See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/24019096

Parameters for assessing recycled aggregate and their correlation

Article  in  Waste Management & Research · February 2009

DOI: 10.1177/0734242X07079875 · Source: PubMed

CITATIONS READS

25 74

2 authors:

Vivian Tam C. M. Tam

Monash University (Australia) City University of Hong Kong
77 PUBLICATIONS   4,276 CITATIONS    231 PUBLICATIONS   10,539 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by C. M. Tam on 25 September 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Waste Management & Research
http://wmr.sagepub.com

Parameters for assessing recycled aggregate and their correlation

Vivian W. Y. Tam and C.M. Tam
Waste Manag Res 2009; 27; 52
DOI: 10.1177/0734242X07079875

The online version of this article can be found at:

http://wmr.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/27/1/52

Published by:

http://www.sagepublications.com

On behalf of:

International Solid Waste Association

Additional services and information for Waste Management & Research can be found at:

Email Alerts: http://wmr.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts

Subscriptions: http://wmr.sagepub.com/subscriptions

Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav

Permissions: http://www.sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav

Citations http://wmr.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/27/1/52

Downloaded from http://wmr.sagepub.com at University of Newcastle on May 17, 2010

Los Angeles, London, New Delhi
and Singapore
http://www.sagepub.com
Copyright © ISWA 2009
ISSN 0734–242X
Waste Management & Research
2009: 27: 52–58
DOI: 10.1177/0734242X07079875

Parameters for assessing recycled aggregate

and their correlation
Vivian W. Y. Tam
Griffith School of Engineering, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

C. M. Tam
Department of Building & Construction, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Construction and demolition (C&D) waste has consumed a large portion of the landfill areas in Hong Kong. Among them, con-
crete occupies more than 70% of the total C&D waste by volume. Thus it is necessary to recycle concrete waste to preserve land-
fill areas. Various governmental departments of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) are encouraging the
use of recycled aggregate (RA) in the Hong Kong construction industry by issuing various guidelines and specifications. Owing
to uncertainty in their properties, however, practitioners are sceptical in using it as a substitute. In this study, an attempt has been
made to look at relations among six main parameters that describe the behaviour of RA: (1) particle size distribution; (2) par-
ticle density; (3) porosity and absorption; (4) particle shape; (5) strength and toughness; and (6i) chloride and sulphate contents.
RA samples were obtained from nine demolition sites with service lives ranging from 10 to 40 years and another set of samples
was collected from the Tuen Mun Area 38 recycling plant. The behaviour of these samples was compared with that of normal
aggregate samples. This study revealed that there is a strong correlation among various parameters, and by measuring three of
them: either ‘particle density’ or ‘porosity and absorption’ or ‘particle shape’, and ‘strength and toughness’, and ‘chloride and
sulphate contents’, it is possible to assess the behaviour of RA. This can significantly help by reducing RA testing time and cost
before using it as recycled aggregate concrete.

Keywords: Recycled aggregate, concrete, quality, porosity, strength, construction, wmr 1170–5

Introduction
Construction waste makes up a significant fraction of the vari-
ous types of solid waste. Construction and demolition (C&D)
activities consume a large portion of landfill space. Up to 50%
of waste deposited in a typical landfill comes from construction
(Ferguson et al. 1995). In the United Kingdom, about 50% of
waste which is equal to 70 million tonnes is generated from
C&D activities (Sealey et al. 2001). In Australia, about
14 million tonnes of waste have been put into landfill each year,
and about 44% of the waste is attributed to the construction
industry (Craven et al. 1994, McDonald 1996). In the USA,
about 29% of solid-waste is from the construction industry
(Rogoff & Williams 1994), compared with about 38% in Hong
Kong (Environmental Protection Department 2007). The
remaining landfill space in Hong Kong will only last for a few
more years if the waste production increases at the current rate.
In 2001, Hong Kong generated about 14 million tonnes of
construction debris, of which about 11 million tonnes (78.6%)
were transported to public filling areas for reclamation use,
and the remaining 3 million tonnes (21.4%) were disposed of
at landfills. C&D waste consists of various types of materials,
such as metal, wood, plastic, paper, concrete, rock, rubble,
sand, soil, glass and tile. Concrete has been found to be the
most significant component among all, accounting for a por-
tion of about 75, 70, 40 and 70% collected from construction
sites, demolition sites, general civil works and renovation
works, respectively, as seen in Table 1.
To reduce the amount of construction waste generated
from sites, coordination among all those involved in the
design and construction processes is essential. Waste-mini-
mizing actions should be carried out on five levels (Poon

