J. Inst. Eng. India Ser.

A (AugustOctober 2013) 94(3):179185

DOI 10.1007/s40030-014-0051-5

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION

Investigations on Fresh and Hardened Properties of Recycled

Aggregate Self Compacting Concrete
P. Revathi R. S. Selvi S. S. Velin

Received: 28 October 2012 / Accepted: 17 February 2014 / Published online: 5 March 2014
 The Institution of Engineers (India) 2014

Abstract In the recent years, construction and demolition

waste management issues have attracted the attention
from researchers around the world. In the present study,
the potential usage of recycled aggregate obtained from
crushed demolition waste for making self compacting
concrete (SCC) was researched. The barriers in promoting
the use of recycled material in new construction are also
discussed. In addition, the results of an experimental
study involving the use of recycled concrete aggregate as
coarse aggregates for producing self-compacting concrete
to study their flow and strength characteristics are also
presented. Five series of mixture were prepared with 0,
25, 50, 75, and 100 % coarse recycled aggregate adopting
Nan Sus mix proportioning method. The fresh concrete
properties were evaluated through the slump flow, J-ring
and V-funnel tests. Compressive and tensile strengths
were also determined. The results obtained showed that
SCC could be successfully developed by incorporating
recycled aggregates.
Keywords Construction and demolition waste

Self compacting concrete
Recycled aggregate

Flowability

Introduction
The generation of construction and demolition waste has
been increasing year after year all over the world and the

P. Revathi (&)
R. S. Selvi
S. S. Velin

Department of Civil Engineering, Pondicherry Engineering
College, Puducherry 605 014, India
e-mail: revathi@pec.edu

Indian scenario in this regard is no exception. A huge

quantity of construction waste is produced every year from
construction sites, construction materials, material factories, demolition sites, earthquakes and natural disasters.
The total quantum of waste from construction industry in
India is estimated to be 1214.7 million tons per annum out
of which 78 million tons are concrete and brick waste [1].
Storage and disposal of these wastes becomes a serious
environmental problem because of lacking of sites in main
cities. On the other hand, rapid rise in urbanization has
spurred the construction activity all over the world, and the
same in turn has enormously increased the necessity for
natural aggregates for use in concrete. To overcome this
sustainable concrete construction is to be considered in
construction industry also. One way of achieving these is
to explore an alternative method to effectively utilize
the construction and demolition waste to produce new
concrete.
There has been increased construction of large concrete
structures with increasingly complicated designed shapes
having congested reinforcements. This often leads to difficult casting conditions and skilled labour shortage has
become serious problem at construction site. These events
marked the appearance of new types of concrete which is
called as self compacting concrete (SCC) which was first
introduced by the Japanese researchers in the year 1980.
SCC is a concrete that in the plastic state, flows under its
own weight and maintain its homogeneity while completely filling formwork of any shape even around congested reinforcement, achieving compaction without
mechanical vibration. Modern application of SCC is
focused on high performance, better and more reliable and
uniform quality. This paper focuses to study the fresh and
hardened properties of self-compacting concrete produced
with recycled concrete coarse aggregate.

