Use of recycled concrete aggregates in sustainable structural concrete applications

Abstract

The increasing difficulty in securing natural coarse and fine aggregates for the production of concrete coupled with the environmental issues and social costs of unlimited extraction of natural aggregates makes the usage of recycled aggregate concrete (RCA) in the construction industry of prime importance. However the full use of the material can be justified only through structural applications. Engineers are reluctant to use RCA in structural applications due to lack of design information. A brief review of the recent literature on Recycled Aggregate Concrete (RCA) used as a structural material is reported in this paper. It is found that the most of the research studies conducted up to now are mostly based on material properties rather than investigation of the RCA and its performance as a structural material. Major issues and problems associated with RCA concrete compared to normal concrete are identified in the paper.