Materials and Design 58 (2014) 1929

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Materials and Design

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matdes

Properties of recycled aggregate concrete made with recycled

aggregates with different amounts of old adhered mortars
Zhen Hua Duan, Chi Sun Poon
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 18 October 2013
Accepted 22 January 2014
Available online 7 February 2014
Keywords:
Recycled aggregate
Mechanical properties
Durability
Recycled aggregate concrete
Articial neural networks

a b s t r a c t
This paper presents the experimental results of a study on comparing the difference in properties of
recycled aggregates (RAs) with varying amounts of old adhered mortar obtained from different sources
and evaluating the inuence of the different RAs on the mechanical and durability properties of recycled
aggregate concrete (RAC). Four concrete mixes (one with natural aggregate and three others with recycled
aggregates) with 28 day target compressive strength varying from 30 MPa to 80 MPa are designed by
using each RA to fully replace NA. The properties of RAC are also modeled by using the articial neural
networks (ANN) method.
The experimental results show that the performance of RAs from different sources varied greatly and RA
of good quality can be used to produce high strength concrete with hardened properties comparable to
those of the corresponding natural aggregate concrete (NAC). The comparison of the predicted results
based on the ANN models and the experimental values indicated that the ANN method could be used
to evaluate the properties of RAC made with RAs derived from different sources. This will facilitate the
wider application of RA in concrete.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Reuse of recycled aggregates (RAs) to fully or partially substitute
natural aggregate (NA) has been extensively studied. Although the
potential of using RA in concrete has been demonstrated successfully in laboratory studies, the use of RA in practical application
is generally limited to non-structural concrete, and the replacement ratio of NA by RA is recommended not to exceed 30% [1].
Old cement mortar attached to RA is generally considered as the
main cause of poorer properties of RA compared with those of NA
[2,3,4,5], which are reected in higher water absorption (Wa), porosity (p), crushing value (ACV) and Los Angeles abrasion value (LA),
and lower specic gravity (SG) and 10% nes value (TFV). The properties of RA obtained from different sources vary signicantly due
to the uctuations in compositions and qualities of the parent concrete and attached mortar.
The difference in properties of RAs derived from different
sources, together with their inuence on the properties of recycled
aggregate concrete (RAC) of various grades, has received increasing
research interest. In a previous study [6], eight kinds of RAs were
prepared by crushing old concretes prepared with four types of
Corresponding author. Tel.: + 852 27666024; fax: + 852 23346389.
E-mail address: cecspoon@polyu.edu.hk (C.S. Poon).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2014.01.044
0261-3069/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

NA as coarse aggregates and with designed 28th day compressive

strengths of 45 MPa and 65 MPa. The aggregates used differed in
shape, composition and surface texture. Test results indicated that
the type of virgin aggregate played a more important role than the
watercement ratio (w/c) of the parent concrete in affecting the
properties of RA. Tam et al. [7] conducted a study on RAs obtained
from ten demolition sites and the results showed that the properties of the different RAs varied greatly and the compressive
strength of the new concrete made with such RAs ranged from
50 to 63 MPa. Besides, the quality of parent concrete [8,9,10,11]
and crushing process [12,13] also inuenced the properties of RA
and RAC signicantly and RA crushed from higher quality old concrete was more suitable to produce RAC with comparable properties [14].
Current specications generally impose the maximum allowable quantity of impurities in RA, such as bricks, tiles, glass, asphalt,
plastic, wood, gypsum, and clay, to ensure the properties of RAC
can be comparable with that of natural aggregate concretes
(NAC). A number of studies [15,16,17] have been done on assessing
the effect of mixed recycled aggregates on the properties of RAC
and the results suggested a higher level of masonry content in RA
can be allowed for concrete applications but the possible adverse
effect of the impurities on the performance of RAC, especially the
durability, should not be ignored [17,18,19].

