New Mixture Proportioning Method for Concrete Made with Coarse Recycled Concrete Aggregate

Abstract

New method of mixture proportioning is proposed for concrete made with coarse recycled concrete aggregates (RCA). The proposed method, dubbed the “equivalent mortar volume” method, is predicated on the fact that RCA is a two-phase material comprising mortar and natural aggregate; therefore, when proportioning a concrete mixture involving RCA, one must account for the quantity and quality of each phase and adjust both the coarse aggregate and fresh paste content of the mix accordingly to achieve the same total mortar volume as a companion mix with the same specified properties but made entirely with coarse natural aggregates of similar properties to the coarse natural aggregate contained in RCA. Using the proposed method and the conventional aggregate replacement method, a large number of mixes was made with RCA obtained from two demolition waste recycling plants. For each mix, its slump, fresh and hardened densities, compressive strength, and elastic moduli were measured. The results showed that using the proposed method, unlike the conventional method, yields concrete mixes with consistent, predictable, and comparable properties to those of similar mixes made with natural aggregates.