Experimental investigation of mechanical properties and resistance to acid and sulphate attack of GGBS based concrete mixes with beverage glass waste as fine aggregate

Abstract This study inspects the role of waste beverage glass in altering the performance of ground granulated blast furnace slag concrete mixes. In order to obtain the best suited performance of the mixes, replacement of river sand with waste beverage glass at different substitution levels (5%, 10%, 15% and 20%) was tried. Performance of the composites was judged by conducting fresh (workability), mechanical (compressive strength, flexural strength and split tensile strength) and durability (water absorption, acid attack and sulphate attack) tests. Due to highly angular shape of waste glass, workability of concrete mixes reduces. Apart from this, mechanical properties show positive effect for the formed composites. This increase in strength property of concrete samples is related with pozzolanic nature of waste glass. In line with this acid and sulphate attack on concrete specimens illustrates promising results evaluated in terms of change in weight and compressive strength. This was due to the sacrificial nature of waste beverage glass. However, an opposing trend has been observed with respect to water absorption characteristics due to increase in voids content. Hence, usage of waste beverage glass is limited only up to 5%, which inhibits substantial drop in performance under adverse conditions for ground granulated blast slag concrete mixes.