1. Introduction
Due to the exponential growth of the population, the construction industry has been highly demanded to attend society by building new constructions. Therefore, the construction industry is considered one of the main sectors with negative environmental impact, since it consumes huge amounts of non-renewable natural resources and generates an extensive volume of construction and demolition wastes [
1,
2,
3].
In Brazil, it is estimated 45 million tons of construction and demolition waste (C&DW) are collected by the Brazilian municipalities annually, representing 58% of the total solid urban waste generated [
4]. The incorrect disposal of these huge amounts of wastes has caused many environmental and social problems, as they compromise the urban landscape, contaminate the soil and contribute to clogging the urban drainage systems [
2,
5].
Instead of using natural aggregates in the production of new concrete, a viable alternative is using recycled aggregates obtained from construction and demolition waste [
3,
6]. Many studies recognize concretes composed of recycled aggregates as coarse and/or fine fractions, with similar mechanical properties to conventional concretes [
7,
8,
9]. There was a study on an “ecological concrete” for structural use made by Brazilian and Italian researchers in 2004 [
10]. The use of recycled aggregates in structural concretes can only be widely adopted by the construction industry if the concrete design parameters are well studied [
11].
The elasticity modulus of concrete is a fundamental parameter in concrete structure design because it is possible to predict the structural behavior in service under load action and determine the deformations and displacements distribution [
12,
13].
To relate the experimental values with predicted values from standards, it is always necessary to validate the research and the standards indication, as the authors of [
14] did with their columns of confined concrete. Several different prediction equations have been proposed to calculate concrete elasticity modulus from its compressive strength, but it is also possible to determine it by mechanical tests [
11,
13]. The elasticity modulus values obtained in experimental tests, as with other design parameters of concretes structures, differ from those predicted by empirical equations proposed by standards, even though the formulations consider graphs made up of empirical values [
11,
13,
14,
15,
16,
17,
18].
These values cannot differ significantly, as a slight change in modulus translates to a slight difference in the deformation of a structure, and thus a lack of accuracy between experimental and predicted modulus can reflect in an under- or overdesign of concrete structures [
13].
Accordingly, this study aimed to study the modulus of elasticity of concretes with compressive strength of 20 and 40 MPa with partial replacement rates (30% and 50%) of basaltic coarse aggregates by recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) and waste porcelain aggregates (WPA), as well as evaluate the difference between the values of measured and predicted modulus calculated by the Brazilian standard NBR 6118:2014 [
19], fib Model Code 2010 [
20], Eurocode 2:2004 [
21] and ACI 318:2014 [
22].
Thus, this study, in contrast to those mentioned above, showed the possible use of national and international standards for structural projects, with conventional strength concrete made with certain recycled aggregates.
2. Materials and Methods
The purpose of this research was to investigate the mechanical properties of concretes with moderate strength because moderate strength concretes are frequently used in reinforced concrete construction. The Brazilian standard NBR 8953:2015 [
23] classifies these concretes in Group 1 with a characteristic compressive strength (f
ck) ranging from 10 to 50 MPa.
Thus, two groups of concretes were produced: 20 MPa and 40 MPa concretes. For each group, different coarse aggregates were used with replacement rates of 30% and 50%: natural aggregates (NCA), that was basalt from Campinas, Brazil; recycled concrete aggregates (RCA), made by waste concrete from PUC Campinas laboratory; and waste porcelain aggregates (WPA), of a porcelain factory of electrical insulators in the city of Pedreira, Brazil.
The notation of all concretes was denominated as shown
Figure 1. First, the compressive strength (20 or 40 MPa) is displayed, then the type of coarse aggregate incorporated (RCA or WPA) and finally the replacement rate (30% or 50%). Conventional concretes or reference concretes, with only natural aggregates, are named as C20 or C40 depending on the compressive strength group.
The present study followed the flowchart displayed in
Figure 2. The waste materials were recycled, the employed materials were characterized, the concretes mix proportions were decided, the mixtures were cast in cylinder and cube specimens, the mechanical tests of specimens were carried out, the concretes’ mechanical properties were predicted from formulations proposed by standards, all the data were analyzed and the final considerations were concluded.
The specimen’s preparation and mechanical tests were executed at the Construction Materials and Structures Laboratory from Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas, Brazil.
