Application of recycled coarse aggregate in steel tubular members

Abstract

Recycled aggregate from the demolition of buildings provides a sustainable solution in reducing the space required for dumping demolished waste as landfill and also reduces the consumption of natural aggregate. A percentage of recycled coarse aggregate can be used in structural members which can be economical and environmentally useful. This experimental study consists of three phases. In Phase I, an attempt was made to use Recycled Coarse Aggregate (RCA) in place of Natural Coarse Aggregate(NCA) in concrete. Experimental results of concrete for various combinations of RCA with NCA wereanalysed numerically for the optimum value using Taguchi's method. In Phase II, the confirmation study was conducted to study the strength and durability characteristics of concrete made with the optimized value of recycled aggregate. In Phase III, the application of optimized recycled coarse aggregate concrete was done by conducting a study on the load-carrying capacity of recycled coarse aggregate concrete-filled steel tube members. The results revealed that there is a marginal increase in load-carrying capacity of recycled coarse aggregate concrete-filled steel tube members than natural coarse aggregate concrete-filled steel tube members. This application proves to be eco-friendly and environmentally sustainable by using the demolished concrete in the structural member.