Mixture Optimization of Recycled Aggregate Concrete Using Hybrid Machine Learning Model

Objective: The objective is to determine the effect of treated RCA on the mechanical strength of hardened concrete, and determine the influence of treated RCA on water transport within the matrix of hardened concrete. Aim: The study aims to use pozzolanic concentration of cement and RHA slurry to pretreat coarse RCA for full replacement of NCA for sustainable concrete production. Background: One of the common modes of disposal of construction waste is strained landfills. This study proposes a constructive way of recovering the coarse aggregates of recycled aggregates from laboratory concrete waste taken through a focused treatment process with pozzolan. The study aims to replace the proportions of the cement slurry to treat and replace with rice husk ash (RHA) for the modification of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) and replace fully natural coarse aggregate (NCA) for sustainable concrete production. One of the main challenges of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) is the fractured surface, which often results in reduced strength and loss of concrete durability. The strength of concrete with RCA is principally influenced by the fractured hardened paste attached to the surface, predominantly characterized by voids and gaps resulting from its production using a mechanical method. High water penetration within and around the aggregate matrix due to the presence of micro- and macro-cracks results in strength and durability deterioration of concrete. Methods: This study addresses these problems by specifying aggregate treatment with a pozzolanic slurry of cement and RHA. This was conducted in two (2) phases; first, to determine the optimum proportion of cement slurry concentration (0, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100%), and second, to increase the silicate formation in cement slurry by substituting the proportions of cement with RHA (0, 5, 10, and 15%). The performance of concrete was evaluated by mechanical strength (compressive and split tensile strength) at 7, 28, and 56 days and water transport within the concrete (surface suction and submergence) at 28 and 56 days of curing age. Results: The use of cement slurry treatment at various concentrations generally increased compressive strength at 28 days compared to untreated RCA. The findings show that at a 20% concentration of cement slurry, the increase in compressive strength is 38.4%. Upon replacement of cement in treatment slurry of RCA with 5% RHA, the increase in compressive strength was 61%, while the split tensile strength increased by 10.2%. The amount of water absorbed was observed after 30 minutes of full submergence in water, indicating that samples with 20% cement concentration at 28 days resulted in the lowest water absorption of 2.01%. However, with the replacement of 5% RHA, the water absorption slightly increased to 2.3%, but still less than the requirement of 3.5%. The corresponding test results for water suction by capillarity, initial and secondary sorptivity coefficients (Si and Ss) were found to be 0.0330mm/√sec. (1.98mm/√hr.) and 7.95×10−4mm/√sec. (0.04mm/√hr.) respectively, all less than 6mm/√hr requirement. This improved performance was attributed to the increased strength and structure of the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) around the RCA. Conclusion: Based on the results of mechanical strength and water transport, characteristics of the new concrete were improved when coarse RCAs were pretreated with 20% pozzolanic concentration containing cement and RHA. The use of a pozzolanic treatment slurry containing 15% cement and 5% RHA to treat coarse RCA can produce concrete with characteristics similar to those of natural concrete aggregates. This study presents a methodological utilization and improvement of RCA wastes for field application.

Properties of recycled aggregate concrete prepared with scattering-filling coarse aggregate process

Green recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) with high strength and low shrinkage is prepared based on recycled coarse aggregate produced by the particle-shaping and aggregate-strengthening method and green low-carbon new cement. This not only effectively alleviates the shortage of natural resources, but also improves the performance of recycled aggregate concrete, which is of great significance for multi-channel resource utilization of construction waste. In this study, three kinds of recycled coarse aggregates (RCA), including simple crushing recycled coarse aggregate (JD-RCA), one-time particle-shaping recycled coarse aggregate (KL-RCA) and two-time particle-shaping recycled coarse aggregate (EKL-RCA), were prepared from the preparation technology of recycled aggregate, and high belite sulphoaluminate cement with excellent performance was used. The effects of aggregate quality, aggregate replacement ratio, and cementitious material content on mechanical properties and shrinkage properties of green recycled aggregate concrete were studied in comparison with ordinary Portland cement-based recycled aggregate concrete. The testing results show that the particle-shaping method can effectively improve the aggregate quality. The compressive strength and dry shrinkage performance of recycled aggregate concrete made of particle-shaped aggregate are only a little different from those of natural aggregate concrete, and even the performance of recycled aggregate is better than that of natural aggregate concrete under the condition of a low replacement ratio of recycled aggregate. In addition, high belite sulphoaluminate cement-based recycled aggregate concrete (HBRAC) not only has early strength and rapid hardening, but also has excellent drying shrinkage resistance, and its shrinkage rate can be reduced to more than 75% compared with ordinary Portland cement-based recycled aggregate concrete (OPRAC).

