Compression behavior and permeability of concrete composed of glass sand and rice husk ash

Using glass sand and rice husk ash as raw materials for concrete production can effectively save resources, protect the environment, and promote waste recycling. In this study, glass sand (20%) and rice husk ash (15%, 30%, 45%) are used to replace natural river sand and cement in concrete, respectively, while ordinary concrete is also considered as a reference. The effects of glass sand and rice husk ash on the performance and structural safety of concrete were evaluated through a series of experiments, including slump test, uniaxial compression test, triaxial compression test and dynamic compression test. The experimental results show that glass sand reduces the slump, uniaxial compressive strength, and triaxial compressive strength of the concrete but improves its dynamic compressive strength and strain rate sensitivity. In addition, the permeability of glass sand concrete is observed to be lower than that of ordinary concrete under high confining pressure. Furthermore, when the replacement rate of rice husk ash is 15%, the experimental results are found to be better than those for other mixtures, except for the uniaxial compressive strength. However, increasing the replacement rate to 30% and 45% fails to meet the strength requirements of structural concrete. Moreover, when subjected to external load, the samples containing rice husk ash exhibits toughness and plastic deformation failure characteristics, which became more obvious with an increase in the rice husk ash replacement rate. Overall, this study provides novel insights into the performance of glass sand and rice husk ash in concrete.