Evaluation of the Freeze and Thaw Resistance of Recycled Concrete Aggregates and Natural Aggregates

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 MSc. in Transportation, Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, I. R. Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, I. R. Iran.

3 Assistant Professor, Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, I. R. Iran.

Abstract

In the last decade, structural waste-recycling and production of recycled concrete- aggregate has widely been considered as an environmental approach. The use of recycled aggregate, produced from recycling of demolished concrete in civil engineering projects, such as transportation projects, can have a major effect on providing sand and gravel sources and solving some of the environmental problems. One of the performance characteristics of these kind of materials is their durability against continuous freeze and thaw cycles. Destructions due to this cycle are one of the durability problems for different layers in pavements in cold climates. On the other hand, considering the share of aggregates in road construction, it should be noted that durability performance of these aggregates against freeze and thaw cycles is important in performance of the layers. Up to now, different standards have been written for durability assessment of the aggregates against freeze and thaw cycles. But, due to the difference in structure of recycled concrete aggregates (RCAs) and lesser quality of these aggregates, compared to the natural aggregates (NAs), application of these standards for RCAs is questionable. Therefore, in this research, three standards of ASTM C 88, AASHTO T 103 and CSA A23.2-24A were selected to assess the durability of RCAs and NAs against freeze and thaw cycles. Water adsorption and abrasion tests in Los Angeles apparatus were conducted too. Results showed that AASHTO test has high destruction power and its application with temperature-time cycle in this experiment is not recommendable. Also, the aggregate soundness test, using magnesium sulfate test, is not applicable for RCAs and does not have reliable results. But, the CSA test has acceptable results, in accordance with the results of physical and mechanical tests.

Keywords


 Munck-Kampmann, B. (2003). “European trends in waste generation and waste management”. In: Recycling and Reuse of Waste Materials, Thomas Telford Publishing, pp. 1-22.  
De Brito, J. and Saikia, N. (2012). “Recycled aggregate in concrete: Use of industrial, construction and demolition waste”. Springer Science & Business Media.
European Environment Agency. (2008). “Effectiveness of Environmental Taxes and Charges for Managing Sand, Gravel and Rock Extraction in Selected EU Countries”. EEA Report No. 2/2008.
Arshad, M. and Ahmed, M. F. (2017). “Potential use of reclaimed asphalt pavement and recycled concrete aggregate in base/subbase layers of flexible pavements”. Constr. Build. Mater., 151: 83-97.
Gokce, A., Nagataki, S., Saeki, T. and Hisada, M. (2011). “Identification of frost-susceptible recycled concrete aggregates for durability of concrete”. Constr. Build. Mater., 25(5): 2426-2431.
Pigeon, M. and Pleau, R. (2010). Durability of concrete in cold climates. CRC Press.
Lachance-Tremblay, É., Perraton, D., Vaillancourt, M. and Di Benedetto, H. (2017). “Degradation of asphalt mixtures with glass aggregates subjected to freeze-thaw cycles”. Cold Reg. Sci. Technol., 141: 8-15.
Mummaneni, S. K. (2011). “Evaluation of Canadian unconfined aggregate freeze-thaw tests for identifying nondurable aggregates. PhD Dissertation, Kansas State University.
ASTM C 88. (2014). “Standard Test Method for Soundness of Aggregates by Use of Sodium Sulfate or Magnesium Sulfate”. American Society for Testing and Materials.
Cuelho, E., Mokwa, R. and Obert, K. (2007). “Comparative analysis of coarse surfacing aggregate using Micro-Deval, LA abrasion and sodium sulfate soundness tests”. Project Report, Montana State University, Bozeman.
Wu, Y., Parker, F. and Kandhal, P. (1998). “Aggregate toughness/abrasion resistance and durability/soundness tests related to asphalt concrete performance in pavements”. Transportation Research Record: J. Transport. Res. Board, 1638: 85-93.
Ioannou, I., Fournari, R. and Petrou, M. F. (2013). Testing the soundness of aggregates using different methodologies”. Constr. Build. Mater., 40: 604-610.
Snyder, M. B., Van den Bossche, J. M., Smith, K. D. and Wade, M. (1994). “Synthesis on Recycled Concrete Aggregate”. Interim Report, Task A. DTFH61-93-C00133, Federal Highway Administration, Washington, DC.
Tabsh, S. W. and Abdelfatah, A. S. (2009). “Influence of recycled concrete aggregates on strength properties of concrete”. Constr. Build. Mater., 23(2): 1163-1167.
AASHTO T 103-08. (2009). “Standard method of test for soundness of aggregates by freezing and thawing”. American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
CSA A23.2-24A. (2004). “Test method for the resistance of unconfined coarse aggregate to freezing and thawing”. Canadian Standards Association.
A23.1-09/A23.2-09. (2014). “Concrete materials and methods of concrete construction’. Test Methods and Standard Practices for Concrete.
ASTM C 127. (2004). “Standard test method for density, relative density (Specific gravity), and absorption of coarse aggregate”. Annual Book of ASTM Standards.
ASTM C 131/C 131 M. (2014). “Standard test method for resistance to degradation of small-size coarse aggregate by abrasion and impact in the Los Angeles Machine”.
AASHTO MP 16-07. (2009). “Reclaimed concrete aggregate for use as coarse aggregate in hydraulic cement mortar”.
ASTM C33/C33M-16e1. (2016). “Standard specification for concrete aggregates”. ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, www.astm.org.
BS EN 12620. (2008). “Aggregates for concrete”. British Standard Institution, www.bsigroup.com.