Use of incinerated ashes as aggregate in concrete: a compressive strength model

Abstract

Municipal solid waste, described as household waste, and sewage sludge, arising from wastewater treatment, are produced in large quantities around the world. Incineration plays a key role in the management of these materials, although the process leaves behind residual ashes: municipal incinerated bottom ash and sewage sludge ash, respectively. This paper examines the use of these ashes as aggregate in concrete, focusing specifically on developing a model to estimate the compressive strength of the concrete. The data used in this work have been obtained from a comprehensive search of the globally published literature. The strength model, focusing on 28 d results, has been developed using a regression analysis approach, with the renowned Abram's law as the foundation. The validated model demonstrated that, with favourable ash properties and mix design parameters, compressive strength results close to the control can be targeted with the use of the ashes as a low content aggregate component.