Rammed Concrete with Recycled Concrete Aggregates: Opportunities and Performances

The debris from the demolition of buildings, mainly concrete rubble,
represents a significant proportion of global waste. In the European Union,
the construction industry generates about 850 million tons of construction
and demolition waste (C&DW) per year, and this amount has a negative
impact on the environment. Fine Recycled aggregates (FRA) as substitution
of natural sands can be a promising solution because it reduces the
depletion of natural mineral resources and the amount of landfilled waste.
Rammed concrete is a specific type of concrete manufactured by means of
the Pisé technique and uses a large amount of FRA. The main physical and
mechanical properties of rammed concrete incorporating FRA are actually
slightly affected. The influence of the composition and curing conditions
on those properties has been investigated. The results show that
increasing the cement content logically leads to better mechanical
performance with higher densities and compressive strengths (up to 8
MPa). The rammed concrete material incorporating FRA is comparable to
classical concrete block and cellular concrete block in terms of optimal
strength capacity.