REPORT ON RECYCLED CONCRETE PAVEMENTS

SUBMITTED TO
SUBMITTED BY
DR SYAM NAIR
MAJ JITENDER SINGH
ASST PROF
ROLL NO 18103040
INTRODUCTION

With the rapid rate of global urbanization and industrialization, there is an intense
development around the globe. This call for a non-ending need of resources (both
natural and artificial) and leaves behind huge piles of wastes. In developing countries
like in India, generally C&D waste is not properly disposed in an unorganized manner
thereby leading the problem of environmental issues. However these days globally
research work is done regarding recycling and for devising new applications to make
more sustainable environment. Concrete is the premier construction material across the
world and the most widely used in all types of civil engineering works. In the past,
aggregates were readily available at lower prices and qualities to suit all purposes.
However, in recent years the uncontrolled quarrying and use of aggregates from natural
resources has led to the depletion of primary aggregates and has created greater
awareness of environmental protection. This paper explores a theme on the need for
recycled concrete aggregates and highlights its potential use as aggregate in concrete
pavement construction along with various techniques and applications involved in the
process. The effect of adhered mortar on the properties of aggregate particle along
with various methods proposed by different studies in the past for their removal is
discussed in the study. Also established rules or specifications for incorporating recycled
concrete aggregates by different countries are discussed in study. From the
sustainability standpoint it is important to develop more construction materials that
incorporate recycled aggregates. Work done in the past by some researchers is also
discussed along with the feasibility of future work prospects regarding the same. Along
with the benefits of incorporating recycled concrete aggregates into practice this paper
also presses the need to develop specifications and codes for using recycled materials
efficiently and productively.

Use of recycled construction and demolition waste is not a new concept. Experts from
history discusses that Romans often reused stones from previous roads in rebuilding
newer ones. Buck discuses the use of recycled concrete aggregates near to the end of
World War II, when there was excessive demolition of buildings and roads and a high
need to both get rid of the waste material and rebuild Europe.
The cost of construction materials is increasing incrementally. Ever increasing demand
for new materials, rise in transportation costs and environment related restrictions,
force to look beyond the conventional sources of materials for construction purposes.
In view of the importance of saving of energy and conservation of resources, efficient
recycling of all these solid wastes is now a global concern requiring extensive research
work towards exploring newer applications and maximizing use of existing
technologies for a sustainable and environmentally sound management.
RECYCLED CONCRETE AGGREGATES

Concrete is the premier construction material across the world and the most widely
used in all types of civil engineering works. In the past, aggregates were readily
available at lower prices and qualities to suit all purposes. However, in recent years the
uncontrolled quarrying and use of aggregates from natural resources has led to the
depletion of primary aggregates and has created greater awareness of environmental
protection. Concrete was once routinely trucked to landfills for disposal or piled
up on the road side, but recycling has a number of benefits that have made it a
more attractive option in this age of greater environmental awareness, stringent
environmental laws, and the desire to keep construction costs down. Recycling of
concrete basically involves crushing, sizing and blending to meet the required product
mix. Various methods are available for crushing and sieving of C & D waste, however
generally it is done using mobile or stationary recycling plants. Separate concrete
and asphalt recycling plants are used to process natural sand or gravel. Construction
waste contains metal and other waste materials that must be screened and removed at
the start of processing by manual picking or mechanically.

Recycled aggregates are original aggregates coated upon by the adhered mortar. The
physical properties of recycled aggregates are influenced by both the quality and
amount of adhered mortar. Therefore, it becomes important to investigate properties
of recycled aggregate concrete, considering that the percentage of these main contents
does vary. It has been discussed by various researchers in the past that the inclusions
of recycled concrete aggregates tend to lower the quality of concrete produced, this
was attributed to the adhered mortar on the aggregate particles. Thus it becomes very
important to remove the adhered mortar from the aggregate; few methods have been
proposed by researchers working worldwide on the subject. These mortar removal
methods are commonly known as beneficiation methods and are applied to the recycled
concrete aggregates for surface treatment before bringing them into use.

ADVANTAGES OF RECYCLED CONCRETE AGGREGATES

Traditionally the disposal of demolished concrete after its life span was done by
landfills. This would greatly impact landfill space requirements and contribute to
pollution. Fortunately, a new trend has emerged which allows for concrete aggregate to
be recycled via crushing machines and can be reused for new construction projects.
Recycling concrete has great economic and environmental benefits. Recycling of
concrete waste will decrease the amount of space taken up in landfills as well as
liminate pollution produced by moving the concrete waste by trucks. With the use of
recycled material, there is less need for gravel mining as recycled concrete uses less
energy. Furthermore, there is no need to transport new materials which in turn helps to
reduce water and air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Recycling of concrete
waste reduces the costs for construction and provides job opportunities in the local
area. There are numerous uses for recycled concrete, so any individual involved in the
construction business will want to take advantage of recycled concrete to not only
reduce operating costs but even more importantly preserve the earth for future
generations.

