Performance Assessment of Recycled

Aggregate Concrete Blended

with Supplementary Cementitious
Materials and Steel Fibers: An Approach
Towards Developing Green
and Sustainable Concrete

S. R. R. Teja Prathipati, Yeswanth Paluri, Hanuma Kasagani,

and Kunamineni Vijay

Abstract Though the term “sustainability” was heard frequently, few people under-
stand its significance, which is to ensure human safety on the planet. Sustainability
has many short- and long-term benefits and ignoring it will result in depletion of
natural resources in the long run. In this context utilisation of by-products as well
as waste materials into the concrete and thereby decreasing carbon dioxide emis-
sions and virgin aggregate extraction will be a sustainable way of developing a green
concrete. In this manuscript, an attempt has been made to develop green and sustain-
able concrete by including Recycled aggregate (RA), Fly Ash (FA) & Sugar Cane
Bagasse Ash (SCBA) as supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). Also, an
attempt is made to access the effect of steel fibers (SF) on the concrete thus made.
The variables of the study include RA content (0, 100%), FA content (0 to 40%)
and SCBA content (0 to 15%) and SF dosage (0, 1%). The properties examined in
the study include compressive strength, split tensile strength, flexural strength, water
absorption (WA), and acid attack. The results of the experimental programme show
that the use of SCMs and SF can significantly improve the mechanical strength and
durability of Recycled Aggregate Concrete (RAC). The use of SCMs improved the
durability of the mix by densification of the matrix whereas incorporating steel fibers
improved the tensile characteristics of the mix significantly, which means that use

S. R. R. T. Prathipati (B) · H. Kasagani

Department of Civil Engineering, VR Siddhartha Engineering College, Vijayawada, India
e-mail: teja@vrsiddhartha.ac.in
H. Kasagani
e-mail: hanumakasagani@vrsiddhartha.ac.in
Y. Paluri · K. Vijay
Department of Civil Engineering, Bapatla Engineering College, Bapatla, India
e-mail: vijay.kunamineni@becbapatla.ac.in

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 471
A. Vilventhan et al. (eds.), Advances in Construction Materials and Management,
Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering 346,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2552-0_38
472 S. R. R. T. Prathipati et al.

of RA in conjunction with SCMs and SF improves the overall performance of the

concrete and might be a green and sustainable alternative to plain concrete.

Keywords Recycled aggregates · Recycled Aggregate Concrete · Sugar Cane

Bagasse Ash · Fly Ash · Steel Fiber · Green Concrete · Sustainability

1 Introduction

With the societies becoming modern and urban, a huge junk of Construction &
Demolition Waste (C&DW) has been generated due to the need of transformation
and renovation of the already existing infrastructure. Till today, in many countries
still utilization of C&DW was limited which will be hazardous and adversely effects
the environment [1]. Hence there was a need to address the problem of the generated
C&DW by re-using it by which the negative environmental impact can be mitigated
along with the effective utilization of the materials. For a sustainable development in
the construction field, one must slower the rate at which the natural resources were
depleting and thereby which the preservation of environment was need of the hour.
In a step towards addressing the before said issue, the utilization of C&DW along
with industrial wastes into the construction activities was needed [2].
In terms of statistics, the global annual production of concrete is around 5.3
billion m3 [3], every year on an average of over 1 billion tonnes of C&DW was
being produced worldwide and use of virgin aggregate in concrete has resulted in
the generation of 0.0046 million tons of carbon. Roughly an 14% of total energy
was consumed and about 8% of CO2 emissions was released by the cement industry
[4]. Hence as a measure towards the reduction of carbon footprint and total energy
used, a viable option will be utilization of Recycled Aggregate (RA) from C&DW
into the concrete in place of virgin aggregate and effective utilization of wastes as
a partial replacement to cement, thereby which developing a green and sustainable
concrete will be possible. Considering these things, in this study the utilization of
RA and blending an industrial waste along with agricultural waste into the concrete
was experimented.
Among the different industrial wastes generated around the worldwide, Fly Ash
(FA) contributes a major amount and without proper disposal it will harm the environ-
ment and hence it was being widely used as Supplementary Cementitious Material
(SCM) in the concrete [5, 6]. India being the second largest producer of sugar cane in
the world and Sugar Cane Bagasse Ash (SCBA) a byproduct of sugar cane industry if
not properly disposed may cause a major negative impact on the environment. Partial
substitution of cement with SCBA and FA has proven to be beneficial in view of the
cost cuttings and reduction of greenhouse gases [7]. Hence in this study the concrete
formed by replacing the Natural Aggregate with RA and partly replacing cement
with blended FA and SCBA was investigated. To further boost the performance of
the concrete thus formed, there was a need to reinforce it by incorporating fiber which
improves the overall performance of the concrete [8–12]. Reinforcing discontinuous
Performance Assessment of Recycled Aggregate Concrete Blended ... 473

