Rammed Concrete with Recycled Concrete Aggregates: Opportunities and Performances

The debris from the demolition of buildings, mainly concrete rubble, represents a significant proportion of global waste. In the European Union, the construction industry generates about 850 million tons of construction and demolition waste (C&DW) per year, and this amount has a negative impact on the environment. Fine Recycled aggregates (FRA) as substitution of natural sands can be a promising solution because it reduces the depletion of natural mineral resources and the amount of landfilled waste. Rammed concrete is a specific type of concrete manufactured by means of the Pisé technique and uses a large amount of FRA. The main physical and mechanical properties of rammed concrete incorporating FRA are actually slightly affected. The influence of the composition and curing conditions on those properties has been investigated. The results show that increasing the cement content logically leads to better mechanical performance with higher densities and compressive strengths (up to 8 MPa). The rammed concrete material incorporating FRA is comparable to classical concrete block and cellular concrete block in terms of optimal strength capacity.