United States Department of Transportation
i
Recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) for infrastructure elements.
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2014-07-01
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[PDF-12.03 MB]
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Abstract:With a growing demand for new construction and the need to replace infrastructure stretched beyond its service life, society faces the
problem of an ever-growing production of construction and demolition waste. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
estimates that two billion tons of new aggregate are produced each year in the United States. This demand is anticipated to increase to
two and a half billion tons each year by 2020. With such a high demand for new aggregates, the concern arises of the depletion of
current sources of natural aggregates and the availability of new sources. Similarly, construction waste produced in the United States
is expected to increase. From building demolition alone, the annual production of construction waste is estimated to be 123 million
tons (FHWA). Currently, this waste is most commonly disposed of in landfills.
To address both the concern of increasing demand for new aggregates and increasing production of waste, many states have begun to
recognize that a more sustainable solution exists in recycling waste concrete for use as aggregate in new concrete, or recycled concrete
aggregate (RCA). This solution helps address the question of how to sustain modern construction demands for aggregates as well as
helps to reduce the amount of waste that enters already over-burdened landfills. Many states have begun to implement RCA in some
ways in new construction. For instance, forty-one states have recognized the many uses of RCA as a raw material, such as for rip-rap,
soil stabilization, pipe bedding, and even landscape materials. Thirty-eight states have gone a step further in integrating RCA into
roadway systems for use as aggregate course base material. However, only eleven states have begun using RCA in Portland cement
concrete for pavement construction. Furthermore, at the start of this research project, there were no acceptable standards or guidelines
in the U.S. for utilizing RCA in structural concrete.
The objective of this research was to determine the implications of using RCA in the production of new concrete. Specifically, the
study evaluated the fresh and hardened properties, durability, and structural behavior of concrete containing RCA and, based on these
results, developed guidelines on its use in infrastructure elements for MoDOT.
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