Seismic Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Members Built with Recycled Aggregate

Abstract

In connection with rapid urbanization and earthquakes, a huge number of structures have been demolished and generated lots of waste concrete for the last 40 years. Studies on the reclamation of the waste concrete is a pioneer subject for construction sectors in the world. Since the recycling of the waste concrete and reusing of recycled concrete aggregate in the production of new concrete is an important issue for saving of natural resources, economic, sustainable development, significant number of studies have been carried out on this subject. In the scope of this study, a literature review is conducted on the effect of recycled concrete aggregate on mechanical and durability characteristics of small-scale members. Furthermore, structural and seismic performances of full-scale reinforced concrete structural members produced with recycled concrete aggregate are discussed. The test results indicated that the structural members containing recycled aggregate exhibited similar structural performance with their counterparts containing natural aggregates. It was also observed that recycled concrete aggregate did not seem to have an adverse effect on seismic characteristics of the structural members such as ductility.