steel fiber to the concrete has improved the compressive and tensile properties was
already established in the literature [13, 14]. In this study, steel fiber was used as a
reinforcement to the green and sustainable concrete formed by utilizing RA, FA, and
SCBA. The composite behavior, both at fresh and hardened stage will be evaluated
and reported in the manuscript in the further sections.

2 Experimental Methodology

2.1 Materials

OPC 53 grade with a specific gravity of 3.12, fine aggregate (Zone-II River sand)
with a specific gravity of 2.68, and coarse aggregate (crushed granite, 20 mm nominal
size) with a specific gravity of 2.78 were used. Recycled aggregates (RA) made by
crushing up old concrete in a jaw crusher, screening it, and then using the resulting
aggregates to fill in the necessary grading gaps. RA was found to have a specific
gravity of 2.72 and a water absorption-rate of 5.70 percent. In this research, two
different SCMs were used: class F fly ash (FA) with a specific gravity of 2.38 from a
thermal power plant in Visakhapatnam, and sugar cane bagasse ash (SCBA) with a
specific gravity of 2.21 from a sugar factory in Samalkota. The investigation makes
use of crimped steel fibers with the following characteristics: a diameter of 0.5 mm, a
length of 36 mm, a tensile strength of 1145 MPa, and an elastic modulus of 205 GPa.
Fosroc Complast SP430, a commercially available chemical admixture was used as
Superplasticizer (SP).

2.2 Mix Proportions

The control mix of M50 grade concrete was made in accordance with Indian
Standards (IS 10262, 2019).
Water-binder ratio of 0.34 and mix proportion of 1:1.58:3.06 were determined
from the trail mixes and used in this investigation. Steel fiber dosage (1%) and FA &
SCBA content (from 0 to 15%) are also included as independent variables. All the
12 mixes were used in the study, and their respective mix denotations are listed in
Table 1.

2.3 Experimental Program

Various tests were performed to understand the fresh, hardened and durability charac-
teristics of the concrete mixes considered. Testing was done on triplicate specimens
474 S. R. R. T. Prathipati et al.

Table 1 Mix denotations

Mixes Natural Recycled Cement Fly SCBA Fiber SP
aggregate (%) aggregate (%) (%) ash (%) (%) (%)
(%)
NAC-OPC 100 – 100 – – – 1
RAC-OPC – 100 100 – – – 1
RAC-F20 – 100 80 20 – – 1
RAC-F30 – 100 70 30 – – 1
RAC-F40 – 100 60 40 – – 1
RAC-S5 – 100 95 – 5 – 1
RAC-S10 – 100 90 – 10 – 1
RAC-S15 – 100 85 – 15 – 1
RAC-F30S5 – 100 70 30 5 – 1
RAC-F30S10 – 100 70 30 10 – 1
FRAC-F30S5 – 100 70 30 5 1 1
FRAC-F30S10 – 100 70 30 10 1 1
Here, NAC denotes natural aggregate concrete, RAC denotes recycled aggregate concrete,
FRAC denotes fiber reinforced recycled aggregate concrete, and F30S10 denotes concrete with
30% FA and 10% SCBA

