Production of Groundwater Resistance Mortar Using Glass Sand and Polypropylene Fibres

Concrete structures that are submerged in water suffer from attacks by harmful salts and acids such as sulfates and chlorides.Therefore, using waste like polypropylene (PP) fiber to prevent environmental accumulation and glass sand (GS) (rich in silica) may help solve this problem.This study aims at the possibility of replacing 25, 50, and 75% of the fine aggregate with GS and using PP fibers at a rate of 1% of the total volume to produce sustainable mortar.The mechanical and physical properties, including compressive strength, flexural strength, splitting tensile strength, and density, were investigated.The water absorption was also monitored using indirect tests for an indication of the permeability of the mortar.The tests were evaluated on different curing ages (7, 14, 28, and 90 days) by two types of curing mediums: tap water and groundwater.The results indicated that at age 28 days, the specimens cured by groundwater and containing 25% and 50% of GS and 1% PP fiber improved the compressive strength by 7.5% and 7.4%, respectively, while the splitting tensile strength improved by 6.17% and 6.38%, and the flexural strength improved by 11.42% and 10.71%, respectively.In contrast, the specimens containing 75% GS and 1% fiber exhibited a clear reduction in compressive, splitting, and flexural strengths, reaching 7.7%, 6.36%, and 11.44%, respectively.However, the mean reduction of density and water absorption was 4.17% and 0.22%, respectively.The findings of this research introduced a comprehensive understanding of the groundwater-resistant mortar using GS and PP fibers.