Performance assessment of recycled aggregate concrete and its variability

Abstract

AbstractThe use of recycled aggregate improves waste management and is a crucial step toward the sustainable development of the concrete industry. Hence, this paper presents the experimental investigation to determine the mechanical properties of concrete with recycled concrete aggregates as the selective substitution for natural aggregates. The slump was observed to decrease by replacing natural coarse aggregates with recycled concrete aggregates. Compressive strength of about 40 MPa was achieved after 56 days of curing with the utilization of 100% recycled concrete aggregates. Besides, a reduction in the splitting tensile strength of 14% was observed due to the incorporation of recycled concrete aggregates. The statistical techniques use various probability distribution models such as Gamma, Lognormal, Weibull, and Normal distributions. Amongst the considered functions, lognormal and Weibull distributions best represent the experimentally obtained compressive strength of concrete with 100% natural aggregates and 50% recycled concrete aggregates, respectively. However, for concrete with 100% recycled aggregates, Weibull distribution represent compressive strength after 28 days of curing, and lognormal distribution is given the best fit for the compressive after 56 days of curing. In the case of split tensile strength, lognormal distribution provided the best representation after 56 days of curing for all specimens.