Long-Term Performance of Sustainable Pavements using Ternary Blended Concrete Mixtures with Recycled Concrete Aggregates
Completion Date: June 2019
Funding Agency: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Project Abstract: Dwindling supplies of natural concrete aggregates, the cost of landfilling construction waste, and interest in sustainable design have increased the demand for recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) in new portland cement concrete mixtures. However, RCA can reduce the performance of the concrete. This study investigated the effectiveness of ternary blended binders, mixtures containing portland cement and two different supplementary cementitious materials, at mitigating performance losses of concrete mixtures with RCA materials. Concrete mixtures with different ternary binder combinations were batched with four recycled concrete aggregate materials. For the materials used, the study found that a blend of portland cement, Class C fly ash, and blast furnace slag produced the highest strength of ternary binder. This study demonstrates that even at 50% RCA replacement, using the appropriate ternary binder can create a concrete mixture that performs similarly to a plain portland cement concrete without RCA, with the added benefit of being environmentally beneficial.