A Fundamental Study on the Load Resistance Characteristics of Revetment Concrete Block with Recycled Concrete Aggregate and GFRP Rebar

Abstract

Aggregate resources in Korea are expected to run out owing to an increase in development demand and construction investment. Recycled concrete aggregates (RCA), extracted from waste concrete, have a lower quality than natural aggregates. However, RCA can produce concrete similar in quality to the normal concrete by aggregate pretreatment, use of admixtures, and quality control. RCA are most suitable for use in precast concrete products such as sidewalk blocks and revetment blocks. Herein, the feasibility of producing revetment blocks using recycled aggregate concrete (RAC), similar in quality to normal concrete, was analyzed. The amount of RCA was varied, and moderate high early strength cement and steam curing were used to produce the concrete test blocks. In the block test, the load resistance characteristics of the blocks were evaluated to determine optimal RAC and glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) rebar compositions. Thus, the variable that reduced the cement content was determined at the same level as that of natural aggregate concrete by the control of steam curing. In the concrete block test, although this depends on the reinforcement ratio, the RAC block exhibited the same or better performance than a normal concrete block. Therefore, the low quality of RCA in RAC is no longer a problem when concrete mixing and curing are controlled and appropriate reinforcement is used.