Performance of Zero-Slump Concrete Made with Recycled Concrete Aggregate

Abstract

Concrete with no slump that is typically used for prefabrication is known as zero slump concrete (ZSC). ZSC is sensitive to mixture proportion. Since coarse aggregate makes up the majority of the concrete volume, recycling concrete aggregates will be a great choice for reducing the amount of concrete waste. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of using coarse recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) in ZSC properties. Five mixes were manufactured, each with a different percentage of coarse RCA (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%). Compressive strength, flexural strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), dry bulk density, and water absorption of recycled aggregate ZSC were conducted at 7, 28 and 90 days. Experiments revealed that the inclusion of coarse RCA in ZSC degraded the quality of manufactured concrete. At 90 days, in comparison to the control mix, the minor drop was at 25% coarse RCA incorporation, which resulted in a 6.2%, 4.1%, 2%, and 2.4% drop in compressive strength, flexural strength, UPV, and dry bulk density, respectively, while there was a 24.4% increase in water absorption. The highest drop of recycled aggregate ZSC at 100% incorporation resulted in a 41.7%, 19.1%, 8.6%, and 7.6% drop in compressive strength, flexural strength, UPV, and dry bulk density, respectively, while there was a 158.8% increase in water absorption.

Keywords

• concrete
• zero slump concrete
• recycled aggregate
• mechanical performance
• water absorption