SURFACE TREATMENT METHODS

The presence of mortar in recycled concrete aggregates has been identified as the most
important factor contributing to lowering the quality of recycled concrete aggregates. A
number of recycled concrete aggregates beneficiation methods have been recently
proposed to enhance the quality of recycled concrete aggregates by reducing the total
amount of mortar present. Such methods rely on one or more combinations of
mechanical, thermal and chemical treatments to remove the mortar. In the following
section, various previously proposed beneficiation methods as microwave-assisted
recycled concrete aggregates beneficiation technique recently
developed at National University of Singapore are described.

Conventional Heating (Thermal Beneficiation):

This method works upon generating thermal stresses through thermal expansion to
fracture and remove away the adhered mortar. In this method, recycled concrete
aggregates particles are heated at about 500 °C for about two hours. Moreover,
according to experiments when concrete is heated at temperatures higher than 300 °C,
mortar is made brittle due to dehydration; lowering its resistance against the thermal
stresses developed . The efficiency of this method could be increased by pre
saturating the mortar before heating because it can lead to pore pressure
development which may result in the more efficient removal of mortar. Immersing the
heated recycled concrete aggregates in cold water immediately after heating could lead
to development of increased differential thermal stresses which could further add to
mortar removal.

Mechanical Beneficiation:
This technique uses mechanical forces to grind and remove away the adhered mortar.
Japanese researchers have proposed two techniques for the mechanical beneficiation:
eccentric-shaft rotor and mechanical grinding. In the eccentric shaft rotor method,
there are two concentrically placed cylinders and crushed concrete lumps are passed
downward between the outer and inner cylinder that rotate at high speed to
separate the adhered mortar from the aggregate particle. In the mechanical
grinding method, the mortar is removed by the abrasive action of iron balls in a
rotating drum partitioned into a number of small compartments.

Thermal-Mechanical Beneficiation:
This method remove mortar from the recycled concrete aggregates particles by
applying a combination of mechanical stresses generated through rubbing and thermal
stresses generated through conventional heating.
Acid Soaking Beneficiation:
More recently, Tam et al. proposed a new method to remove the mortar by pre-soaking
recycled concrete aggregates in 0.1 molar acidic solutions for 24 hours . They
considered three different acidic solutions (HCL, H2SO4, H3PO4) in this study
and reported that the water absorption of recycled concrete aggregates after
treatment reduced, showing improvements in the
range of 7.27% to 12.17%. However, it was found that the treated aggregates had
higher content of chlorides and sulfates. This increase in chloride and sulfate
content may pose serious durability issues.

Chemical-Mechanical Beneficiation:
Abbas et al. proposed to use combined chemical degradation through exposure
of recycled concrete aggregates to sodium sulfate solution and mechanical
stresses created through subjecting recycled concrete aggregates to freeze-and-
thaw action to separate mortar from recycled concrete aggregates . However, the
main objective of their study was focused on quantifying the amount of mortar present
for use in recycled concrete aggregates classification. The technique is considered not
suitable for full scale recycled concrete aggregates production.

Microwave-Assisted Beneficiation:
A novel microwave-assisted beneficiation technique has been developed recently at the
National University of Singapore. This method takes advantage of the differences in
electromagnetic properties and water absorption of natural aggregates and mortar to
heat them at considerably different heating rates. The differential heating of natural
aggregates and mortar may lead to development of high differential thermal stresses
within the mortar, especially at its interface with the embedded natural aggregate. The
differential thermal stresses developed are harnessed to break up and separate the
mortar without damaging the natural aggregates. To achieve better efficiency and
yield, the microwave frequency, microwave power and water content of the
recycled concrete aggregates samples to be treated may be optimized. While
microwave heating heats up only the recycled concrete aggregates volumetrically it
is significantly more energy efficient compared to conventional heating which heats
the entire heating chamber together with its contents. The efficiency of microwave
heating in the current state of art systems reported may be as high as 90%. The
microwave-assisted recycled concrete aggregates beneficiation requires significantly
shorter duration (a few minutes) compared conventional heating technique (120
minutes). This leads to significantly lower energy consumption compared to
conventional heating beneficiation methods. In addition, the maximum temperature
reached by the recycled concrete aggregates particles during the microwave assisted
beneficiation method is only about 200 °C. Due to the shorter heating duration and the
lower temperatures reached compared to conventional heating methods, the
quality of the original coarse aggregates, e.g. granite is more likely to remain
unaffected after processing.
PROPERTIES OF RECYCLED CONCRETE AGGREGATES

