Influence of self-cementing properties on the mechanical behaviour of recycled concrete aggregates under monotonic loading

• Published in: Construction and Building Materials
• Main Authors: Wang, Chong, Chazallon, Cyrille, Hornych, Pierre, Braymand, Sandrine
• Other Authors: Laboratoire des sciences de l'ingénieur, de l'informatique et de l'imagerie (ICube), École Nationale du Génie de l'Eau et de l'Environnement de Strasbourg (ENGEES)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées - Strasbourg (INSA Strasbourg), Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria)-Les Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg (HUS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Matériaux et nanosciences d'Alsace (FMNGE), Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Réseau nanophotonique et optique, Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2023
• Subjects: Recycled concrete aggregate; Mechanical behavior; Self-cementing properties; Unhydrated cement content; Unbound granular material; Monotonic triaxial test; [SPI.GCIV]Engineering Sciences [physics]/Civil Engineering; Orca
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03976195; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2022.130259

Recently, the use of recycled crushed concrete aggregates (RCA) as a substitution of natural aggregates in pavement base and subbase layers has become more popular. Occasionally, a growth of stiffness and strength in unbound base and subbase layers built with RCA can be observed, which can be considered as self-cementing properties of RCA. In this study, the potential self-cementing properties and the long-term mechanical behaviour of two different RCA (NRCA and ORCA), with significantly different self-cementing properties, were studied by pH value, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and monotonic triaxial tests under varying confining pressures (20/40/70 kPa) and varying curing times (1/28/360 days). Results show that the long-term storage can largely reduce the self-cementing properties of RCA (ORCA), while the RCA crushed recently (NRCA) exhibits much stronger self-cementing properties. Besides, the long-term mechanical behaviours are influenced by self-cementing properties and confining pressure as well as curing time, so that the strength and stiffness of RCA specimen, with stronger self-cementing properties (NRCA), increase more under low confining pressure and long curing time. The experimental results also indicate that the long-term mechanical behaviours of NRCA are consistent with cement treated materials, whose ductile stress–strain response gradually turns to stiff brittle behaviour as curing time increases.