for all the mixes, and their average was reported. The slump of fresh concrete, which
is a used to quantify the workability of the concrete was accessed in accordance
with Indian standards (IS 1199: Part 2, 2018). Compressive and flexural strengths
of hardened concrete mixtures were measured in accordance with Indian specifica-
tions (IS 516: Part 1: Sec 1, 2021). Water absorption, porosity, acid mass loss factor
(AMLF), and acid strength loss factor (ASLF) were measured to better understand
the long-lasting qualities of the considered mixes. The porosity and water absorption
were measured in accordance with ASTM criteria (ASTM C642, 2021). Access to
hostile environments with resistance per ASTM standards (ASTM C267, 2020). The
strength loss and mass loss of concrete exposed to an aggressive environment were
measured using AMLF and ASLF, respectively. For 56 days, a concrete specimen was
immersed in 5% HCl and 5% H2SO4 to simulate the effects of an aggressive envi-
ronment on the material’s properties. To determine AMLF and ASLF, the following
formulas (1) & (2) were used.

Change in Mass
AMLF = × 100 (1)
Initial Mass
N
ASLF = Relative strength loss (%) at N days × (2)
56
Performance Assessment of Recycled Aggregate Concrete Blended ... 475

Fig. 1 Slump of NAC, RAC and FRAC mixes

3 Results and Discussion

Testing on triplicate samples specimens for all the mixes was done as per the method-
ology discussed in the previous section and their variation will be discussed in the
subsequent sections.

3.1 Workability

The variation of slump of the considered mixes is as shown in Fig. 1. It can be

observed that RAC had lower slump compared to NAC, which might be due to
greater porosity and rougher surface texture of RA when compared to NA. The use
of FA as SCM improved the workability of RCA mixes whereas the use of SCBA as
SCM reduced the workability of RCA mixes. This might be due to spherical shape of
FA particles that provide lubricating effect to the mix, while the SCBA particles being
hygroscopic in nature, reduces the workability of the mix. Blending FA and SCBA
resulted in mixes with slump comparable to that of NAC. It is also worth noting that
FRAC specimens had lower workability compared to their RAC counterparts.

3.2 Strength Properties

The variation of compressive and flexural strength of considered mixes after a curing
period of 7 and 28 days is shown in Figs. 2 and 3 respectively. The use of RA as
a replacement to NA lead to a lower strength both at 7- and 28-days curing, which
might be due to presence of old mortar attached to RA and high porosity of RCA.
The use of SCMs had a positive effect on the strength properties of RAC. The use of
476 S. R. R. T. Prathipati et al.

30% FA in place of cement resulted in about 12% and 20% increase in the 28 days
compressive and flexural strength of RAC, respectively. While the use of 10% SCBA
in place of cement resulted in about 16% and 30% increase in the 28 days compressive
and flexural strength of RAC, respectively. However, the use of higher dosages of
FA and SCBA resulted in a downward trend in the strength properties. Blending
FA and SCBA resulted in about 30% and 35% increase in the 28 days compressive
and flexural strength of RAC, respectively. It is worth noting that RAC-F30S10 mix
had 10% and 13% higher compressive and flexural strengths than that of NAC mix.
Adding steel fibers to RCA mixes blended with SCMs lead to a slight increase in
compressive strength (about 8.5 to 10%) and a significant increase in flexural strength
(about 34 to 36%), which means that use of recycled aggregates in conjunction with
SCMs and steel fibers improves the strength characteristics of the concrete.