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Review of Literature
Concrete made using aggregates from the construction and
demolition waste is referred to as recycled aggregate concrete (RAC). Many researchers [17] have studied the
workability, strength aspects and cost effective of RAC and
compared it with that of normal aggregate concrete. The
workability of RAC for the same water content as that of
natural aggregate concrete (NAC) is lower than that of
NAC as reported by many researchers, especially when the
replacement level exceed 50 %. The air content of the
RAC is slightly higher (*45.5 %) than concrete made
with natural aggregate [8] at 100 % replacement. This
increased air content is due to the higher porosity of the
RA. The authors also have reviewed many studies which
concluded that adhered mortar from the original concrete
plays an important role in determining the performance
with respect to permeability and strength. This is considered to be one of the most significant differences between
RAC and NAC. However, the desired workability can be
achieved by using suitable mineral and chemical admixtures. The researchers have also [9] recommended the use
of recycled aggregate in saturated surface dry condition to
enhance the workability. The study to pre-wet recycled
aggregate in order to maintain desired workability as that
of NAC has been incorporated in the literature [10].
Regarding hardened concrete properties, though
researchers have reported a reduction in strength in RAC, it
should be noted that the extent of reduction is related to the
parameters such as the type of concrete used for making
RAC, replacement ratio, watercement ratio and the
moisture condition of the recycled aggregate [11]. For
example, it has been found that [8] at a high w/c ratio
(between 0.6 and 0.75), the strength of RAC is comparable
to that of reference concrete even at a replacement level of
75 %. The researchers have [11] found that the strength of
RAC and reference concrete to be comparable even at
100 % replacement, provided that the watercement ratio
was higher than 0.55. However, as the watercement ratio
is reduced to 0.4, the strength of RAC was only about 75 %
of the reference concrete. The modulus of elasticity for
RAC has been reported to be in the range of 5070 % of
the normal concrete depending on the watercement ratio
and the replacement level of RA [11]. The new approaches
have been proposed in mixing concrete namely two and
three stage mixing approaches [12]. These mixing
approaches are intended to improve the compressive
strength of RAC. Though some studies have shown that
RAC is significantly more permeable than NAC, it should
be noted that the durability properties can be improved by
using fly ash, silica fume etc. [13].
When proved successful, recycled aggregate can be
substituted for NAC in many concrete applications

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J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. A (AugustOctober 2013) 94(3):179185

including the popular and demanding application such as

SCC. The researchers [14] have demonstrated the application of recycled aggregate as partial substitute for coarse
and fine aggregate in SCC. It has been studied the properties of SCC prepared with coarse recycled aggregate
without any mineral admixtures and proved that recycled
aggregate can successfully be used for making SCC [15].
Fly ash is a mineral admixture used in SCC, not only
improves the fresh and hardened properties of SCC, but
also suppresses the expansion due to alkali silica reaction
in Portland cement concrete. This dual advantage of using
fly-ash in SCC and recycled aggregate warrant a study to
explore the feasible use of recycled aggregate in SCC,
which is a subject that has not been reported much in
literature.

Experimental Investigation
Materials Used
Cementitious Materials
Ordinary Portland cement and fly ash were used as the
cementitious materials in the SCC mixtures. Ordinary
Portland cement of 43 grade (CEM I 42.5 R) with specific
gravity 3.15, confirming to IS 8112-1989 was used [16].
Class F is fly ash (produced by burning bituminous coal)
procured from Ennore Thermal power plant, Chennai was
used. The physical properties of this Class F flyash are
given in Table 1.
Aggregates
The crushed granite (20 mm maximum size) and locally
available river sand were used as natural coarse and fine
aggregate respectively. The fineness modulus of fine
aggregate was 2.44 and confirms to [17] zone II as per IS:
383-1970. Recycled aggregates were obtained from a
demolished concrete waste of 35 years old building in
Puducherry. The concrete waste was crushed and screened
manually to obtain recycled aggregate of size between 5
and 20 mm. The physical and mechanical properties of

Table 1 Physical properties of fly ash

S. no

Test property

Result

Specific gravity

2.06

Fines passing 150 l sieve (%)

99.1

Fines passing 90 l sieve (%)

98

Blaines fineness (cm2/gm)

3890

J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. A (AugustOctober 2013) 94(3):179185

181

Casting and Curing of Test Specimens

Table 2 Properties of coarse aggregate (average)

S. no

Test property

Natural
aggregate

Recycled
aggregate

Specific gravity

2.67

2.55

Water absorption (%)

0.5

4.73

Bulk density (kg/m3)

1,530

1,325

Crushing value (%)

29

34

Impact value (%)

22

29

natural aggregate and recycled aggregate are presented in

Table 2. The reported results are the average of three
values obtained.
Water and Admixture
Potable drinking water with pH value ranging between 6
and 7 available within the Pondicherry Engineering College Campus was used for making all mixes. Superplasticizer (SP) is generally added to increase the flow with
reduced water content. GLENIUM B233 is an admixture of
a new generation based on modified polycarboxylic ether
was used in this study.