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Zhen Hua Duan, C.S. Poon / Materials and Design 58 (2014) 1929

However, the above studies did not quantify the effect of the
amount of attached old cement mortar on RA and RAC. This paper
reports the experimental results of a comprehensive study on how
the properties of RAC are affected by RA with different amounts of
adhered mortars which were derived from three different sources.
Four series of concrete mixes with 28 day target strengths from 30
MPa to 80 MPa are designed by using different types of RA to fully
replace NA.
It has been demonstrated by the authors previous studies
[20,21] that the articial neural networks (ANN) method is able
to predict the mechanical properties of RAC through a gradual approximation of the nonlinear function. The ANN method is also
used in this study to evaluate the mechanical performance of
RAC made with RAs from different sources.
2. Objectives and methodology
In the RA, the original virgin aggregate with attached old cement
mortar is usually its main component, and the properties of the RA
are determined by both the type and the quality of the virgin aggregates [1,11], and the quality and amount of attached cement mortar
[5,22,23]. Besides, RAs derived from different sources may consist of
unbound stone, original aggregate with attached old cement mortar, hardened mortar (Fig. 1). Besides, there are also some impurities present in the RA, such as bricks, tiles, glass, asphalt, plastic,
wood and gypsum. This experimental study aimed to study the inuence of RAs from different sources, in particular with different
amounts of old cement mortar, on the mechanical and durability
properties of RAC. Different target strength of concrete mixtures
from 30 MPa to 80 MPa were designed by using RA to fully replace
NA, and the experimental test results were then compared with the
predicted values by ANN method to examine whether the ANN
method can be used to model the mechanical performance of RAC
made with RAs from different sources.
3. Experimental program
Fig. 2 shows the full experimental program undertaken and it
was consisted of two parts: (1) an investigation on the properties
of concrete made from RAs obtained from different sources, and
evaluation of the mechanical performance by using ANN method;
(2) explore alternative methods to improve the properties of RAC.
The results of the rst part of this comprehensive study are
presented in this paper.
3.1. Materials
3.1.1. Cement
An ASTM Type I Portland cement, with a density of 3.15 g/cm3,
was used in this study. The chemical compositions of the cement
are shown in Table 1.
3.1.2. Aggregates
The ne aggregate (05 mm) used was a natural river sand with
a neness modulus (FM) of 2.19. Recycled ne aggregate was not
used in this study due to its high water absorption capacity, which
would affect the performance of the concrete seriously [24,25,26].
Crushed granite with sizes ranged from 5 to 10 mm and 10 to 20
mm used as the natural coarse aggregate to prepare the control
mixes. The sources and preparation methods of the RAs used in this
study are shown in Fig. 3 and described as follows:
 RA1: RA1 (1020 mm) was collected from a construction waste
recycling plant which processed both crushed concrete and
excavated rock from construction and demolition activities.

The plant utilized a range of crushing and sieving processes to

produce the RA; RA1 (510 mm) was obtained from further
crushing the RA1 (1020 mm) by a laboratory mini crusher;
 RA2: RA2 (1020 mm) was also collected from the same recycling plant, but the source of the construction waste was different, so the composition and properties of RA1 (1020 mm) and
RA2 (1020 mm) were not the same; RA2 (510 mm) was
obtained by crushed concrete lump obtained from a demolition
site, which was originally larger than 200 mm in size, manually
(using a hammer) crushed to 5080 mm and then by a laboratory mini-crusher.
 RA3: RA3 (1020 mm and 510 mm) was obtained from crushing (manually and by a laboratory mini-crusher) old concrete
prisms that had been previously prepared in our laboratory
with an original 28th day compressive strength of about 45
MPa.
The test of aggregate properties, such as neness modulus,
water absorption, specic density, aggregate crushing value and
ten percent ne value were performed in accordance with BS
812-103.2 [27], BS 812: Part 2 [28], BS 812-110 [29] and BS 812111 [30]. As there is no standard method in measuring old cement
mortar amounts in RAs, the test of the mortar content (Fig. 4) was
based on a hydrochloric acid dissolution method [31] as follow :
 Firstly, the aggregate samples with particle size of 510 mm or
1020 mm, after washing by distilled water and sieving to
remove the ne particle, were dried in an oven at a temperature of 105 C for 24 h.
 Then, appropriate amount of the sample (m1), about 100g, was
taken and immersed in a solution of 10% hydrochloric acid for
8 h.
 Next, the sample was washed again by water to remove the
loose particles, and dried in an oven at a temperature of
105 C for 24 h.
 In this way, most of the attached cement mortar on the recycled
aggregates could be easily removed, and the remaining mortar
could be removed by a hammer and a steel brush.
 The sample was sieved through a 5 mm sieve to obtain the mass
of the original aggregate (m2).
 The mortar content was calculated using Eq. (1). For each type
of aggregate, 6 samples were tested to obtain the average value.

