industry nowadays. Especially for the country such as
Germany, Netherlands, Denmark and North American but not for local industry. For this
research is focus on identify a perception from the industry players about this technology
because for the local industry the technology of bubble deck quite rare used in. There are a lots
of aspects that consider in like in terms of cost transportation and material cost. Bubble deck slab
also is a green product that will give benefit for the long terms.
2.0 RESEARCH PROBLEM

Construction industry in Malaysia should aim to implement bubble deck slab technology as part
in the construction because it gives a lot of positive impact in terms of cost and usage. Besides
that implement bubble deck slap also will make our safety on construction site become safer as
we know a lot of accident happens on site. One of the accident on the construction site happens
on 16 may 2016 at Petaling Jaya where the fourth floor of the building had collapsed early on
Sunday morning, resulting in six foreign workers trapped under the rubble. This is found the
benefit of implement the bubble deck at this project, it will make the slab become stronger as we
know it will increase the strength of the slab and reduce the dead load. Other than that, on 18
March 2016 at Georgetown, Penang, three Bangladeshi workers were injured when the second
floor of the six-storey building collapsed during construction. After investigation, they suspected
the structure of slab of the building is weaker, that is why the floor were crashed. The issues is
not happens in the Malaysia, it also happens in the overseas such as on 2 February 2017 at New
Delhi, India the workers were placing a concrete slab on the top floor of the seven-storey
residential building in Uttar Pradesh states Kanpur district when it came crashing down
yesterday. From the statistic by minister of human resources in October 2016, there has 3,140
cases accident in industry and it is increased from last year because last year there has only 2,942
cases in January 2015. This is the main reason why bubble deck is important to implement more
frequently in our construction project. There has a lot of journal written on this benefit of bubble
deck issues such as Flexural capacities of reinforced concrete two-way bubble deck slabs of
plastic spherical voids by Amer M. Ibrahim, Nazar K. Ali, Wissam D. Salman.

3.0 RESEARCH AIM

Investigate and identify the development of implement the use of bubble deck slab in the
construction industry for housing in Penang.
4.0 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
1. To identify level of implementation bubble deck slab in the construction industry for
housing in Penang.
2. To identify the challenges happen if implementing bubble deck slab as part of material in
the project.

5.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Once the nature of the research information required have identified and followed by the
identification of the members of the population which can supply this information, it must be
decided who it will approach and how it will approach them. Questionnaire and interviews may
be used to collect data by communicating with respondents, there are various methods of doing
this depending on the circumstances. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages.

6.0 REFFERENCES
1. Bhagyashri G. Bhade and S.M Barelikar.2016, AN Experimental Study on Two Way Bubble Deck
SLAB With Spherical Hollow Balls. Int J Recent Sci Res. 7(6), pp. 11621-11626.
2. http://www.bubbledeck.com.my
3. http://www.utusan.com.my
4. http://www.thestar.com.my