Evaluating the compressive strength of glass powder-based cement mortar subjected to the acidic environment using testing and modeling approaches

This study conducted experimental and machine learning (ML) modeling approaches to investigate the impact of using recycled glass powder in cement mortar in an acidic environment. Mortar samples were prepared by partially replacing cement and sand with glass powder at various percentages (from 0% to 15%, in 2.5% increments), which were immersed in a 5% sulphuric acid solution. Compressive strength (CS) tests were conducted before and after the acid attack for each mix. To create ML-based prediction models, such as bagging regressor and random forest, for the CS prediction following the acid attack, the dataset produced through testing methods was utilized. The test results indicated that the CS loss of the cement mortar might be reduced by utilizing glass powder. For maximum resistance to acidic conditions, the optimum proportion of glass powder was noted to be 10% as cement, which restricted the CS loss to 5.54%, and 15% as a sand replacement, which restricted the CS loss to 4.48%, compared to the same mix poured in plain water. The built ML models also agreed well with the test findings and could be utilized to calculate the CS of cementitious composites incorporating glass powder after the acid attack. On the basis of the R-2 value (random forest: 0.97 and bagging regressor: 0.96), the variance between tests and forecasted results, and errors assessment, it was found that the performance of both the bagging regressor and random forest models was similarly accurate.