The experimental study included one reference mix produced with complete natural aggregate designated as
NASCC. Four other mixes were made with recycled
aggregate to replace natural aggregate at 25, 50, 75 and
100 % levels and designated as RASCC25, RASCC50,
RASCC75 and RASCC100 respectively. The mix proportions are based on all the aggregate being in a saturated
surface dry condition. Hence, the aggregates were made
saturated surface dry before mixing. All the concrete mixes
were mixed in a laboratory pan mixer. Tests were conducted on fresh concrete to determine slump flow, flow
time, passing ability, filling ability and segregation resistance. From each mix six 150 mm cubes were cast for the
determination of compressive strength, three 150 mm 9
300 mm cylinders were cast for the determination of
splitting tensile strength. Furthermore three prisms of size
100 mm 9 100 mm 9 500 mm were cast for determining
flexural tensile strength. After casting, all the cast specimens were covered with plastic sheets and water saturated
burlap and left in laboratory for 24 h. the specimens were
then demoulded and transferred to a standard water curing
tank at 27 C until the age of testing.
Testing of Concrete Mixes

Mix Proportioning

Fresh Properties of SCC

In this study a total of five SCC mixes were produced

adopting Nan Sus [18] mix design approach, for a characteristic strength of 30 MPa. A packing factor of 1.18 is
assumed in the design for better flowability of SCC.
Cement content of 300 kg/m3 was adopted. For all SCC
mixes, the amount of cementitious materials used was
generally maintained as 470 kg/m3 of concrete approximately, with a free water-to-binder ratio of 0.4. The ratio of
fine-to-coarse aggregate was about 46:54. These proportions were arrived after conducting few trials on the
flowability of SCC. The detailed proportions of various
ingredients of SCC are presented in Table 3.

Slump flow test The slump flow test was used to evaluate
the free deformability and flowability of the SCC in the
absence of any obstruction. A standard slump cone as
shown in Fig. 1 was used for the test and the concrete
mixture was poured in the cone without any compaction
and the cone was lifted gently. After lifting, the time (T50)
required for the concrete to spread over the circle of
500 mm diameter as well as the final diameter of the circle
formed by the spread concrete was measured. The lowest
value of final spread required for the SCC is 650 mm and
the highest permissible value is 850 mm. Shorter time of
T50 indicates the better flow capacity.

Table 3 Mix proportion for various SCC mixes

% of RA Mix designation Cement, kg/m3 Fine aggregate, kg/m3 Coarse aggregate, kg/m3
NA

Fly ash, kg/m3 Water, kg/m3 SP, kg/m3

RA

NASCC

300

761

875

169

191

4.0

25

RASCC-25

300

761

656

206

169

191

4.2

50

RASCC-50

300

761

437

413

169

191

4.2

75

RASCC-75

300

761

219

619

169

191

4.3

100

RASCC-100

300

761

825

158

194

4.3

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Fig. 1 Slump flow apparatus

J-Ring Test The J-ring test aims at investigating both the

filling ability and the passing ability of SCC. The apparatus
consists of a rectangular section (30 mm 9 25 mm) open
steel ring, drilled vertically with holes to accept threaded
sections of reinforcement bar as shown in Fig. 2. The
diameter of the ring of vertical bars is 300 mm, and the
height 100 mm. The J-ring bars can principally be set at
any spacing to impose a more or less severe test of the
passing ability of the concrete. In accordance with normal
reinforcement considerations, three times the maximum
aggregate size might be appropriate. Hence, the spacing is
maintained as 60 mm in the present study. After the test,
the difference in height between the concrete inside and
that just outside the J-ring is measured at four locations and
the average is reported the result. This is an indication of
passing ability, or the measure of degree to which the
passage of concrete through the bars is restricted.

J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. A (AugustOctober 2013) 94(3):179185

Fig. 3 V-funnel flow apparatus

taken for the discharge to complete (the flow time) was

recorded using a stop watch. This is taken to be when light
is seen from above through the funnel. The whole test has
to be performed within 5 min. Viscosity can also be
assessed by the V-funnel flow time. The time value
obtained does not measure the viscosity of SCC but is
related to it by describing the rate of flow. Concrete with a
low viscosity will have a very quick initial flow and then
stop. Concrete with a high viscosity may continue to creep
forward over an extended time.

