The effect of recycled concrete aggregates on the flexural behavior of reinforced beams

Abstract

Since the beginning of the urban revolution that have transformed societies from agricultural villages into large urban societies, the construction industry increased significantly and it still increasing. Over the last decades, studies considered construction as one of the factors contributing to environmental degradation. As a consequence, the interest in sustainable concrete had lately increased. The main factor that characterizes sustainable construction is the material used during its process. Sustainable material is a material that can be used and reproduced with a certain volume without using non-renewable resources. A significant number of studies had the objective to find a sustainable material in order to replace the natural materials used in construction industry. Despite there are several alternatives that can replace natural material extracted from the environment, not all of them maintain the same properties of construction. This project is the third in a series, studying the effect of using recycled concrete aggregates in structural concrete production. The natural coarse aggregates are replaced by recycled concrete aggregates to reduce environmental degradation. The aim of this project is to study the effect of increasing steel ratio to 1.4% on the flexural behavior of beams made with different replacement ratios of recycled concrete aggregates. For this objective, three beams were cast; the first was made entirely with natural aggregates to serve as control beam, the second was made using 50% replacement ratio of recycled concrete aggregates and the last one was made entirely of recycled concrete aggregates. The three beams were tested under four-point bending, and the results obtained were close to the results obtained with 1% steel ratio.