Behavior of Recycled Aggregate Reinforced Concrete Columns Under Uniaxial Loading

The root cause of waste generation is due to rapid expansion in the construction industry, which includes the construction of new buildings and demolition of existing structures. It has drawn the attention towards the limited natural materials for construction specifically aggregates which need to be used wisely to diminish detrimental environmental condition. To counter this problem recycling and reusing of coarse aggregate from waste concrete has been identified as one of the solution. This study focuses on the behavior of reinforced concrete columns made up of recycled aggregate, under uniaxial loading. It determines numerous aspects which may affect the behavior of recycled aggregate concrete; it includes percentage replacement of recycled aggregates (30%, 50%, 70% and 100%) and 28 days curing at a constant w/c of 0.43. Initially, mechanical properties of concrete made up of recycled coarse aggregates were determined along with comparing them with properties of natural coarse aggregates concrete. A slight decrease is observed in all the obtained results. The result shows that with the increase in the percentage of RCA, the load carrying capacity of column also decreases. A pure compression failure was observed in RAC columns. This study provides a basis of using RCA in structural concrete by studying the structural behavior of RC columns and recommends further investigations on the failure mechanism of RC compression and flexural members along with studying its durability characteristics to promote the design of green and sustainable structures leading to environmental sustainability.