The properties of recycled concrete aggregates as discussed by literature from past are
found to be varied than those of natural aggregates. While it is both economically and
environmentally acceptable to bring recycled concrete aggregate in wider applications,
it is important that these aggregates must meet the requirements set in relevant
specifications for its particular use. The mechanical properties and the durability
characteristics of recycled aggregates must be investigated to ensure proper use
of the recycled material. Researchers globally have been studying the mechanical
and durability properties of recycled aggregate concrete. Investigations from different
sources have shown that the mechanical properties depend on the properties of the
recycled concrete waste used to produce the aggregate and on the percentage
replacement of coarse aggregates in the new concrete. Since there is wide variation
in the properties of the available resources, properties of the local materials need to
be investigated in order to ascertain the performance of the new materials. In recycled
aggregate concrete, the recycled aggregate could relatively be weaker than a typical
natural aggregate, and hence can yield reduced shear strength.

Density
The properties of recycled concrete aggregates as discussed by literature from past are
found to be varied than those of natural aggregates which is attributed mainly to
the residual adhered mortar on aggregate. Since, adhered mortar is less dense than
the underlying rock, the density of virgin aggregates is generally higher than that of
recycled aggregates. The variation in density is dependent on the specific aggregate in
question. Studies carried out by Limbachiya and
Sagoe-Crentsil showed that the relative density of recycled concrete aggregates (in the
saturated surface dry state) is lower than that of virgin aggregates approximately by 7–
9 % and 17 % respectively.

Specific Gravity
The specific gravity gives valuable information on the quality and properties of
aggregate and it is seen that the higher values of specific gravity indicates that the
aggregate is harder and strong. (Gambhir, M. L.). Ismail Abdul Rahman found that
the specific gravity values of recycled aggregates are almost equal of the virgin
aggregates. Pimplikar S. Sunil upon investigations determined the specific gravity of
recycled concrete aggregates to be between 2.35 to 2.58.

Porosity and Water Absorption

Recycled concrete aggregates often have adhered mortar, which is highly porous
and thus increases the porosity and water absorption characteristics of the
aggregates. On the contrary virgin aggregates are less porous and have lower water
absorption characteristics. Shayan and Xu calculated water absorption values of 0.5–1
% and 4–4.7 % for virgin and recycled concrete aggregates respectively in the
saturated surface dry condition, while some studies by Sagoe-Crentsil and
Limbachiya showed differences where recycled concrete
aggregate absorption was 5.6 and 4.9–5.2 % compared to virgin aggregates absorption
of 1.0 and 2.5 % respectively. Pimplikar S. Sunil upon investigations determined the
waterabsorp tion of recycled concrete aggregates to be relatively higher than that of
virgin aggregates approximately between 1.5 % to 7.0 %.

Crushing value and Abrasion value

The general trend for crushing and Los Angeles abrasion tests values of
recycled concrete aggregates are higher values than virgin aggregates. Sagoe-Crentsil
found the crushing tests resulting in values of 23.1 % for recycled concrete aggregates
and 15.7 % for basalt (virgin aggregate) while Shayan and Xu evaluated 24 % for
recycled concrete aggregate and 13 % for basalt as virgin aggregate. The L.A.
abrasion values for recycled concrete aggregates and virgin aggregates were found to
be 32% and 11% as per Shayan and Xu while 26.4 % – 42.7 % for recycled concrete
aggregates and 22.9 % for virgin aggregates as per Tavakoli and
Soroushian . Higher values for recycled concrete aggregates are due to the residual
mortar that can break off easily at the interfacial transition zone, which is the
usually weak area of concrete. The behavior of recycled concrete aggregates in
crushing and abrasion tests shows the weakness due to adhered mortar. This layer is
likely to break off from the aggregate itself, it could be predicted that the adhered
mortar layer may also create a weak connection within concrete.

Aggregate Impact Value

As discussed by various researchers, the properties of recycled concrete aggregates are
found to be a bit lower when compared to those of virgin aggregates. The aggregate
impact value record by Ahmed B showed that the aggregate impact value of virgin
coarse aggregate was 15.56 %, where as for the recycled coarse aggregate the same
value was 17.04%. Ismail Abdul Rahman et. al. upon laboratory investigations found
the impact value of recycled concrete aggregates to be similar to that of virgin
aggregates. This showed that the aggregate impact value of fresh coarse aggregate is
considerably below of waste coarse aggregate.

