"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."
Recycling concrete aggregates from demolished infrastructure is becoming an important research topic for sustainable development of the construction industry in the U.S. and the world. To addresses this issue, the objective of the present research is to identify and design an optimal interface between recycled aggregate and cement paste that will lead to high-performance recycled concrete. To achieve this goal, the method will consist of three components. The first component will identify a surface treatment method for processing recycled aggregates to match the properties of the resulting recycled concrete with regular concrete. The second stage will combine theoretical and experimental studies to quantify the behavior and fracture of the aggregates/cement paste interfacial zone. Thirdly, these results will be incorporated into a multiscale computational model in order to relate the microstructure of recycled concrete to its structural performance and fracture resistance.
In terms of societal benefits, this research will address the increasing problem of the cost and environmental impact of waste disposal and transportation of demolished concrete. The ability to use on-site crushed concrete particles as aggregates will provide a sustainable solution for the construction of low cost, high performance and ecologically friendly infrastructures. Moreover, this project provides a unique opportunity for graduate students to study experimental, analytical and numerical methods for developing high performance recycled concrete. The students will have an opportunity to apply theoretical modeling tools in a very important practical engineering problem and have some insight on the sustainable development of our nation?s infrastructure system.