Fig. 2 Compressive Strength of NAC, RAC and FRAC mixes

Fig. 3 Flexural Strength of NAC, RAC and FRAC mixes

Performance Assessment of Recycled Aggregate Concrete Blended ... 477

Fig. 4 Water absorption in NAC, RAC and FRAC mixes

3.3 Durability Properties

3.3.1 Water Absorption and Porosity

Concrete’s water absorption and porosity are two of the most important durability
properties since they predict the quality of the material’s void network. Figure 4 and
Fig. 5 depicts the water absorption and porosity of NAC, RAC and FRAC mixes. The
water absorption and porosity of the concrete increased with the use of RA, which
may be due to higher porosity of RA and weaker bond between RA and cement
mortar. However, the use of SCMs (FA, SBCA or FA+SCBA) decreased the water
absorption and porosity of the concrete, this may be due to the fact that the use
of SCMs lead to densification of the matrix, thereby decreasing the pore size and
hence a smaller void network. It can also be noted that addition of fibers in concrete
containing SCMs further decreased the porosity and water absorption due to lower
interconnected voids as a result of discrete fiber distribution in concrete.

3.3.2 Acid Attack

To investigate how concrete samples would fare in a hostile environment, authors

have immersed them in a mixture of 5% HCl and 5% H2SO4 for 56 days. The strength
loss and mass loss of concrete exposed to an aggressive environment were measured
using AMLF and ASLF, respectively. Figures 6, 7, 8, and 9 depict the AMLF and
ASLF of NAC, RAC, and FRAC mixtures exposed to 5% HCl Solution and 5%
H2 SO4 for varying amount of time. It was discovered that H2 SO4 is more aggressive
toward concrete than HCl, as the strength loss and mass loss of concrete specimens
exposed to H2 SO4 were greater than those of specimens exposed to HCl. AMLF and
ASLF variation mirrors that of water absorption variation. Compared to NAC, RAC
exhibited greater mass loss and strength; this may be because RAC has a more porous
478 S. R. R. T. Prathipati et al.

Fig. 5 Porosity in NAC, RAC and FRAC mixes

and brittle matrix. However, the strength loss and mass loss of the concrete were
reduced when SCMs were used (either FA, SBCA, or FA+SCBA), possibly because
the densification of the matrix afforded greater resistance to acid attack. Adding
fibers, which distribute more randomly throughout the concrete, helped mitigate the
loss of strength and mass in the specimen.

Fig. 6 AMLF in NAC, RAC and FRAC mixes submersed in 5% HCl solution
Performance Assessment of Recycled Aggregate Concrete Blended ... 479

Fig. 7 AMLF in NAC, RAC and FRAC mixes submersed in 5% H2 SO4 solution

Fig. 8 ASLF in NAC, RAC and FRAC mixes submersed in 5% HCl solution

Fig. 9 ASLF in NAC, RAC and FRAC mixes submersed in 5% H2 SO4 solution
480 S. R. R. T. Prathipati et al.

4 Conclusions

The expected output of this study was the effective utilisation of RA along with
the industrial and agricultural waste into the concrete reinforced with steel fiber to
form a green and sustainable concrete. From the outcomes of this investigation the
following conclusions can be drawn:
. Replacing NA with RA into the concrete resulted in the reduction of workability
which further reduced by incorporating fiber. Incorporating SCMs has not much
affected the fresh properties of the concrete.
. RCA mixes blended with SCMs and steel fiber lead to a slight increment in
compressive strength values (about 8.5 to 10%) and a significant increment in
flexural strength values (about 34 to 36%), from which it can be inferred that use
of recycled aggregates in conjunction with SCMs and steel fibers improves the
strength characteristics of the concrete.
. The water absorption and porosity of the concrete increased, and higher mass loss
and strength loss was observed with the use of RA and this was compensated by
the effective utilization of SCMs in combination with fiber and thereby improving
the overall durability performance of the composite.
Overall, from this study it can be understood that the effective use of recycled
aggregates in conjunction with SCMs and steel fiber improves the overall perfor-
mance of the concrete and might be a green and sustainable alternative to the plain
concrete in the construction sector.

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