Valorization of macro fibers recycled from decommissioned turbine blades as discrete reinforcement in concrete

Guang Ti Xu, Ming Jie Liu, Yu Xiang, Bing Fu

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

Abstract

The extensive use of glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites has inevitably resulted in a large amount of FRP waste, posing a significant environmental threat. A recent study performed by the authors’ group of the present study pioneered a new mechanical method of recycling GFRP wind turbine blades into macro fibers, in which the macro fibers characterized by a fixed-length have been produced using a manual process of low efficiency and high cost, making it impossible for use in a practical application. In the present study, a shredding machine has been therefore used to efficiently process waste GFRP wind turbine blades into macro fibers of hybrid lengths lesser than 100 mm for being incorporated into concrete. A series of tests were carried out to investigate the properties of the resulting concrete, and the test results of beam specimens were then analyzed using a twice inverse analysis approach. The results of compression tests and four-point bending tests showed that the incorporation of recycled macro fibers led to a slump loss of 54%, a compressive strength reduction of 14.07%, a flexural strength improvement of 37.85% and a significant flexural toughness enhancement of 36.8 times at a fiber volume ratio of 2.5%, as compared to those of plain concrete. The direct-tensile strength and the corresponding tensile strain obtained by a twice inverse analysis approach were about 2.26 MPa and 134 με, respectively, as predicted by the inverse analysis based on flexural load-deflection curves. The macro fibers processed using a shredding machine are feasible for enhancing the performance of the resulting concrete, and can be economic-efficiently used for industrial scale applications.

Original languageEnglish
Article number134550
JournalJournal of Cleaner Production
Volume379
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Dec 2022

Keywords

  • Concrete
  • Fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC)
  • Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP)
  • Macro fibers
  • Recycled

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • Building and Construction
  • Environmental Science(all)
  • Strategy and Management
  • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Valorization of macro fibers recycled from decommissioned turbine blades as discrete reinforcement in concrete'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this