Corresponding author: Vivian W. Y. Tam, Griffith School of Engineering, Griffith University, PMB 50 Gold Coast Mail Centre, QLD 9726, Australia.
Tel: +61 7 5552 9278; fax: +61 7 5552 8065; e-mail: v.tam@griffith.edu.au
Received 12 January 2007; accepted in revised form 24 March 2007

52
Downloaded from http://wmr.sagepub.com at University of Newcastle on May 17, 2010
 Parameters for assessing recycled aggregate and their correlation

Table 1: Composition of construction wastes collected in SENT landfill (Li 2002).

Percentage
Waste type
Construction site Demolition site General civil works Renovation works
Metal 4% 5% 10% 5%
Wood 5% 7% 0% 5%
Plastic 2% 3% 0% 5%
Paper 2% 2% 0% 1%
Concrete 75% 70% 40% 70%
Rock / rubble 2% 1% 5% 0%
Sand / soil 5% 0% 40% 0%
Glass / tile 3% 2% 0% 10%
Others 2% 10% 5% 4%
Total: 100% 100% 100% 100%
SENT, South East New Territories, HKSAR.

1997, 2000, Poon et al. 2001a, b, Shen & Tam 2002, Tam et al.
2002): (1) avoidance; (2) minimization; (3) recovery, recy-
cling and reuse; (4) waste bulk reduction; and (5) disposal.
Use of recycled materials helps to save landfill space and
reduces environmental impacts in obtaining and manufactur-
ing materials from natural resources. Recycling, which is one
of the strategies for minimizing waste, offers three main ben-
efits (Edwards 1999): (1) to reduce demand upon new
resources; (2) to cut down transport and production energy
costs; and (3) to reduce the need for landfill sites.
There are two principal opportunities addressed when recy-
cling concrete. Firstly, demolished concrete can be crushed
and reused as recycled aggregate (RA) for low-grade applica-
tions (Coventry 1999, Mindess et al. 2003). In the United
Kingdom, over 10 million tonnes of concrete waste is pro-
duced from demolition sites every year. The demolished con-
crete is used considerably for applications such as bulk fill or
hardcore for temporary haul roads. Although this is a rela-
tively low-value use, it is nevertheless a useful one for which
natural materials might otherwise have to be used. Secondly,
demolished concrete can be recycled as cement replacement
materials after being ground to fine powder (Coventry 1999).
The cost and environmental impacts of supplying natural
aggregate and manufacturing cementitious materials to pro-
duce concrete have led to the utilization of recycled materi-
als.
Research significance
To make RA to be as competitive as normal aggregate, RA
characteristics should be well understood. This paper aims
to: (1) assess aggregate properties under six main parame-
ters, using RA and normal aggregate from eleven sources;
(2) correlate these six parameters; and (3) eliminate redun-
dant parameters that describe the aggregate properties.
Aggregate properties
Aggregate, in general, occupies about 70 to 80% of concrete
volume and can therefore be expected to significantly influ-
ence its properties (Troxell & Davis 1968, Mindess et al.
2003). Its selection and proportioning should be given care-
ful attention to control concrete quality. In addition to use as
an economical filler, aggregate generally can be used to
make concrete with better dimensional stability and wear
resistance. In choosing aggregate for a particular concrete
type, attention should be given to three general require-
ments: (1) economy of concrete; (2) potential strength of
hardened concrete; and (3) durability of the concrete struc-
ture (Troxell & Davis 1968). In addition, aggregate is more
liable to deformation and less resistant than cement slurry
due to its porosity (Maso 1996).
Aggregate quality can be assessed by using six main param-
eters: (1) particle size distribution; (2) particle density; (3)
porosity and absorption; (4) particle shape; (5) strength and
toughness; and (6) chloride and sulphate contents.
In this paper, nine series of RA samples (samples 1 to 9),
which were crushed from clean demolished concrete waste by
a jaw concrete crusher, were obtained from nine demolition
sites with service lives ranging from 10 to 40 years. Sample 10
was collected from the Tuen Mun Area 38 recycling plant in
Hong Kong where RA is exclusively produced from demol-
ished concrete waste crushed by a jaw concrete crusher and a
hammer concrete crusher. Comparisons were then made with
normal aggregate (sample 11). Three specimens of samples 1
to 11 were used to test each parameter in this study and the
average results are summarized in Tables 2 and 3. Correlation
among the six parameters for the RA samples (samples 1 to
10) is presented in Table 4.
Particle size distribution
The particle size distribution is important in influencing
concrete workability (Neville 1995). The collected samples
(samples 1 to 10) and natural aggregate (sample 11) all fulfill
the particle size distribution of 10 mm- and 20 mm-sized
aggregate as stated in BS 882 (BS 882 1992), as can be seen in
Table 2.

