The Flexural Properties of Reinforced Recycled Glass Concrete Beam

In this study, recycled glass is used to replace the natural fine aggregate in different mix proportions. The control samples are Grade 30 ordinary Portland cement concrete (OPCC) containing 100% natural sand and coarse aggregate. The recycled glass concretes contain 70% natural fine aggregate + 30% size 300 micron crushed glass (Sample 2), and 70% fine aggregate + 15% size 300 micron crushed glass + 15% size greater than 300 micron crushed glass (Sample 3).The recorded strength of the control, Sample 2 and 3 at 90 days are 47, 61 and 55 MPa. Although the compressive strength for the concrete samples with recycled glass are higher than the control samples, the flexural test results show that, concrete with recycled glass has less ability to be fully functioning as a reinforced concrete by exhibiting their flexural strength at 91 % and 84% of the theoretical flexural strength whereas for the control specimen, its flexural strength is 10% higher than the theoretical value. Nonetheless, the toughness index of recycled glass concrete with 30% replacement of fine sand with recycled glass powder is at par with the control samples, which shows the ductile behavior of the recycled glass concrete.