Mc %

m1  m2
 100
m1

The constituents and properties of the aggregates used are

shown in Tables 2 and 3, respectively.
3.1.3. Superplasticizer
The superplasticizer (Grace, ADVA-109) used was obtained from
Hong Kong Grace Construction Products Limited.
3.2. Concrete mixes
Four series of concrete mixes were prepared using NA and three
types of RA. In each series, four concrete mixes with different 28
day target cube strength between 30 MPa and 80 MPa were prepared, and the corresponding water to cement ratios were ranged
from 0.68 to 0.34. For each concrete mix, a control concrete (NC)
was prepared with 100% NA, while RC1, RC2 and RC3 were made
with 100% RA1, RA2 and RA3, respectively. For concrete made with
different types of aggregates, appropriate amounts of superplasticizer were used to achieve a similar slump value of 7090 mm
for Series I to Series III and 120150 mm for Series IV. The details
of the mix proportions are shown in Table 4.

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Zhen Hua Duan, C.S. Poon / Materials and Design 58 (2014) 1929

Fig. 1. RAs from different sources.

Fig. 2. Full experimental program.

Table 1
Chemical compositions of cement.
Materials

Cement

Composition w/%
LOI

SiO2

Fe2O3

Al2O3

CaO

MgO

SO3

2.97

19.61

3.32

7.33

63.15

2.54

2.13

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Zhen Hua Duan, C.S. Poon / Materials and Design 58 (2014) 1929

Fig. 3. Sources and crushing procedures of different RA.

Fig. 4. Test procedures of mortar content of coarse aggregates.

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Zhen Hua Duan, C.S. Poon / Materials and Design 58 (2014) 1929
Table 2
Constituents of recycled aggregates.
Aggregate type

Constituents (% by mass)

RA1(20mm)
RA2(20mm)
RA3(20mm)

Rock/Concrete

Brick

Tile

Clay

Metal

Other impurities

98.2
96.05
99

0.8
2.1
0.8

0.6
0.75
0.2

0.2
0.35
0

0.15
0.15
0

0.05
0.65
0

Table 3
Properties of aggregates.
Aggregate type

Size (mm)

SG (g/cm3)

Wa (%)

Mortar content (%)

ACV (%) 1014mm

TFV (KN) 1014mm

NA

510
1020
510
1020
510
1020
510
1020
05

2.6
2.6
2.54
2.45
2.35
2.37
2.37
2.36
2.63

1.24
0.9
3.13
3.47
7.09
5.66
7.77
5.77
0.94

0
0
14.3
24.3
37.2
34
63.8
61.1

21.7

155

22.5

143

23.4

133

23.9

127

RA1
RA2
RA3
Sand

FM

2.19

All the 16 concrete mixes were designed using the absolute volume method with the aggregates at the saturated surface-dried
(SSD) condition, and the actual proportions of the mixes at mixing
were adjusted according to the moisture contents of the aggregates. For Series I to Series III (C30-C60) mixes, the coarse aggregates
of 510 mm and 1020 mm fractions were added in a ratio of 1:2,
while for Series IV (C80) mixes, the coarse aggregates of 510 mm
and 1020 mm fractions were added in a ratio of 2:1.
3.3. Specimens casting and curing
For each concrete mix, 100 mm cubes, 100  200 mm cylinders and 70  70  285 mm prisms were cast. The 100 mm cubes
were used to determine the compressive strength. Some of the
cylinders were used to evaluate the splitting tensile strength and
static modulus of elasticity; the rest of the cylinders were cut to
50  100 mm slices to test the chloride-ion penetration. The
70  70  285 mm prisms were used to determine the drying
shrinkage. All the specimens were cast in steel moulds and
compacted using a vibrating table. The specimens were demolded
after curing for 24 h at a controlled laboratory environment, and
then the cubes and cylinders were cured in a water-curing tank
at 27 2 C, while the concrete prisms were stored at a constant
temperature (23 2 C) and relative humidity (50 5%) chamber
until the age of testing.
3.4. Test methods
At the ages of 28th and 90th day, the hardened density, compressive strength and elastic modulus of the concrete were measured according to BS EN 12390-7 [32], BS EN 12390-3 [33] and
BS 1881-121 [34], respectively, while the chloride penetrability
of concrete was tested in accordance with ASTM: C1202.
The tensile splitting strength of concrete was determined based
on BS EN 12390-6 [35] after 28 days of curing. As regards to the dry
shrinkage, ASTM: C157 was followed. The initial lengths of the specimens were measured and the initial dry shrinkage values were
recorded after the specimens were demolded. Then the specimens
were conveyed to a drying-chamber with a constant temperature
of 23 C and a relative humidity of 55% until further measurement
at 1, 28, 56, 90 and 112 days, respectively.