53
Downloaded from http://wmr.sagepub.com at University of Newcastle on May 17, 2010
V.W.Y. Tam, C.M. Tam

Table 2: Summary of results.

Particle density Porosity and absorption

Particle density on a saturated Moisture content

Water absorption (as % of dry mass)
surface dried basis (Mg m–3) (as % of dry mass)
Sample
10 mm-sized 2 mm-sized
10 mm-sized 20 mm-sized 10 mm-sized 20 mm-sized
Water Saturation Water Saturation
absorption time (h) absorption time (h)

1 2.33 2.36 5.90 96 6.24 95 1.12 0.71

2 2.38 2.32 6.34 92 6.50 89 1.37 1.46
3 2.36 2.35 7.51 120 7.24 122 1.92 1.72
4 2.37 2.36 6.90 120 7.23 120 1.34 1.41
5 2.32 2.34 7.29 120 6.81 102 1.55 1.34
6 2.41 2.42 5.20 102 5.77 125 1.22 1.13
7 2.31 2.31 9.06 120 7.21 122 1.70 1.61
8 2.30 2.31 8.62 115 8.04 104 1.29 1.35
9 2.37 2.39 6.95 144 6.07 135 1.17 1.21
10 2.53 2.58 2.65 24 1.60 24 0.49 0.33
11 2.62 2.64 0.81 24 0.53 24 0.15 0.15

Table 3: Summary of results.

Particle shape Strength and toughness Chemical composition

Sample Flakiness index (%) Elongation index (%) Ten percent Aggregate Chloride content (%) Sulphate
fine value impact content
10 mm-sized 20 mm-sized 10 mm-sized 20 mm-sized (kN) value (%) 10 mm-sized 20 mm-sized (%)

1 11.1 9.7 29.0 16.2 94 33 0.01 0.009 0.03

2 10.4 10.1 24.2 25.2 61 36 0.01 0.009 0.02
3 15.2 8.6 21.0 22.8 107 31 0.001 0.002 0.01
4 15.4 7.9 27.3 24.5 113 23 0.002 0.002 0.01
5 17.8 13.0 36.1 23.9 92 32 0.005 0.006 0.01
6 12.0 9.9 26.4 21.9 156 25 0.001 0.003 0.01
7 12.9 5.7 21.6 22.2 110 30 0.10 0.09 0.01
8 15.1 9.8 27.4 28.3 84 34 0 0.001 0.01
9 13.8 12.2 21.9 18.3 93 36 0.05 0.04 0.02
10 26.0 29.5 34.6 33.8 103 33 0.004 0.007 0.01
11 28.3 22.5 28.2 26.0 189 21 0.001 0.002 0.01

