Sustainable Lightweight Self-Compacting Concrete Incorporating Recycled Waste Glass: Influence of Particle Size and Replacement Levels on Performance

Abstract The incorporation of recycled waste glass into lightweight self-compacting concrete (LWSCC) has developed as a sustainable technique to reducing natural aggregate consumption and environmental impacts. In this study, the effect of combining waste glass in two particle size kinds that is coarse glass (greater than 1.18 mm) and fine glass (less than 1.18 mm) as a partial replacement for fine aggregate at percentage of replacement of 0, 10, 20, 30, and 40% on the fresh properties (slump flow, T500, v-funnel, L-box and fresh density), mechanical properties (equilibrium density, compressive strength, splitting strength, flexural strength, modulus of elasticity and impact resistance strength), and durability properties (sorptivity, water absorption and alkali – silica reaction) of LWSCC were evaluated. Two groups of mixtures, assigned as GC and GF, were prepared with various replacement percentages. Results of fresh properties showed all mixtures confirm requirements of EFNARC indicating that the presence of waste glass did not affect the self-compacting properties. A fresh and equilibrium density showed a gradual reduction with increasing glass content. GC mixtures displayed a continuous reduction in all mechanical properties, but GF mixtures exhibited considerably improvement mechanical performance up to 20%. GF mixture showed a superior performance in durability of LWSCC than GC, which reduced water absorption, sorptivity, and ASR expansion, indicating a denser and more stable microstructure. In terms of fresh properties, the best results were best replacement level at 20% for GC mixtures and 10% for GF mixtures. Among the investigated mixtures, GC10 and GF20 exhibited the most favorable overall balance of the measured fresh, mechanical, and durability properties. These results confirm that LWSCC incorporating waste glass, particularly fine glass at best levels, can be used as structural lightweight concrete.