The surface zone of the recycled aggregate plays a significant role in the strength and durability of concrete. In this research, various concrete series incorporating natural coarse aggregate [NCA], untreated recycled coarse aggregate RCA(UN), mechanical scrubbing treated coarse aggregate RCA(MS), sulfuric acid treated coarse aggregate RCA(H2SO4) and hydrochloric acid treated aggregate RCA(HCl) were investigated. Manufactured sand was used as an alternative to natural river sand in five series of concrete with 100% replacement ratio. The mechanical properties: compressive, split tensile, and flexural strength, respectively, were determined at the age of 28 and 56 days. Durability properties: water absorption, drying, sulfuric acid, sodium sulphate and sorptivity test were determined at the age of 28, 56 and 90 days and the results were compared to reference concrete. According to the results, RCA(UN) was found to marginally decreased the concrete performance, and the above mentioned treated aggregate shows a significant improvement in overall performance compared to RCA(UN), especially RCA(MS), which enhances the concrete more significantly than other methods. Moreover, the scanning electron microscope results also emphasize the enhanced microstructure of treated recycled aggregate in concrete. The photographic view of the cross sections of the samples shows a superior interfacial transition zone in all kinds of treated aggregate concrete than in untreated recycled aggregate concrete.

Numerous studies have suggested using recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) as a possible alternative to natural aggregates in the manufacture of concrete because of the financial and environmental advantages that come with it. However, RCA's engineering qualities are inferior to those of natural aggregates (NA) because of its high water absorption. In order to improve the mechanical and durability qualities of RCA, researchers have proposed a number of pretreatment techniques, such as thermal, mechanical, and chemical treatment. This experimental study examined the effects of carbonation treating RCA on the compressive strength and indirect tensile strength of concrete that substituted varying amounts of RCA (0, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 100 % by weight) for 10-20 mm natural coarse aggregate. The study's findings indicate that, adding recycled concrete aggregates to concrete mixtures can have a detrimental influence on the mixes' compressive and tensile strengths; however, this effect can be lessened by carbonation treating the recycled aggregates. Replacing 100% of carbonated aggregate leads to approximately 14 and 23% enhancements in the compressive and tensile strengths of concrete, respectively, when compared to concrete made with 100% untreated recycled aggregate. Keywords: Recycled aggregates, Replacement level, Carbonation, Compressive Strength, Splitting Tensile Strength.

The usage of recycled aggregate (RA) for concrete works is spreading for gaining wide acceptance around the world, and total amount of RA utilized in concrete industry increases day-by-day. RA is used in many concrete products, such as concrete interlocking blocks, pavements, etc. One of the physical causes of concrete deterioration is surface wear or loss of mass for concrete products which are especially exposed to vehicular traffic (i.e., industrial floors and pavements). Besides, the loss of mass by concrete surface wear becomes the primary factor of one or more processes of chemical deterioration as a result of an increase in permeability due to mass loss of the concrete surface wear. The main goal of this research is to investigate the abrasion behavior of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) with/without silica fume (SF) related with the mechanical and the physical properties of RAC. In this research, lower quality RA (<15 MPa) is utilized as recycled coarse aggregate (RCA1 and RCA2) and recycled fine aggregate (RFA) with 25, 25, and 50% replacement ratios, respectively, in concrete mixes. As a result, RCA2 with/without SF gives better performance than RCA1 and RFA if abrasion resistance is considered only. Besides, RFA utilization in concrete decreases the abrasion performance of RAC. Also the relations of compressive strength-abrasion loss and elasticity modulus-abrasion loss are examined, and high regression coefficient (R) for the relations is found. Keywords: abrasion resistance, mechanical properties, physical properties, recycled aggregate, silica fume

