Behaviour of recycled aggregates RC columns strengthened with CFRP under uniaxial compressive loadings

Abstract

The recent development in the construction industry has significantly influenced the socio-economic growth and the built environment of the mega cities around the globe. However, these developments have also resulted in millions of tonnes of construction demolition waste, which is mainly dumped, in the already populated landfills. As a result, the construction waste is not only causing a threat to the natural resources but also to the already deteriorating environment. Over recent past, studies have been conducted which investigated the use of concrete based construction waste as recycled coarse aggregates in preparing concrete for structural purposes. Based on these studies, in general it was found that the concrete compressive strength decreases with the increase in the percentage of recycled aggregates. Furthermore, studies have also been carried out in which use of Carbon Fiber Polymers wrapped along the outer surfaces of the structural elements resulted in significant increase of load carrying capacity. Therefore, in this study, investigation aims at the behaviour of reinforced concrete columns made with recycled aggregates and wrapped with Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers under uniaxial static compressive loading. For this purpose, 12 rectangular specimens having cross section dimensions of 150mm x 300mm and height of 600mm reinforced both longitudinally and transversely were used. The specimens were made with three different mixes of concrete having 0%, 30% and 50% of recycled aggregates. It was found that the recycled aggregates reinforced concrete specimens wrapped with CFRP exhibited higher compressive loads as compared to their corresponding specimens made with natural aggregates.