Experimental Investigation of Usability of Construction Waste as AggregateS

Abstract

The aim of this work is to obtain recycled aggregate (RA) from construction debris in order to reduce the rapid consumption of aggregate resources and the environmental impact of these resources. In order to fulfill this aim, the density, porosity, Schmidt hardness test, uniaxial compression resistance, carbonation depth, and ultrasonic p-wave velocity experiments were conducted on different construction debris transported by trucks from 9 different points in Turkey. In addition, the debris samples taken were broken down to the size of the aggregate and subjected to the tests of density, porosity, moisture content, freeze-thaw, and impact resistance. As a result of the conducted experiments, the lowest mass loss as a result of freezing-thawing was in GRA with 9.36%, the highest mass loss was in ORA with 22.58%, the highest ORA average aggregate impact strength index was 21.27%, and the lowest TRA aggregate impact strength index was found to be 18.26%. It was determined that most of the physical properties of RA obtained from the construction wreckage was within the limit values specified in the literature and that the recycled aggregates could be used instead of natural aggregate. With this work and these results, RA obtained could be used in many areas such as concrete aggregate in the construction sector, underground filling in mining, filling material in gunned concrete, and filling materials on highways.