It is generally acknowledged that it is an urgent task of the concrete industry to find new ways
of introducing waste materials in their mixtures in order to increase its sustainability. Wind
power industry can play an important role in this challenge, while solving the problem of the
recycling of the old wind turbine structures that are reaching the end of their lifecycle, which
is currently imperative. Hence, the need for the disposal of Waste Wind-Turbine Blade
(WWTB) sets an opportunity to introduce it after crushing as a raw material in concrete, being
able to reduce its content of natural aggregates and cement. This research aims to conduct an
exhaustive material characterization and analyse the feasibility of adding WWTB in concrete
for structural purposes. For this study, five different concrete mixes were produced with
variable WWTB volume contents (0.0%, 1.5%, 3.0%, 4.5% and 6.0%). The amount of
siliceous aggregate used in all five mixtures remained invariable, as well as the cement
content. All the resulting mixtures were characterised in terms of the slump, fresh- and
hardened-density tests. Besides, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength allowed
evaluating the performance of the concrete mixes under tensile stresses. The results
demonstrate that a rise in the WWTB content up to 1.5% can result in a slight increase of the
splitting tensile strength, whereas high contents of this waste (6.0%) allow maintaining
constant the flexural strength. The values of both properties remain approximately stable
when adding WWTB, thus preserving the basic mechanical properties of structural concrete.
According to this study, it is feasible to evaluate the addition of WWTB as a method of
obtaining structural concrete without compromising any of its tensile-related mechanical
properties, simultaneously transform an industry hitherto considered polluting into a more
sustainable one.