2.1. Materials Selection and Characterization
For concretes, production used the following constituent materials: rapid hardening cement (Brazilian type cement CP V ARI, LafargeHolcim, Santo André, Brazil) with a density of 3.13 g/cm3; fine natural aggregate (FNA) that was quartzite sand from Campinas, Brasil; coarse natural aggregate (CNA) that was basalt from Campinas, Brazil; recycled concrete aggregates (RCA), made by waste concrete from PUC Campinas laboratory; waste porcelain aggregates (WPA), of a porcelain factory of electrical insulators in the city of Pedreira, Brazil; plasticizer, from GCP Applied Technology, Sorocaba, Brazil and water from Campinas city. The CNA was basaltic gravel, whereas the FNA was quartzite sand, both of which are the most widely-used aggregates in the state of São Paulo, Brazil.
Two plasticizers were employed in the concretes: a water reducer from GCP Applied Technology, Sorocaba, Brazil and water from Campinas city for the 20 MPa concretes and a polycarboxylic ether-based superplasticizer, from GCP Applied Technology, Sorocaba, Brazil and water from Campinas city for the 40 MPa concretes. The plasticizer’s producers suggest a dosage between 0.6% and 1.0% upon cement consumption when using the water reducer plasticizer and a dosage between 0.15% and 0.80% when using the superplasticizer.
The recycling process of concrete and porcelain waste consisted of crushing the porcelain into small pieces using a hammer and then crushing the small pieces in a jaw crusher (Contenco Industry, São José da Lapa, Minas Gerais, Brazil). Four samples of 5 kg of each waste were crushed. The samples were bent for the particle size analysis to determine a grading curve for the recycled coarse aggregates as similar as possible to the natural coarse aggregates.
Figure 3 exhibits the whole process of recycling.
During the crushing process of concrete waste, it was seen that some gravels were detached from the mortar of the concrete waste; thus, some gravels returned to their original natural aggregate, but still surrounded by a fine old cement paste. In the porcelain waste crushing, great care was required during handling due to the splinters caused by breaking it.
Figure 4 illustrates a visual difference between natural and recycled aggregates. The physical properties of natural and recycled aggregates are assembled in
Table 1, including the standards consulted to realize the experiments.
Figure 5 shows the fine aggregates distribution curves and
Figure 6 shows the coarse aggregates distribution curves with their respective limits implied by NBR NM 248:2003 [
24].
2.2. Mix Design Proportions and Specimen Preparation
Table 2 lists the concrete proportions. The mix design proportions were based on the modified IPT method [
25].
In particular, the natural coarse aggregates (NCA) were volumetrically replaced with recycled coarse aggregates (RCA and WPA) with replacements rates of 0%, 30% and 50%. The quantity of both recycled coarse aggregates was adjusted according to the relation of recycled aggregates density to natural aggregates density.
Furthermore, 0.60 water/cement ratio was employed for 20 MPa reference concretes and 0.40 for 40 MPa reference concretes. For concretes containing recycled aggregates, the water/cement ratios were reduced, expecting a possible reduction of their mechanical properties. In the case of 40 MPa concretes, the water/cement ratio remained the same because of the different plasticizer used: a water reducer plasticizer was used for 20 MPa concretes, while 40 MPa concretes used a superplasticizer. At the moment of molding the specimens with 40 MPa concrete, there was not enough plasticity to mold the specimens adequately and the prior plasticizer adopted (water reducer plasticizer) had to be changed to a different one (superplasticizer).
The Brazilian standard NBR 15116:2004 [
26] prescribes the inclusion of pre-soaked water in concretes with RCA as RCA diminishes water absorption and slightly reduces their mechanical properties. Therefore, for RCA concretes, 60% pre-soaked water over RCA water absorption capacity was inserted. For WPA concretes, it was decided not to adopt pre-soaked water as porcelain water absorption capacity is too low.
The concretes mix procedure pursued a sequence of events. First, the concrete mixer was moistened. The kneading water was separated into two portions: in the first portion, two parts of plasticizer was incorporated, and, in the second portion, only one part was incorporated. As plasticizer total amount was divided into four parts, the last part was saved in case it would not be possible to mold the specimens. Subsequently, all coarse aggregates and the first portion of kneading water was added, the cement was also included and those present materials were mixed. The fine natural aggregates and the second portion of kneading water were added, and, finally, the whole mixture was mixed for 5 min. At last, a slump test was performed only to investigate if mortar content was adequate, and, in the case it was not, new parts of plasticizer were carefully added considering the producer specified dosage.
Figure 7 illustrates how materials were separated; the two blue buckets represent the kneading water and the red bucket represents the pre-soaked water.