Particle density
The aggregate particle density is an essential property for
concrete mix design and also for calculating the volume of
concrete produced from a certain mass of materials (Hewlett
1998), which is the ratio of mass on a given volume to the
mass of same volume of water (BS 812: Part 2 1995). Particle
densities on a saturated and surface-dried (SSD) basis are
measured and presented in Table 2.
As cement mortar density (around 1.0–1.6 Mg m–3) is less
than that of stone particles (around 2.60 Mg m–3) (Oklahoma
State University 2006), the smaller the value in particle den-
sity, the higher the cement mortar content attached to RA.
From the results in Table 2, samples 7 and 8 had the lowest val-
ues of particle density based on the SSD measurements, indi-
cating the highest amount of cement mortar attached to RA
in samples 7 and 8 compared with the other samples; whereas
sample 11 (ordinary aggregate) had the highest values of par-
ticle density. Furthermore, particle densities of 20 mm-sized
aggregate were larger than those of 10 mm-sized aggregate,
inferring a greater amount of cement mortar attached to the
10 mm-sized aggregate. This implies that the larger the size
of the aggregate, the smaller the percentage of cement mor-
tar attached to its surfaces and the better the aggregate qual-
ity.

54
Downloaded from http://wmr.sagepub.com at University of Newcastle on May 17, 2010
 Parameters for assessing recycled aggregate and their correlation

Table 4: Correlation between the various properties among the RA samples (samples 1 to 10).

Particle density Porosity and absorption Particle shape

Saturated surface
Properties Water absorption Moisture content Flakiness index
dried basis

10 mm 20 mm 10 mm 20 mm 10 mm 20 mm 10 mm 20 mm
Particle density Saturated sur- 10 mm 1.000 0.936 –0.912 –0.922 –0.7258 –0.661 0.643 0.833
face dried basis
20 mm 0.936 1.000 –0.902 –0.958 –0.804 –0.809 0.753 0.900
Porosity and Water 10 mm –0.912 –0.902 1.000 0.912 0.810 0.836 –0.525 –0.809
absorption absorption
20 mm –0.922 –0.958 0.912 1.000 0.817 0.836 –0.704 –0.926
Moisture 10 mm –0.725 –0.804 0.810 0.817 1.000 0.924 –0.527 –0.800
content
20 mm –0.661 –0.809 0.836 0.836 0.924 1.000 –0.527 –0.792
Particle shape Flakiness index 10 mm 0.643 0.753 –0.525 –0.704 –0.527 –0.527 1.000 0.864
20 mm 0.833 0.900 –0.809 –0.926 –0.800 –0.792 0.864 1.000