Test Results and Discussion

Properties of Recycled Aggregate
Specific Gravity and Water Absorption

V-Funnel Test The V-funnel test apparatus shown in

Fig. 3, is used to determine the filling ability of the concrete with a maximum aggregate size of 20 mm. The
funnel is fitted with a trap at the bottom and was opened
within 10 s after filling (with 12 l of concrete) and the
concrete was allowed to flow out under gravity. The time
Fig. 2 Flow measurement by
J-ring test apparatus

123

The results of physical and mechanical properties of

recycled aggregate and natural aggregate have been shown
in Table 2. The reported values are the average of three
values obtained. The specific gravity (saturated surface dry
condition) of recycled concrete aggregate was found to be

J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. A (AugustOctober 2013) 94(3):179185

Table 4 Results of various flow tests
S.No.

Mix
designation

Slump flow test

T50, s

Final flow,
mm

183
Table 5 Hardened properties of various SCC mixes

J-ring,
mm

V-funnel
time, s

S. No. Mix
designation

Compressive
strength, N/mm2
at 7 days at 28 days

Split tensile Flexural

strength,
strength,
N/mm2
N/mm2

NASCC

750

7.8

7.5

NASCC

22.6

36.2

3.50

5.29

RASCC 25

730

8.6

7.9

RASCC 25

21.5

35.4

2.91

3.52

3
4

RASCC 50
RASCC 75

4
5

730
700

8.5
8.9

8.3
8.8

RASCC 50

20.4

34.7

2.33

3.02

RASCC 75

17.9

32.8

1.95

2.58

RASCC 100

710

9.2

10.5

RASCC 100 16.4

30.3

1.45

2.89

from 2.53 to 2.58, which is lower than the specific gravity

of natural aggregates of 2.75. The main factors affecting
the water absorption property of RCA are the source of the
aggregate and the old mortars adhering on it. Because the
RCA is retrieved from the demolished concrete, it may
consist of crushed stone aggregate with old mortar. The
water absorption value ranges from 4.2 to 5.4 %, which is
relatively higher than that of the natural aggregates
(0.5 %). The reason may be the source and the basic
property of the aggregate. In general, the water absorption
characteristics of recycled aggregates were higher, and
hence the saturated surface dry conditions of aggregate
were maintained before the start of the mixing operations.
Crushing and Impact Values
The crushing value and impact value are the general tests,
which are prescribed for finding the strength of the aggregate. These tests were conducted as per IS 2386 (Part IV)
[19]. The impact value is calculated by recording the fractions passing and retained in a 2.36-mm sieve after the
material has received 15 blows from a standard weight. This
is expressed as a percentage of the total weight. This test is
carried out to measure the resistance of a particular aggregate to sudden shock or impact. A lower percentage indicates tougher and stronger aggregates. As per codal
provisions [19], the crushing and impact values are a 45 %
limit for concrete other than wearing surfaces and a 30 %
limit for concrete for wearing surfaces, respectively. From
the results, it was observed that the crushing value of natural
aggregate and recycled aggregate 29 and 34 % respectively.
Impact value of natural aggregate and recycled aggregate is
22 and 29 % respectively (Table 2). Hence, it is clear that
RCA is weaker than the fresh aggregate. However, the
crushing and impact values of recycled aggregate lies well
within the Bureau of Indian Standards limit.
Flow Properties of SCC
The test results of slump flow, J-ring and V-funnel test of
all the SCC mixtures are shown in Table 4. T50 is the time

