https://doi.org/10.4322/2025360155503
C. JAYASINGHE(1)*, I.E. ARIYARATNE(2), O.M. HASARANGA(3) and R.M.M.N.D. MAPA(4)
(1)Senior Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
(2)Senior Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
(3)Undergraduate Researcher, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
(4)Undergraduate Researcher, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

E-mail: chintha@uom.lk

ABSTRACT
The growing demand for housing has created a significant need for building materials. If this trend continues with the use of conventional building materials such as burnt clay bricks and cement sand blocks, the associated environmental impacts would be aggravated. This could include over exploitation of natural resources, environmental issues related to clay mining, sand mining etc. This has led to develop some alternative building materials. One such approach would be to utilize recycled waste to manufacture alternative masonry material. This research was focused on utilization of glass waste to manufacture a masonry block. The proposed alternative block, termed as Glass Waste Aggregate Block (GWAB) was manufactured with cement, manufactured sand (M-Sand), quarry dust and glass waste. The optimum mix proportion was established in the research covered in the paper. A detailed experimental programme was carried out to assess the mechanical properties of the proposed block and shown with satisfactory results. This included the compressive strength and the flexural strength of the proposed material. The GWAB has shown a unit compressive strength in the range of 15N/mm2 whereas the masonry wall strength was observed as 4.7N/mm2. The flexural strength was found to be 0.16N/mm2 and 0.25N/mm2 parallel and perpendicular to bed joints, respectively, indicating comparable values for fxk recommended in the Eurocode 6. GWAB also demonstrates superior durability properties with a lower water absorption, nominal erosion under simulated heavy rain conditions. The output of the research has shown that GWAB masonry can be confidently recommended as a sustainable masonry material.

Keywords: glass waste aggregate block; compressive strength; flexural strength; durability; solid waste management; conservation of natural resources