From the results shown in Table 4, particle densities calcu-
lated on the SSD basis show strong correlation with water
absorption rates and moisture content. The regression
equation and R2 value illustrate the relationships among
the RA parameters. A regression equation describes a line
or a curve in a two-dimensional or two-variable space
defined by the equation Y = a + b * X; and R2 is the regres-
sion coefficient describing the correlation of raw data to the
line or curve defined by the regression equation, which is
used to reflect the accuracy level of the prediction model.
Equations (1) and (2) show the relationships between parti-
cle density evaluated on the SSD basis and both water
absorption and moisture content for 10 mm-sized aggre-
gate, respectively.
WA10 = –24.884 SSD10 + 65.567
(with an R2 of 0.8317)
MC10 = –4.1682 SSD10 + 11.187
(with an R2 of 0.525)
where WA10 is the water absorption rate for 10 mm-sized
aggregate (as a percentage of dry mass); MC10 the moisture
content for 10 mm-sized aggregate (as a percentage of dry
mass); and SSD10 the value of particle density on the SSD
basis for 10 mm-sized aggregate (in Mg m–3).
The 20 mm-sized aggregate also exhibited similar correla-
tion to the 10 mm-sized aggregate. Equations (3) and (4) show
the relationships between particle density on the SSD basis
and water absorption rate, and moisture content, respec-
tively.
WA20 = –21.17 SSD20 + 56.58 (with an R2 of 0.9184) (3)
MC20 = –4.2295 SSD20 + 11.268
(with an R2 of 0.6542)
where WA20 is the water absorption rate for 20 mm-sized
aggregate (as a percentage of dry mass); MC20 is the value of
moisture content for 20 mm-sized aggregate (as a percentage
of dry mass); and SSD20 the value of particle density on the
SSD basis for 20 mm-sized aggregate (in Mg m–3).
Porosity and absorption
The overall aggregate porosity or absorption may depend
upon a consistent degree of particle porosity or represent an
average value for a mixture of various high- and low-absorp-
tion materials (Hewlett 1998). In this study, both water
absorption rate and moisture content were used to assess the
porosity and absorption levels of the samples.
The water absorption and moisture content of the RA
samples 1 to 10 were variable and generally higher than that
of the normal aggregate (sample 11) as can be seen in Table 2.
The 10 mm-sized aggregate of sample 7 exhibited the highest
(1) water absorption rate and moisture content at about 9.06 and
1.70%, respectively, and the 20 mm-sized aggregate from
sample 11 (ordinary aggregate) had the lowest water absorp-
tion rate and moisture content at about 0.53 and 0.15%,
(2) respectively. One of the most obvious attributes between RA
and normal aggregate is the higher water absorption rate and
moisture content of RA, both of which were mainly affected
by the amount of cement paste attached on the aggregate sur-
face that describes the soundness of aggregate, since the
porosity of cement mortar is higher than that of aggregate.
RA with a higher absorption rate tends to be worse in strength
and resistance to freezing and thawing than normal aggregate
(Hansen & Narud 1983, Kobayashi & Kawano 1988, Lamond
et al. 2002). In most samples, the water absorption rates of the
20 mm-sized aggregate are less than those of 10 mm-sized
aggregate, inferring that larger size aggregate may have less
cement mortar attached to its surface, leading to a lower
water absorption rate. These results agree with the results
obtained in the last section.
Standard test methods (BS 812: Part 2 1995) with 24-h
immersion duration to measure water absorption were not
(4) appropriate for RA, due to a high amount of loosely bonded

