Experimental and simulation study on the impact resistance of concrete to replace high amounts of fine aggregate with plastic waste

The impact of substantial amounts of plastic waste (PW) substituted fine aggregate (FA) on the mechanical characteristics of concrete under impact load (I.L) was studied experimentally-and-numerically. As fine aggregate substitutes, samples were made with 0%, 20%, 30%, and 40% PW. Six prisms of 100 mm width, 50 mm depth, and 400 mm length were loaded to failure in a drop-weight impact machine after 28 days by exposing them to 30 N of weight from a 400 mm height, while another three prisms of the same size and age were evaluated under static load(S.L). The load-displacement(L-D) and fracture energy(GF) of normal and concrete with PW prisms under S.L and I.L were investigated. A 3D finite element technique simulation was also carried out using LUSAS V.14 to investigate the impact of L-D behavior, and the predictions were confirmed by experimental findings. Despite reducing the fine aggregate amount, it was discovered that a proportionate increase of PW up to 20% can lead to improvements in bending load, impact tup, and inertial load.