Waste concrete application in construction materials

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to determine the possibility of using recycled aggregates coming from concrete to fabricate new concrete and concrete bricks in Chile. The research was done in three steps: The first step was to recover concrete wastes and to determine their physical properties. In the second step, the Faury-Joisel method was applied to obtain the concrete mixture. Finally, the third step consisted of analyzing and studying the use of recycled aggregates in new construction materials following the Chilean technical specifications. As a result, the project concluded that the resistance and average density of recycled concrete is similar to natural concrete fulfilling the specification requirement. However, the concrete bricks resistance decreased approximately by 13% and their fine aggregate content and absorption values were lower than the minimum required by the Chilean specifications (1.03%). On the other hand, even though a slight decrease in the resistance was observed, the use of recycled concrete aggregates was proven to be viable for the fabrication of concrete bricks.