55
Downloaded from http://wmr.sagepub.com at University of Newcastle on May 17, 2010
V.W.Y. Tam, C.M. Tam
cement paste on the particles resulted from the crushing
process. Experimental results show that the time required to
fully saturate RA depends on the RA quality, namely the
amount of cement paste attached on the aggregate surface. In
most cases, the time required to fully saturate RA takes more
than 24 h. Our experience indicated that full saturation may
take about 48 h; some may take 72 h or even 120 h. Thus a
fixed duration of 24 h set by BS 812: Part 2 (BS 812: Part 2
1995) may not be suitable for RA. A direct relationship
between the duration for full saturation and water absorption
is described in equations (5) and (6) for 10 mm- and 20 mm-
sized aggregates, respectively.
WA10 = 0.0464 WAT10 + 1.7609
(with an R2 of 0.6746)
WA20 = 0.0446 WAT20 + 1.6382
(with an R2 of 0.6341)
where WAT10 is the duration for obtaining full saturation for
10 mm-sized aggregate (in hours); and WAT20 is the duration for
obtaining full saturation for 20 mm-sized aggregate (in hours).
Particle shape
The characteristics and variations of aggregate particle shape
can affect the workability and strength of concrete (Hewlett
1998). The shape of aggregate particles is best described by
two principal parameters: ‘sphericity’ and ‘roundness’. Aggre-
gate particles are classified as flaky when they have a thick-
ness (smaller dimension) of less than about 0.6 times their
mean sieve size, for example, a mean sieve size of about
7.5 mm-sized is the mean of two successive sieves of 5 mm-
and 10 mm-sized (BS 812: Part 105.1 1989). Aggregate parti-
cles are classified as elongated when they have a length
(greatest dimension) of more than about 1.8 times their
mean sieve size (BS 812: Part 105.2 1989).
BS 882 (BS 882 1992) provides limits for the flakiness (par-
ticle thickness relative to other dimensions). Such aggregate
particles could lead to either water gain under aggregate or
higher water demands and lower strength in concrete. BS 882
(BS 882 1992) limits the flakiness index determined in accord-
ance with BS 812: Part 105:1 (BS 812: Part 105.1 1989) to
about 50% for uncrushed gravel and about 40% for crushed
rock or crushed gravel, with a warning that lower values may
be specified for special circumstances such as pavement wear-
ing surfaces. All the eleven samples in this study had a flaki-
ness index lower than 40%. Furthermore, there was strong
correlation on flakiness index between 10 mm- and 20 mm-
sized aggregate as shown in equation (7).
FI20 = 1.274 FI10 – 7.4317 (with an R2 of 0.746)
where FI10 is the flakiness index for 10 mm-sized aggregate
(in %) and FI20 the index for 20 mm-sized aggregate.
56
Downloaded from http://wmr.sagepub.com at University of Newcastle on May 17, 2010
Equations (8) and (9) show the relationships between the
flakiness index and particle density; and water absorption,
respectively, for 20 mm-sized aggregate.
SSD20 = 0.01 FI20 + 2.2465 (with an R2 of 0.8105) (8)
WA20 = –0.2488 FI20 + 9.1873
(with an R2 of 0.8573) (9)
Based on equations (1) to (9), the parameters that can be
used to measure RA quality exhibit strong correlations to
each other; for example, when the particle density on the SSD
basis is obtained, water absorption, moisture content and the
flakiness index can be determined at an accuracy of about
(5) 80% significance. Savings in time and resources in carrying
out all these tests can be achieved, leading to higher efficiency
in adopting RA for new construction work. By reducing the
number of RA tests a shorter RA evaluation time can be
(6) achieved.
Strength and toughness
It is important that aggregate for making concrete be ‘strong’
in a general sense (Oklahoma State University 2006). In most
cases, inherent aggregate strength is dependent upon aggre-
gate ‘toughness’, a property broadly analogous to ‘impact
strength’. In this study, 10% fine values (TFV) and aggregate
impact values (AIV) are used to determine the strength and
toughness of the samples.
The TFV measures the aggregate resistance in crushing,
which is applicable to both weak and strong aggregate (BS
812: Part 111 1990), a higher value indicating that aggregate is
more resistant in crushing (Hewlett 1998). The AIV measures
aggregate resistance to sudden shock or impact (BS 812: Part
112 1990). A smaller AIV indicates that the aggregate is
tougher or more impact resistant than aggregate with a higher
AIV (Hewlett 1998). In the eleven samples, sample 11 (nor-
mal aggregate) had the highest value of TFV and the lowest
value of AIV of about 189 kN and 21%, respectively; whereas
sample 2 had the lowest value of TFV and the highest value of
AIV of about 61 kN and 36%, respectively, as can be seen in
Table 3. The obvious reason is that the cement paste attached
to the RA directly affected the aggregate strength. An accu-
racy of more than 75% can be obtained based on the relation
between TFV and AIV given by equation (10)
TFV = –4.4372 AIV + 240.19
(with an R2 of 0.6161) (10)
where TFV is the 10% fine value (in kN); and AIV the aggre-
gate impact value (in %).
(7) BS 882 (BS 882 1992) provides limits for the minimum
TFV and maximum AIV of about 150 kN and 45%, respec-
tively, according to the concrete type in which the aggregate is
used. According to British Standard requirements, samples 6

