Investigation of Using Waste Glass Powder (WGP) as a Partial Natural Sand Replacement in Concrete for a Potential Use in Iraqi Construction Field

Abstract

Glass waste contributes about 5% of the total solid waste generated worldwide that ends up in landfills without recycling resulting in considerable environmental harm. In this research, Waste Glass Powder (WGP) was studied to be used as a supplementary material substituted with sand in the concrete mix. The concrete mixes were prepared by replacing the natural sand with WGP in weight proportions of 10% to 50%, with a 10% increment to examine the mechanical effect of WGP addition on concrete performance in the fresh and hardened status. The concrete mixes were tested to evaluate the compressive strength for curing ages 7, 14, 21, 28, 56, and 90 days. Splitting tensile strength was also tested for curing at ages of 7, 14, 21, and 28 days. The obtained results showed a notable decrease in workability value for all concrete mixes with WGP addition. Also, the addition of WGP decreases the compressive strengths of all concrete mixes. However, the WGP enhanced the splitting tensile strength by about 12%. It has been concluded that the WGP can be used as a substituted material replaced with sand up to 30%, which was the optimum replacement ratio based on the Iraqi required specifications. By using this ratio, the compressive strength was decreased by 18% at 28 days of concrete curing age.