2.3. Mechanical Testing
Concrete specimens were cast, while a vibrating table was used to compact the concrete. For each concrete mixture, thirty 100 mm × 200 mm cylindrical specimens and six 100 mm cubic specimens were prepared. In particular, cylindrical specimens were used to measure the compressive strength (fcm,cyl) (six specimens for 7 days old and six specimens for 28 days old), the elasticity modulus (Ecm) (six specimens for 7 days old and six specimens for 28 days old) and the splitting tensile strength (fctm,sp) (six specimens for 28 days old). Cubic specimens were used only to test compressive strength at 28 days old and compare with values of compressive strength tested with cylindrical specimens.
The values of measured elasticity modulus were associated with initial tangent modulus; hence, the measured initial tangent modulus must be compared to the predicted tangent modulus.
2.4. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
Single-factor ANOVA was developed by Fisher (1890–1962) and consists of observing possible differences between two or more samples averages at a 5% level of significance [
27]. ANOVA’s response is obtained from hypothesis testing that can be performed by
p-value.
P-value is designated as the probability of any sample average being more distant than the other samples’ average.
P-value evaluation is given as:
When the p-value is greater than or equal to the level of significance, there is no significant difference.
When the p-value is lower than the level of significance, there is indeed a significant difference between the samples.
ANOVA was used to evaluate the influence of three levels of replacement rates of recycled aggregates in compressive strength and elasticity modulus of all concretes. It was also applied to the investigation of geometry changing influence in compressive strength, by using cubic and cylindrical specimens.
2.5. Prediction Formulations
The parameters elasticity modulus and tensile strength were predicted using equations proposed by consulted standards NBR 6118:2014 [
19], fib Model Code 2010 [
20], Eurocode 2:2004 [
21] and ACI 318:2014 [
22]. Both parameters are predicted from concrete compressive strength. NBR 6118:2014 [
19], fib Model Code [
20] and ACI 318:2014 [
22] use characteristic compressive strength (f
ck) in the calculation, while Eurocode 2:2004 [
21] uses measured compressive strength (f
cm).
Deviation values prescribed by the standards were subtracted from f
cm to determine f
ck. As each standard assumes a different deviation value, different values of f
ck were determined. Standard deviation refers to concrete preparation conditions that assume laboratory conditions at the time of molding as well as how materials were separated.
Table 3 lists the f
ck calculated for all concretes considering each standard deviation.
Brazilian standard NBR 6118:2014 [
19] considers a deviation of 6.60 MPa for concretes with strength ranging from 20 MPa to 90 MPa while Eurocode 2:2004 [
21] considers a bigger deviation of 8.0 MPa for concretes with a range of strength between 12 MPa and 90 MPa. American standard ACI 301:2010 [
28] considers deviation of 8.274 MPa for concretes with strength ranging from 20 MPa to 35 MPa, while, for concretes with strength above 35 MPa, Equation (1) is recommended. Fib Model Code 2010 [
20] suggests an 8 MPa deviation for concretes with compressive strength ranging from 12 MPa to 120 MPa.
2.5.1. Elasticity Modulus Prediction
Table 4 presents the prediction formulations to predict the elasticity modulus of concretes proposed by four different concrete designing standards [
19,
20,
21,
22]. In general, the elasticity modulus is obtained from concrete compressive strength, coarse aggregate nature and concrete density. The equations proposed by NBR 6118:2014 [
19] and fib Model Code 2010 [
20] are similar to each other, as both consider the parameter α
E, which depends on the nature of coarse aggregate.
The parameter related to coarse aggregate nature decreases or increases the predicted value of elasticity modulus: if the coarse aggregate is basalt or diabase then the value of elasticity modulus increases 20%; if it is granite, gneiss or quartzite the value remains constant; if the coarse aggregate used is limestone, the elasticity modulus value reduces 10%; and if it is sandstone coarse aggregate, it reduces 30%. In this research, the natural coarse aggregates used to produce the concretes were basaltic, thus the value of αE is equal to 1.20.
According to Brazilian standard NBR 8522:2017 [
29], which determines the measured elasticity modulus, tangent modulus (or elasticity modulus) can be defined as the slope of the line tangent to the stress–strain curve between σ
a and 30% of f
cm, while secant modulus (or deformation modulus) is the slope of the stress–strain curve between σa and a stress within plastic strain zone (above 30% of f
cm).
Differently, fib Model Code 2010 [
19] and Eurocode 2:2004 [
21] set for the elasticity modulus a 40% limit of f
cm, and, over this limit, a reduced modulus can be obtained (secant modulus). ACI 318:2014 [
22] defines elasticity modulus as the slope of the line drawn from a stress of zero to compressive stress of 45% of f
cm, and it does not propose an equation to predict secant modulus.