and 11 can be used for structural elements, samples 4 and 7
for pavement work, with the other samples confined to non-
structural elements.
Chloride and sulphate contents
It is important to keep RA chloride and sulphate contents
below a certain level. RA chloride contamination derived
from marine structures or similarly exposed structural ele-
ments is of concern as it can lead to corrosion of steel rein-
forcement. For most RA samples, however (samples 1 to 6
and 8 to 11), chloride ion contents were low and within the
limit of standards of under about 0.05%. Nevertheless, sam-
ple 7 fell beyond the limit with chloride contents of about
0.10 and 0.09% for 10 mm- and 20 mm-sized aggregate,
respectively, as can be seen in Table 3. From further investi-
gation of sample 7, some shell (from fine marine aggregates)
contents were found. One of the major reasons comes from
the use of marine water or stream water in concrete mixing
during the period of fresh water shortage in the 1960s; a
practice which has been banned since the 1970s. This could
have increased the chloride content in the sample.
In general, RA has higher sulphate content than natural
aggregate. The occurrence of sulphate-based products such
as gypsum as contaminants in demolition waste is common.
Consideration must be given to the use of sulphate-resisting
cement in situations where gypsum contamination is sus-
pected (Crentsil & Brown 1998). Gypsum plaster is, however,
seldom used in Hong Kong where lime plaster is more com-
mon. In fact, the highest sulphate content recorded was about
0.03% for sample 1, which still fell within the standard of
References
BS 812: Part 2 (1995) Methods for Determination of Density. British
Standards Institution, London, UK.
BS 812: Part 105.1 (1989) Flakiness Index. British Standards Institution,
London, UK.
BS 812: Part 105.2 (1989) Elongation Index of Coarse Aggregate. British
Standards Institution, London, UK.
BS 812: Part 111 (1990) Methods for Determination of Ten Per Cent Fines
Value (TFV). British Standards Institution, London, UK.
BS 812: Part 112 (1990) Methods for Determination of Aggregate Impact
Value (AIV). British Standards Institution, London, UK.
BS 882 (1992) Specification for Aggregates from Natural Sources for Con-
crete. British Standards Institution, London, UK.
Coventry, S. (1999) The Reclaimed and Recycled Construction Materials
Handbook. London: Construction Industry Research and Informa-
tion Association, London, UK.
Craven, E.J., Okraglik, H.M. & Eilenberg, I.M. (1994) Construction
waste and a new design methodology. In Sustainable Construction,
Proc. of the First Conference of CIB TG 16, pp. 89–98. University
of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Crentsil, K.S. & Brown, T. (1998) Guide for Specification of Recycled
Concrete Aggregate. Sustainability Victoria, Publications (1998): http://
www. ecorecycle.vic.gov.au/asset/1/upload/Guide_for_Specification_
of_Recycled_Concrete_Aggregates_(RCA).pdf (May 17, 1998).
Victoria Government, Australia.
Edwards, B. (1999) Sustainable Architecture: European Directives and
Building Design. Architectural Press, Oxford, UK
Environmental Protection Department (2007) Environmental Report
2007. Environmental Protection Department, Publications (2007):
http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/waste/data/
waste_mon_ swinhk.html (June 25, 2007) Environmental Protec-
tion Department, Hong Kong.
Downloaded from http://wmr.sagepub.com at University of Newcastle on May 17, 2010
Parameters for assessing recycled aggregate and their correlation
about 1% as can be seen in Table 3. Therefore, sulphate con-
tent contamination is not a major problem for RA in Hong
Kong.
Conclusion
To obtain wide adoption of RA, it is essential to carefully
assess its properties including particle density, porosity and
absorption, particle shape, strength and toughness, and chlo-
ride and sulphate contents. Sieve analysis was also conducted
to create suitable concrete proportioning. It was found that
all six of the main parameters have direct relationships with
each other. The RA collected from sample 7 exhibited the worst
quality because marine or stream water had been used in mixing
