Overview of studies on the effect of recycled aggregates sourced from tested cylinders on concrete material and structural properties

Abstract

The paper presents an overview of a two-phase research program that was designed at the American University of Beirut (AUB) to investigate the effect of replacing different percentages of natural coarse aggregates (NCA) with recycled coarse aggregates (RCA) on the properties of the produced concrete. The source of RCA was tested cylinders in batching plants which would help recycling and reusing portion of the waste products of the concrete industry. In the first phase, the fresh and hardened mechanical properties of the produced concrete mix were investigated. The variables were the concrete strength (28 or 60 MPa) and the percentage replacement of NCA with RCA from crushed tested cylinders [0 (control), 20, 40, 60, 80, or 100%). Normal strength tested cylinders were used as source of the recycled aggregates for the normal strength concrete (NSC) mix and high strength tested cylinders were used for the high strength concrete (HSC) mix. Tests included plastic state slump and hardened state mechanical properties including cylinder compressive strength, cylinder splitting tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, and standard beams flexural strength. The results indicated no significant effect on the slump and around 10% average reduction in the hardened mechanical properties for both investigated levels of concrete compressive strength. In the second phase, the structural behavior of normal strength concrete (NSC) reinforced concrete beams prepared by replacing different percentages of NCA with RCA from tested concrete cylinders was studied. For each of three modes of failure (flexural, shear, or bond splitting), three beams with different percentages replacement [0 (control), 40, or 100 percent] were tested. One replicate was prepared for each beam to validate the test results. Results indicated no significant difference in the ultimate load reached or load-deflection behavior that could be related to the percentage replacement of NCA with RCA.