The construction industry strongly relies on concrete and clay bricks for various applications. The escalating demand for these materials, driven by rapid population growth, has led to resource depletion and increased construction and demolition waste (CDW). Recycling CDW into construction materials, particularly in the form of recycled concrete aggregates (RCAs) and recycled brick aggregates (RBAs), has emerged as a promising solution. This study deals with the structural performance of concrete incorporating RCAs and RBAs. The experimental program encompasses material characterization, concrete mix design, and several tests to assess density, compressive strength, bond behavior, and flexural properties. The results indicate that the replacement of fine natural aggregate (NA) with fine RCAs or RBAs has a negligible impact on density, while the partial replacement of coarse NAs with RAs yields modest reductions in compressive strength. Notably, the bond strength between steel rebar and concrete is influenced by the type and content of RA, with specimens containing RCAs exhibiting a higher bond strength than those with RBAs. Empirical models used to predict bond strength generally align with experimental results, with conservative predictions by some models, such as ACI 318, and overestimation by others, such as models proposed by AS-3600 and CEB-FIB. The flexural tests of beams highlight the variation in stiffness and load-bearing capacity with the proportion of NAs replaced by RAs. While beams with 50% NA replacement demonstrate comparable performance to control beams, those with 100% RA replacement exhibit lower cracking and yielding stiffness. Cracking patterns in beams with RAs differ from control beams, with RA-containing beams showing more cracks and an altered crack distribution. The findings underscore the feasibility of using recycled aggregates in construction, with partial NA replacement offering a balance between sustainable material usage and desired structural properties.

Evaluating compressive strength of concrete made with recycled concrete aggregates using machine learning approach

Variation in mechanical properties of concrete having recycled brick aggregates, recycled concrete aggregates and recycled plastic aggregates: A review

With the sustainable development of the construction industry, recycled aggregate (RA) has been widely used in concrete preparation to reduce the environmental impact of construction waste. Compressive strength is an essential measure of the performance of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC). In order to understand the correspondence between relevant factors and the compressive strength of recycled concrete and accurately predict the compressive strength of RAC, this paper establishes a model for predicting the compressive strength of RAC using machine learning and hyperparameter optimization techniques. RAC experimental data from published literature as the dataset, extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), random forest (RF), K-nearest neighbour (KNN), support vector machine regression Support Vector Regression (SVR), and gradient boosted decision tree (GBDT) RAC compressive strength prediction models were developed. The models were validated and compared using correlation coefficients (R2), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and the gap between the experimental results of the predicted outcomes. In particular, The effects of different hyperparameter optimization techniques (Grid search, Random search, Bayesian optimization-Tree-structured Parzen Estimator, Bayesian optimization- Gaussian Process Regression) on model prediction efficiency and prediction accuracy were investigated. The results show that the optimal combination of hyperparameters can be searched in the shortest time using the Bayesian optimization algorithm based on TPE (Tree-structured Parzen Estimator); the BO-TPE-GBDT RAC compressive strength prediction model has higher prediction accuracy and generalisation ability. This high-performance compressive strength prediction model provides a basis for RAC’s research and practice and a new way to predict the performance of RAC.

