Examining Tensile Properties of Glass Fine Aggregate Concrete Using Brazilian Splitting Tests

Studies on the fundamental mechanical properties of glass concrete have predominantly focused on its compressive properties. This study investigates the effect of waste glass aggregate on the tensile properties of concrete by conducting cube compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, and Brazilian splitting tests. Based on the experimental results, the plastic damage constitutive model GlASS40 of fine glass aggregate concrete with different substitution rates was established, and a Brazilian splitting simulation was performed using GlASS40 and Python programming. The results show that the tensile properties of the concrete with fine glass aggregate are divided into two parts during the splitting process: the nonlinear evolution phase before fracture and softening descending phase when plastic damage occurs in the specimen and deviates from the elastic assumption as it approaches the maximum load. The error between the simulation and experimental results was slight, and the crack propagation paths were similar, confirming the accuracy of the GlASS40 constitutive model. Compared with those of ordinary C40 concrete, the tensile properties of 75% glass fine aggregate concrete demonstrated superiority, the tensile strength was increased by 38.83%, and the splitting energy was increased by 1.24 times. Both satisfied the center crack failure mode in the splitting process and had similar ductility. Using the obtained results, the splitting failure mode of the glass fine aggregate concrete with different substitution rates was determined, providing a reference for numerical simulations and engineering applications of the material.