article · Sustainability
Ultra-high performance concrete requires high amounts of Portland cement, driving up financial costs, natural resource consumption, and carbon dioxide emissions. Incorporating recycled glass waste provides an alternative approach to reduce these environmental and economic impacts. In this experimental assessment, glass powder was evaluated as a substitute for Portland cement across levels from zero to 50 percent, while recycled glass particles substituted natural sand at zero, 50, and 100 percent across eighteen trial mixtures. Testing examined workability, mechanical strength, water permeability, and microstructure. Substituting natural sand with glass particles enhanced mixture workability. To achieve optimal mechanical properties, the most effective formulation substituted 20 percent of Portland cement with glass powder without replacing any natural sand. Additionally, increasing glass powder content substantially reduced concrete water permeability across fixed sand-to-glass particle ratios.
Traditional ultra-high performance concrete generates substantial carbon emissions and consumes vast natural resources due to heavy Portland cement content. Identifying functional recycled substitutes, such as waste glass, lowers manufacturing costs and reduces environmental burdens. Establishing precise replacement thresholds ensures concrete achieves the necessary workability, strength, and durability for demanding structural projects while repurposing industrial and post-consumer waste streams.
This research is at an applied laboratory testing stage and is relevant to concrete manufacturers, precast component suppliers, and structural engineering firms seeking lower-carbon formulations. The findings provide specific mixture ratios showing that a 20 percent cement replacement with glass powder retains strong mechanical performance. Practical adoption would require transitioning from these experimental batches to pilot-scale production, verifying supply consistency for glass waste, and conducting field trials under environmental exposure.
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Construction material sustainability and waste reuse have emerged as significant environmental issues. Concrete is widely used in the building and engineering fields. Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC), which has remarkably high mechanical properties, has become one of the most common concrete varieties in recent years. As a result, substantial amounts of Portland cement (PC) are frequently used, raising the initial cost of UHPC and restricting its broad use in structural applications. A significant amount of CO2 is produced and a large amount of natural resources are consumed in its production. To make UHPC production more eco-friendly and economically viable, it is advised that the PC in concrete preparations be replaced with different additives and that the recycled aggregates from various sources be substituted for natural aggregates. This research aims to develop an environmentally friendly and cost-effective UHPC by using glass waste (GW) of various sizes as an alternative to PC with replacement ratios of 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% utilizing glass powder (GP). Fine aggregate “sand (S)” is also replaced by glass particles (G) with replacement ratios of 0%, 50%, and 100%. To accomplish this, 18 mixes, separated into three groups, are made and examined experimentally. Slump flow, mechanical properties, water permeability, and microstructural characteristics are all studied. According to the results, increasing the S replacement ratio with G improved workability. Furthermore, the ideal replacement ratios for replacing PC with GP and S with G to achieve high mechanical properties were 20% and 0%, respectively. Increasing the replacement rate of GP in place of PC at a fixed ratio of G to S resulted in a significant decrease in water permeability values. Finally, a microstructural analysis confirms the experimental findings. In addition, PC100-S100 was the best mix compared to PC100-S50 G50 and PC100-G100.
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DOI: 10.3390/su15043085
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