The Impact of Waste Glass Sand on the Durability of Concrete Subjected To Dry-Wet-Freeze-Thaw Cycles

Abstract

To investigate the impact of waste glass sand on the durability of concrete, we prepared concrete specimens with varying proportions of glass sand (0%, 10%, 30%, and 50%) as a replacement for river sand. The concrete specimens underwent a standardized curing period lasting 28 days. Subsequently, the freeze-thaw cycle test was conducted at intervals of 0, 15, 30, and 45 dry-wet cycles until the specimens incurred damage. Ultrasonic wave analysis was employed to examine the waveforms, and the internal phase and chemical composition of the concrete were characterized using a scanning electron microscope and a spectral analyzer (SEM-EDS). The results indicate that as the dosage of glass sand increases, the damage morphology of the concrete surface subjected to the dry-wet-freeze-thaw cycle gradually improves, leading to a more complete appearance of the specimen. Under identical conditions, the dynamic modulus of elasticity of concrete demonstrates a significant increase with the rising proportion of glass sand admixture, and there is an observable tendency for the rate of mass loss to slow down. Ultrasonic and microscopic testing proves effective in verifying that the inclusion of glass sand can ameliorate the adverse effects of dry-wet-freeze-thaw cycling.

Keywords: Dry-wet-freeze-thaw cycles, Glass sand, Durability performance, Ultrasonic testing, Microscopic testing