Abstract
In the past decades, reducing and recycling of construction and demolition waste (CDW) has been gaining an increasing attention in infrastructure development for both economic and environmental benefits. Recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) from demolishing of old structures is one major type of construction waste. Many researchers have studied the resultant physical and mechanical properties of concrete made with RCAs. In a continued effort of material recycling, this study explored the feasibility of using demolished concrete blocks (DCBs) in the production of concrete. Compared to conventional RCA, DCB is characterized by its relatively large size. In this study, DCBs were used with self-compacting concrete (SCC) to produce DCB-filled-concrete (DCBFC) since SCC can easily fill up the voids between DCBs. The compression tests conducted in the study indicated that concrete with only SCC and DCB had low compressive strength – which, however, exhibited an increasing trend as the DCB was replaced with natural rocks. Among the three types of DCBFC, DCBFC60 (i.e., 60% DCBs with 40% natural rocks by mass) exhibited the highest compressive strength that was comparable to the compressive strength of SCC. Additionally, three reinforced concrete (RC) beams made of SCC with different proportions of DCBs and natural rocks were tested in the bending loading mode to characterize their flexural strength and cracking resistance potential. While the bending behavior was similar to normal RC beams, the yielding and ultimate moments of SCC beams increased with an increase in the natural rock content, which was consistent with the test results from the compression tests. Similarly, crack mapping also indicated an increase in more tortuous and secondary cracks with an increase in the ratio of the natural rock content. Life cycle assessment also yielded significant environmental benefits with the use of DCBs over conventional concrete.
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