concrete; however, it was still useable for non-structural con-
struction applications. Further, it should be highlighted that
there is strong correlation among some of the parameters.
Some relations among these parameters were established,
which allowed some testing parameters to be eliminated. For
example, by measuring three of the following properties:
either ‘particle density’, ‘porosity and absorption’ or ‘particle
shape’, and ‘strength and toughness’, and ‘chloride and sul-
phate contents’, it is sufficient to assess the RA behaviour.
This can significantly simplify the testing procedure, and, at
the same time, be suitable to establish the RA characteristics.
Acknowledgements
The work described in this paper was fully supported by a
grant from the Housing Authority Research Fund of the
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project
Ref. No. 9460004).
Ferguson, J., Kermode, N., Nash, C.L., Sketch, W.A.J. & Huxford, R.P.
(1995) Managing and Minimizing Construction Waste: a Practical
Guide. Institution of Civil Engineers, London.
Hansen, T.C. & Narud, H. (1983) Strength of recycled concrete made
from crushed concrete coarse aggregate. Concrete International:
Design and Construction, 5, 79–83.
Hewlett, P.C. (1998) Lea’s Chemistry of Cement and Concrete. Arnold,
London, UK.
Kobayashi, S. & Kawano, H. (1988) Properties and Usage of Recycled
Aggregate Concrete. Demolition and Reuse of Concrete and Masonry:
Reuse of Demolition Waste, pp. 547–556. Chapman and Hall, Lon-
don, UK.
Lamond, J.F., Campbell, R.L., Campbell, J.A., Giraldi, A., Halczak, W.,
Hale, H.C., Jenkins, N.J.T., Miller, R. & Seabrook, P.T. (2002)
Removal and reuse of hardened concrete: reported by ACI com-
mittee 555. ACI Materials Journal, 99, 300–325.
Li, W. (2002) Composition Analysis of Construction and Demolition Waste
and Enhancing Waste Reduction and Recycling in Construction
Industry in Hong Kong. Department of Building and Real Estate,
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.
Maso, J.C. (1996) Influence of the interfacial transition zone on com-
posite mechanical properties. In: Interfacial Transition Zone in
Concrete: State of the Art Report. E&FN Spon, London, pp. 103–
116.
McDonald, B. (1996) RECON waste minimisation and environmental
program. In: Proc. of CIB Commission Meetings and Presenta-
tions, Melbourne, Australia, pp. 14–16.
Mindess, S., Young, F. & Darwin, D. (2003) Concrete. Prentice Hall,
Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Neville, A.M. (1995) Properties of Concrete. Longman, Burnt Mill, Har-
low, Essex and New York.
57
 V.W.Y. Tam, C.M. Tam
Oklahoma State University (2006) University publication 2006. Okla-
homa State University, Publications (2006): http://osu.okstate.edu/
(Mar. 12, 2006)
Poon, C.S. (1997) Management and recycling of demolition waste in
Hong Kong. Waste Management and Research, 15, 561–572.
Poon, C.S. (2000) Management and recycling of demolition waste in
Hong Kong. In: Proc. of 2nd International Conference on Solid
Waste Management, Taipei, Taiwan, pp. 433–442. Academy of Nat-
ural Sciences of Philadelphia, USA.
Poon, C.S., Yu, T.W. & Ng, L.H. (2001a) A Guide for Managing and Min-
imizing Building and Demolition Waste. The Hong Kong Polytech-
nic University, Hong Kong, China.
Poon, C.S., Yu, T.W. & Ng, L.H. (2001b) On-site sorting of construction
and demolition waste in Hong Kong. Resources, Conservation and
Recycling, 32, 157–172.
58
Downloaded from http://wmr.sagepub.com at University of Newcastle on May 17, 2010
View publication stats
Rogoff, M.J. & Williams, J.F. (1994) Approaches to Implementing Solid
Waste Recycling Facilities. Noyes, Park Ridge, New York.
Sealey, B.J., Phillips, P.S. & Hill, G.J. (2001) Waste management issues
for the UK ready-mixed concrete industry. Resources, Conservation
and Recycling, 32, 321–331.
Shen, L.Y. & Tam, W.Y.V. (2002) Implementing of environmental man-
agement in the Hong Kong construction industry. International
Journal of Project Management, 20, 535–543.
Tam, C.M., Tam, W.Y.V. & Zeng, S.X. (2002) Environmental perform-
ance evaluation for construction. Building Research and Informa-
tion, 30, 349–361.
Troxell, G.E. & Davis, H.E. (1968) Composition and Properties of Con-
crete. McGraw-Hill, New York.