Reuse of glass bottles for structural columns
Hoessein Alkisaei (TU Delft - Applied Mechanics)
Y. Maachi (American Glass Research)
Clarissa Justino de Lima (American Glass Research)
C. Noteboom (TU Delft - Applied Mechanics, Advies- en Ingenieursbureau van de Laar B.V.)
PC Louter (TU Delft - Applied Mechanics)
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Abstract
Container glass is omnipresent and reuse can be observed all around the world. It can even be reused for the construction of structural components for buildings of which several examples exist around the world. However, research on the reuse of glass for structural components seems lacking. Therefore, this paper investigates the potential of reusing glass bottles for the construction of structural columns. Firstly, the compression strength of artificially abraded glass bottles was investigated in compression tests, revealing a compression strength between 10 and 20 kN. Secondly, alternative assemblies of multiple glass bottles were tested in compression, to determine their suitability for constructing a column. Finally, an exemplary column prototype constructed of glass bottles is presented. From the findings it is concluded that it is feasible to reuse glass bottles for the construction of structural columns that could carry small scale structures.