Concrete Made with Recycled Glass Aggregates: Mechanical Performance: Fid-Bau Portal

Concrete Made with Recycled Glass Aggregates: Mechanical Performance

Diogo Serpa

This study aims at characterizing the mechanical performance of concrete made with varying glass content (5, 10, and 20% of the overall volume of aggregates) and analyzing the influence of the size of these aggregates (fine, coarse, or both) on that performance. The use of glass aggregates as an environmentally friendly alternative to dumping it as waste reduces the consumption of natural resources and requires the space needed for dumping grounds. The aggregates were studied in terms of density and abrasion. Fresh concrete was tested for workability and density. Hardened concrete was tested for compressive, splitting tensile, and flexural strength; modulus of elasticity; and abrasion wear. It was found that the incorporation of glass aggregates in concrete leads to a loss of its mechanical performance, although this is not significant for ratios of up to 10% of the volume of natural aggregates, except for abrasion resistance, where there is an improvement. A better performance was seen in concrete with coarse glass aggregates, followed by concrete with fine glass aggregates, and finally, concrete with the simultaneous incorporation of coarse and fine glass aggregates.