This study investigates the feasibility of using recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) as subbase materials in roads through laboratory experiments. Various physical tests were conducted on the soil subgrade and RCA subbase, followed by cyclic plate load tests to assess the impact of geosynthetic reinforcement on the bearing capacity of RCA materials. The ultimate bearing capacities of different RCA configurations ranged from 186 to 480 kPa, similar to previous studies on natural and recycled aggregates. The geocell-reinforced section exhibited excellent performance, with a measured ultimate bearing capacity of 480 kPa. The Geocell-Geogrid and Geocell-Geotextile sections showed the highest bearing capacity ratios at 2.58 each, indicating superior performance. Reinforced RCA infills demonstrated improved settlement values under repeated loading, with the geocell-geogrid section effectively reducing permanent settlement. The study concludes that RCA can be a substitute for natural aggregates in road subbase materials, mitigating the environmental impact of construction and demolition waste.

Increasing amount of construction waste and, concrete remnants, in particular pose a serious problem. Concrete waste exist in large amounts, do not decay and need long time for disintegration. Therefore, in this work old demolished concrete is crashed and recycled to produce recycled concrete aggregate which can be reused in new concrete production. The effect of using recycled aggregate on concrete compressive strength has been experimentally investigated; silica fume admixture also is used to improve recycled concrete aggregate compressive strength. The main parameters in this study are recycled aggregate and silica fume admixture. The percent of recycled aggregate ranged from (0-100) %. While the silica fume ranged from (0-10) %. The experimental results show that the average concrete compressive strength decreases from 30.85 MPa to 17.58 MPa when the recycled aggregate percentage increased from 0% to 100%. While, when silica fume is used the concrete compressive strength increase again to 29.2 MPa for samples with 100% of recycled aggregate.

The application of recycled concrete aggregates (RCAs) has become increasingly popular for different types of structures, as presented in several studies. However, depending on the type of structure and the region, RCAs might have different properties. This study aims to investigate the application of RCAs of different origins for substructure layers of the cycle paths located in Central Europe, which was not analysed previously. Recycled aggregates from an airport, road overpass, and building demolition were tested according to European standards and used to produce concretes, in which compressive strength, density, water absorption, and frost resistance were tested. After 28 days, RCA concrete had compressive strengths from 5.9 to 17.3 MPa and frost resistance ratios close to 1.0. The concrete parameters indicate that RCAs might be used for the construction of cycle path substructural layers with the appropriate class of cement and W/C ratio. To meet the requirements of EN 12390-3 to achieve class C8/10, RCA concrete with CEM II B/V 32.5 should be used with a W/C ratio of 1. To meet the requirements of D-04.05.01v02, RCA concrete with CEM II B/V 32.5 and a W/C ratio smaller than 1.50 should be used. Applying recycled RCAs in various structures helps protect natural resources by reusing materials. However, the variability in RCA properties requires testing to guarantee quality.

Recycled geopolymer aggregates as coarse aggregates for Portland cement concrete and geopolymer concrete: Effects on mechanical properties

The increasing generation of construction and demolition waste, combined with the rapid depletion of natural resources, has made it imperative to explore sustainable alternatives in the construction industry. One such alternative is the use of Recycled Concrete Aggregates (RCA) in the production of structural concrete. This research, titled "Waste to Strength: Investigating Recycled Concrete Aggregates for Sustainable Construction", aims to assess the viability of using recycled aggregates as a partial or full replacement for natural coarse aggregates in M30 grade concrete. While recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) has been studied extensively for its compressive strength, limited attention has been given to its long-term durability, especially in reinforced concrete structures. This study focuses on both the mechanical and durability performance of RAC. The primary objectives include evaluating the compressive strength of M30 grade concrete made with recycled aggregates and assessing its resistance to chloride ion penetration through the Rapid Chloride Permeability Test (RCPT). The study emphasizes the dual benefits of using RCA reducing environmental degradation caused by demolition waste and conserving natural aggregates while ensuring that the structural integrity of the concrete remains within acceptable limits. The findings contribute to the growing need for sustainable construction materials and promote the use of recycled waste in load-bearing applications. Keywords: Recycled Concrete Aggregate (RCA), Recycled Aggregate Concrete (RAC), Demolition Waste, Sustainable Construction, Compressive Strength, Durability, Chloride Penetration, M30 Grade Concrete, Environmental Impact, Circular Economy in Construction.