for which the concrete reaches the diameter of 50 cm and

was measured during the execution of slump flow test. The
T50 value for all the mixes with and without recycled
aggregate ranged from 3 to 5 s. As per EFNARC guidelines T50 interval between 2 to 5 s and minimum final flow
of 650 mm is recommended for engineering applications
[20]. Hence, all the mixes seem to satisfy the requirements
in terms of initial and final flow values, although marginal
slump flow losses were observed with the increase in the
amount of recycled aggregate in the mixture.
From Table 4, it can be seen that the passing ability of
SCC measured in terms of difference in height between the
concrete inside and that just outside the J-ring varies from
7.7 to 9.2 mm. A maximum of about 10 mm difference in
height seems to satisfy EFNARC guidelines [20].
Practically, the SCC with difference in height less than
25 mm is said to have good passing ability and greater than
50 is said to have poor passing ability. The results indicate
that the RASCC mixtures prepared in this study achieved
adequate passing ability and maintained sufficient resistance to segregation. From Table 4, it can also be seen that
the filling and flowability of SCC measured in terms of
V-funnel apparatus ranges from 5 to 10 s. The average flow
through speed of the concrete (Vm) is evaluated by the
equation Vm = 2.05/t0, where t0 is the flow through time in
seconds. The constant 2.05 is obtained by dividing 0.01 m3
of concrete by the area of the orifice. The recommended
value of flow through speed as per EFNARC standards is
between 0.17 and 0.34 m/s. The flow through speed the
reference mix was 0.27 m/s and that of SCC with recycled
aggregate ranged between 0.19 and 0.27 m/s. It is evident
from the test results that the quantity of recycled aggregate
affects the filling and flowability of SCC; however, it is
possible to produce SCC with 100 % recycled aggregate
satisfying EFNARC guidelines.
No segregation or bleeding was observed, although, the
mixes RASSS75 and RASCC100 demanded for a slightly
higher dose than the reference mix NASSC to satisfy the
flow requirements. This may be attributed to the high water
absorption capacity of recycled aggregate and its coarse
texture compared to natural aggregate.

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J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. A (AugustOctober 2013) 94(3):179185

Hardened Properties
The compressive and tensile strengths of all the concrete
mixes determined at 7 and 28 days are given in Table 5. It
is clear from the test results that reduction in the compressive strength is marginal compared to NASCC up to
50 % replacement of natural aggregate with recycled
aggregate. A reduction in compressive strength of about
1020 % is observed with RASCC 75 and RASCC 100
mixes, when compared with that of NASCC.
The 28 days tensile strength of SCC mixtures was determined by conducting bending test. It is evident from Table 5,
that the tensile strength of the RASCC is lower than the
NASCC for all replacement levels of recycled aggregate.
This reduction in the strength is attributed to the microstructure of RAC mixes. As opposed to natural aggregate,
recycled aggregate has two components: natural aggregate
and cement paste, which are bound to it and which reduces its
quality to a certain extent. The old cement paste is the cause
of lower density, higher absorption capacity, lower abrasion
resistance and lower compressive and tensile strength.

The tensile strength reduction of about 58 % is

observed in RASCC 100 while comparing with NASCC. Hence, it is recommended to either to partially
replace NA with RA, where higher tensile strengths are
expected. Alternatively, micro reinforcements and
other fibers may also be introduced in RASCC to
improve upon its tensile strength.
As there are only very limited codal specifications
available across the world, regarding use of recycled
aggregates. Development of relevant standards for
recycled materials would provide producers with
targets and users an assurance of quality of material.
In the countries like India, acceptability of recycled material
is hampered due to a poor image associated with recycling
process and lack of confidence and awareness in a product
made from recycled material. This can be achieved by
creating a market for recycled aggregate products by
involving the construction industry and encouraging them
to use recycled materials in new projects.
Commercially viable technologies for recycling construction and demolition waste and recycling facilities
such as portable crushing equipments are needed in
India, to use recycled aggregate in new construction.

Conclusion
Based on the limited experimental study carried out, the
following conclusions are drawn:

There is acute scarcity of natural aggregates in most of

the well developed and developing cities. On the other
hand large quantities of construction and demolition
waste are produced in urban environments, causing
serious disposal problems. Crushing of concrete waste
produces recycled aggregate which can be used in
producing fresh concrete.
Nan Sus mix proportioning method is found to be
suitable for recycled aggregate SCC also. However,
suitable modifications in mix design procedure are to be
carried out to account for the residual mortar on
recycled aggregate.
Based on the experimental results reported in the
present study, it is seen that the slump flow, passing
ability and passing ability of the recycled RASCC
mixes are decreased with the increase in recycled
aggregate content.
However, all the RASCC mixes possessed adequate
flowability, filling and passing ability according to
EFNARC recommendations. This was achieved by
addition of adequate quantity of super plasticizer.
The compressive strengths of RASCC mixes decreased
with an increase in recycled aggregate content. A
reduction of about 16 % was observed in compressive
in RASCC100 when compared with NASCC.

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Acknowledgments The authors thankfully acknowledge the support of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for
monetarily supporting this project.

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