Durability of Pavement Concretes Made with Recycled Concrete Aggregates

Abstract

There is a growing trend to replace the traditional ingredients of concrete pavement mixtures with more sustainable materials from a perspective of both the cost of raw materials and the carbon dioxide footprint. The availability of quality natural aggregates, which make up about 70% to 80% of concrete (by volume), is becoming more limited because of environmental restrictions on quarrying operations and longer hauling distances. The other major concern is disposal of old concrete pavements, which unless used as fill or base material for construction of new roadways, will have to be placed in the landfills. In this study, recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) obtained from crushing old concrete pavement were used as coarse aggregates at 0%, 30%, 50%, and 100% replacement levels (by mass) for natural virgin aggregates (NVA). Concrete mixtures were designed and produced to meet the concrete pavement requirements for air content, slump, and flexural strength stipulated by the Indiana Department of Transportation. All concrete mixtures were produced with 18.5% to 20.0% of the cement replaced (by mass) with ASTM C618 Class C fly ash. The physical and mechanical testing involved evaluation of slump, air content, and development of both flexural and compressive strengths. In addition, durability was assessed with the freeze–thaw test, scaling test, rapid chloride permeability (RCP) test, and non–steady state migration test. The most advantageous dosages for replacing NVA with RCA for concrete pavements were found to be 50%, on the basis of fresh concrete properties and the results of strength and durability tests. The applicability of electrical impedance spectroscopy for quick performance appraisal is presented on the basis of the experimental relationship between the RCP charge and bulk resistance of concrete.