Sustainability
The simple act of recycling the concrete reduces the amount of material that has to be
landfilled. The demolished concrete waste itself becomes aggregate which could
be re-used and any embedded metals can be removed and recycled as well. This
reduces the need of space for landfills and also reduces the economic impact of the
project. Moreover, using recycled concrete aggregates reduces the need for virgin
aggregates thereby reducing the environmental impact of the aggregate extraction
process. This also significantly reduces the transportation requirements for new
materials and disposal of waste materials. In addition to the resource
management aspect, recycled concrete aggregates absorb a large amount of
carbon dioxide from the surrounding environment. The natural process of
carbonation occurs in all concrete from the surface inward. The process of
manufacturing recycled concrete aggregate leads to further carbonation of areas of
the concrete waste that have not been exposed to atmospheric carbon dioxide.
The concept of sustainable development includes the judicious use of natural resources.
The use of these non-renewable resources, such as virgin aggregates, needs to be
reduced by recycling C&D waste, processed in such a way that it can be used
to replace virgin coarse or fine aggregate. This replacement reduces natural
resource consumption and allows for reduction in the volume of materials disposed of
in landfills. Recycled aggregate concrete, if satisfactory concrete properties are
achieved, can be an example of sustainable construction materials.
Sustainability goes beyond recycling. The sustainable use of materials in construction
requires consideration of natural resources and energy resources as well as function
and performance. In achieving performance it is essential that the properties and
characteristics of sustainable materials are properly understood and they are not used
as one-to-one replacement of traditional materials. The use of recycled materials
should be standardized in a flexible way to give engineers usable ways for
sustainable use of these materials. From the sustainability standpoint it is important to
develop more construction materials that incorporate recycled aggregates. This is
of special importance for fine recycled aggregates and low-quality coarse recycled
aggregates, which have limited use in structural concrete. The use of sustainable
materials, in appropriate quantities and appropriate products, will help in reducing the
socioeconomic impacts, waste and pollution in the concrete industry.

FRESH RECYCLED AGGREGATE CONCRETE

 BULK DENSITY
 NA -2400 KG/M
 RCA-2150 KG/M
 WORKABILITY-FOR SAME W/C,WORKABILITY OF RCA IS LOWER
AIR CONTENT-4-5.5% WHICH IS HIGHER THAN NATURAL AGGREGATE

HARDENED RECYCLED AGGREGATE CONCRETE

 COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH-REDUCED,EXTENT OF REDUCTION DEPENDS UPON
W/C RATIO
 MOD OF ELASTICITY- 50-70% OF NATURAL AGG, EXTENT OF REDUCTION
DEPENDS UPON W/C RATIO
 FLEXURAL AND TENSILE STRENGTH-NATURAL AGG POSSES HIGHER
VALUE,BUT DIFF NOT MORE THAN 10%
 BOND STRENGTH-MIN REDUCTION,ABOUT 10% ON FULL REPLACEMENT
ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED DUE TO REDUCTION IN STRENGTH

 CONCRETE PAVEMENTS WITH NO RCM HAS AN EXPECTED LIFE OF 59 YRS

 WITH 50 % RCM THE EXPECTED LIFE REDUCES TO 50 YRS
 50 % RCM AND 12% MORE THICKNESS WILL HAVE 59 YRS EXPECTED LIFE
 50 % RCM AND LOWER W/C RATIO(0.36) WILL HAVE 59 YRS EXPECTED LIFE
 100 % RCM WITH REDUCED JOINTS SPACING WILL HAVE THE EXPECTED LIFE
OF 46 YRS
 100 % RCM WITH24% THICKNESS AND REDUCED JOINTS SPACING WILL
HAVE THE EXPECTED LIFE OF 59 YRS

CONCLUSIONS

Following conclusions could be drawn from the studies and literature available on
recycled concrete aggregates. Literature studies on properties of recycled concrete
aggregates have mixed results with several studies discussing increase in properties
of concrete using recycled aggregates upon incorporating some inert material such as
fly ash or silica fume etc. The mixes prepared using recycled concrete aggregates
require more water than concrete prepared using primary aggregates to maintain the
same slump without the use of admixtures. This affects the quality and strength of the
concrete, resulting in lower concrete strength.The mortar adhered to the surface of
recycled aggregates increases the porosity of recycled aggregates, thus proper method
should be adopted for its removal. Finally the fwg conclusions may be drawn on the
basis of this study.

 LONG TERM PERFORMANCE OF RCM IN CONCRETE PAVEMENTS MAY BE

WORSE THAN NA CONCRETE WHEN THE TWO ARE MADE WITH SIMILAR
STRUCTURAL DESIGN AND CONCRETE MIX DESIGN.
 TO COMPENSATE,CHANGES COULD BE MADE AT THE INITIAL DESIGN
PHASE.(THICKER PAVEMENTS / LOWER WATER CONTENT AND HIGHER
CEMENT RATIO.
 LCCA SUPPORTS THE OPTION OF STRENGTHENING THE CONCRETE MIX.
 USE OF RCM WILL BE ECONOMICAL.