2.5.2. Tensile Strength Prediction
Table 5 lists the prediction equations to predict the direct tensile strength (f
ct) and splitting tensile strength (f
ct,sp). NBR 6118:2014 [
19], fib Model Code 2010 [
20] and Eurocode 2:2004 [
21] propose the same equation to calculate f
ct while ACI 318:2014 [
22] only presents an equation to predict f
ct,sp.
The f
ct,sp is predicted in the same manner by Eurocode 2:2004 [
21] and NBR 6118:2014 [
19]; both standards consider a conversion factor of 0.90 to predict the splitting tensile strength out of direct tensile strength. Fib Model Code 2010 [
20], on the other hand, considers a conversion factor of 1.00.
4. Conclusions
In the literature, it is acknowledged that conventional concrete has a complex structure. Knowing all the influence factors which affect concrete mechanical properties is recognized to be an arduous task. The insertion of recycled aggregates in concrete structure makes the task even more complex because of the great variability these aggregates causes in concrete structure behavior.
Most research on the usage of recycled aggregates is concerned with the influence of these aggregates on compressive strength. However, to ensure good quality structural concrete, it is important to investigate other parameters such as the elasticity modulus and tensile strength.
The elasticity modulus, associated with the control of structural deformations, can be measured by mechanical tests or predicted by equations proposed by standards. Hence, this research consisted of investigating the influence of recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) and waste porcelain aggregates (WPA) in mechanical properties of 20 MPa and 40 MPa strength class concretes, verifying if there are any similarities between the predicted values calculated by different standards, comparing the predicted values with measured results and evaluating the compressive strength of concretes cast in cylindrical and cubic specimens.
To validate the results, an ANOVA analysis was performed to understand the significant differences between the averages of measured results. In the compressive strength test, it was found that recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) affected the compressive strength of 20 MPa concretes but did not affect the compressive strength of 40 MPa concretes. Waste porcelain aggregates (WPA), on the other hand, did not affect the compressive strength of 20 MPa or 40 MPa concretes. It is believed that this is due to the physical and chemical similarities porcelain waste has with natural aggregates [
32].
In the measured elasticity modulus investigation, it was found that RCA and WPA significantly affected the elasticity moduli of both 20 MPa and 40 MPa concretes. In this case, the concrete elasticity modulus with 30% of RCA was superior to the reference concrete modulus, which can be justified by the better adhesion between the cement paste and the mortar adhered to the particles of the recycled aggregates.
The elasticity modulus of concretes with WPA was higher than the reference modulus of elasticity. It is believed that the cause of this increase is due to the rough surface of non-polished porcelain that allows the paste to adhere easily and thus benefit the modulus of elasticity.
The elasticity modulus and splitting tensile strength calculated by the consulting standards [
19,
20,
21,
22] resulted in different values because each standard recommends different values of coefficients and deviation. In general, the decreasing order of predicted elasticity modulus is those calculated by: fib Model Code 2010 [
20], NBR 6118:2014 [
19], Eurocode 2:2004 [
21] and ACI 318:2014 [
22]. The decreasing order of predicted splitting tensile strength is calculated by: NBR 6118:2014 [
19], fib Model Code 2010 [
20], ACI 318:2014 [
22] and Eurocode 2:2004 [
21].
The measured elasticity moduli of conventional concretes (C20 and C40) were lower than the predicted moduli calculated by fib Model Code 2010 [
20] and NBR 6118:2014 [
19], indicating a lack of safety of serviceability from these standards. On the contrary, the measured elasticity modulus from conventional concretes was superior to those predicted by ACI 318:2014 [
22] and Eurocode 2:2004 [
21].
Measured splitting tensile strength results of 40 MPa concretes were superior to all predicted values, indicating safety from all the consulting standards. On the contrary, for most 20 MPa concretes, measured splitting tensile strength was lower than the values predicted by ACI 318:2014 [
22], indicating a lack of safety by the American standard.
Different values of αE were considered in modulus calculations, and it was found that, for concretes with measured elasticity modulus lower than the modulus predicted with αE = 1.20 (basalt), when it was predicted with αE = 1.00 (granite), the modulus was above them as expected.
An ANOVA analysis was also performed to verify whether the change in geometry of the specimens affects the compressive strength of the studied concretes. The geometry changes substantially affected the compressive strength of 20 MPa concrete but did not affect the strength of 40 MPa concrete. The results found in this research indicate that the effect of specimen geometry is more significant in low-strength concretes.
In 20 MPa concretes, the compressive strength of concrete cast in cubic specimens was superior to the compressive strength of concretes cast in cylindrical specimens. A possible cause would be the effect of containing the press plates that extend throughout the height of the cubes, but in the cylinders ends up not reaching part of the height.