This project’s objective was to create a circular economy in the composites sector by examining the possibility of using wind turbine blade composite materials to construct noise-absorbing barriers for roads. The possibility of constructing road noise barrier panels from components obtained from turbine blades was conceptually examined, and the geometry and construction of wind turbine blades were evaluated for their suitability as filler components for panels. The tensile strength parameters of two types of composites made from windmill blades—a solid composite and a sandwich type—were established based on material tests. The strength of the composite elements cut from a windmill propeller was analyzed, and a three-dimensional numerical model was created using the finite element method. The strength values of the composite used to construct the noise barriers were compared with the stresses resulting from loads operating on the road noise barriers, as determined in compliance with current standards. It was discovered that acoustic screens composed of composite materials derived from wind turbine blades may withstand loads associated with wind pressure and vehicle traffic with sufficient resistance. In order to evaluate the environmental benefits resulting from the use of composite material made from wind turbine blades to make noise barriers, this study presents the values of the embodied energy and embodied carbon for several types of road noise barriers using life cycle assessment.

All concrete mechanical properties given in design codes of concrete and reinforced concrete structures are correlated with the characteristic compressive strength f_ck. According to the EN 206-1 code, the characteristic strength is defined as the strength value below which 5 % of the population of all possible strength test results for given volume of concrete can be found. The value of f_ck can be defined as 5 % quantile of the statistical distribution of the concrete compressive strength, tested on cylindrical samples with a diameter of 150 mm and a height of 300 mm or on cubic samples with dimensions 150 × 150 × 150 mm assuming the conversion factor of 0.8. In order to verify compliance of strength of the considered concrete with the designed characteristic strength (ascribed to concrete class), it should be checked if the test results meet the appropriate statistical criteria. The characteristic strength defined by specifying of concrete class is determined at the designing stage of the structure and it is the basic controlled parameter, providing the requirements are fulfilled by the producer. Despite numerous publications on disadvantages of the code compliance criteria, marginalization of the problem is still visible. Concepts and methods based on probabilistic or statistical approaches are often sourced of skeptical views on quality control because they are not very familiar to most engineers. In the paper the assessment of the code compliance criteria has been made using the numerical simulation on the basis of the programs which has been written in C++. The innovative method for estimation test coefficients values contained in the code compliance criteria has been proposed. This method was developed on the basis of fuzzy methods.

This article presents the results of an experimental study carried out to assess the possibility of using waste wind turbine blades as retaining wall structures for slopes and trenches. The use of Vestas and LM-type blades as retaining wall components was assumed, based on ‘columns’ made of Vestas-type closed profiles filled with concrete and ‘slabs’ of fragments extracted from LM-type blades. The results of the tests and comparisons of the displacement and strain values of the components obtained using different measurement methods are presented in this paper. The force–strain and force–displacement relationships obtained from the tests were used to validate numerical models of slope protection walls and excavations designed from used wind turbine blades. According to our research, there is a high degree of variability in the strength parameters and deformation of the composite elements made from the wind turbine blades. Therefore, in the case of this type of material, characterized by a significant variation in carrying capacity, deformability, and the nature of the failures, the use of different measurement methods makes it possible to obtain much of the data necessary for assessing the reusability of wind turbine blades in building.

Technological progress in masonry structures has resulted in the creation of competitive solutions, which force the need for an ever deeper recognition of this type of structure. Masonry is a composite with heterogeneous strength properties. Therefore, the most appropriate way to accurately describe the behavior of the masonry structure under the influence of the working load are experimental research and their statistical and probabilistic analysis. This article presents a series of experimental tests carried out on real masonry structures. The results of the experiments were subjected to static evaluation, determining the most important parameter in the probabilistic analysis—the coefficient of variability of strength. The variability obtained in the experimental studies was used to determine the safety of the structure in the probabilistic method. Achieved values of coefficients of variation and safety coefficients proved to be satisfactory and adequate to the emerging technological progress in the production and embedding of masonry components.

The paper presents the experimental research and numerical simulations of reinforced concrete beams under torsional load. In the experimental tests Digital Image Correlation System (DIC System) Q-450 were used. DIC is a non-contact full-field image analysis method, based on grey value digital images that can determine displacements and strains of an object under load. Numerical simulations of the investigated beams were performed by using the ATENA 3D – Studio program. Creation of numerical models of reinforced concrete elements under torsion was complicated due to difficulties in modelling of real boundary conditions of these elements. The experimental research using DIC can be extremely useful in creating correct numerical models of investigated elements. High accuracy and a wide spectrum of results obtained from experimental tests allow for the modification of the boundary conditions assumed in the numerical model, so that these conditions correspond to the real fixing of the element during the tests.