Fig. 5. Relationships between mortar content and other properties of aggregates.

4. Results and discussion

4.1. Aggregate properties
Table 3 shows the experimental results of the physical and mechanical properties of the aggregates investigated, including the
mortar content, water absorption, specic gravity (SSD), aggregate
crushing and 10% nes values.
Compared with NA, it can be noticed from Table 3 that the density and 10% nes value of RAs were lower, but the corresponding
water absorption and aggregate crushing value were higher.
As mentioned above, RAs used in this study can be regarded as a
composite material containing unbound stone, virgin aggregate
with attached old mortar, hardened mortar and some impurities.
The amount of old mortar in RA1 was the lowest as it contained
more crushed rock and was processed at a recycling plant. For
RA2, especially the (510 mm) fraction, the mortar content was
higher due to its major source was from old concrete, RA3 had
the highest mortar content as it only underwent one crushing process in the laboratory.
The inuence of the quantity of attached mortar on aggregate
properties can be seen clearly from Fig. 5. The most noticeable inuences of the attached mortar are on the water absorption and

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Zhen Hua Duan, C.S. Poon / Materials and Design 58 (2014) 1929

Table 4
Mix proportions of concrete mixes.
Notion

Series I w/c = 0.68

NC30
C30RA1
C30RA2
C30RA3
NC45
C45RA1
C45RA2
C45RA3
NC60
C60RA1
C60RA2
C60RA3
NC80
C80RA1
C80RA2
C80RA3

Series II w/c = 0.51

Series III w/c = 0.44

Series IV w/c = 0.34

a
b

V (%)a

Mix

Proportions (kg/m3)

0
100
100
100
0
100
100
100
0
100
100
100
0
100
100
100

Water

Cement

Sand

10 mmCAb

20 mmCAb

205

300

697

180

350

706

185

425

696

165

485

685

376
366
340
343
381
371
345
348
359
350
325
328
726
700
650
655

752
709
687
684
762
718
696
693
718
678
657
654
363
339
329
327

V: replacement ratio of NA by RA.

CA: coarse aggregate.

Table 5
Properties of concrete mixes.
Notion

Mix

ftc (MPa)

fcu (MPa)

Ec (GPa)

Total charge passed (Coulombs)

Drying shrinkage (106)

28d

28d

90d

28d

90d

28d

90d

112d

Series I w/c = 0.68

NC30
C30RA1
C30RA2
C30RA3

2.55
2.47
2.4
1.9

34.5
35
29.2
27.7

39.4
39.8
34
28.4

25.1
20.85
21.9
20.49

26.6
25.18
22.83
21.5

4651
5238
5315
8071

3627
3911
4903
5951

494
449
596
664

Series II w/c = 0.51

NC45
C45RA1
C45RA2
C45RA3

3.16
3.39
2.59
2.58

48.3
47.6
42
42.9

53
51.3
47
46.3

30.68
28.86
24.46
26.55

31.1
30.68
25.91
27.22

4562
4498
4986
6215

3151
3263
4104
4957

554
518
650
604

Series III w/c = 0.44

NC60
C60RA1
C60RA2
C60RA3

3.81
3.9
3.74
3.42

61.6
60
53.7
53.2

69.6
67.7
55.5
58.6

32.36
29.42
24.61
28.5

34.5
33.42
26.3
27.94

4196
3961
5423
5585

2826
3311
4271
4010

560
611
709
635

Series IV w/c = 0.34

NC80
C80RA1
C80RA2
C80RA3

4.28
4.65
4.1
4.16

80.5
78.2
71.2
65.4

88.3
84.1
74.3
73.3

35.43
34.76
29.52
30.62

36.88
35.49
29.92
30.74

2630
2936
3556
5382

2027
2351
2858
3864

515
529
644
682

*ftc , fcu and Ec represent the splitting tensile strength, compressive strength and elastic modulus of RAC, respectively.

the ten percent nes values (TFV). The water absorption values of
RA increased drastically while the TFV decreased gradually with
the increase in mortar content. For evaluating the strength of the
recycled aggregates, it seems that the TFV value is more sensitive
than the aggregate crushing value, because the weaker materials
in the RA were crushed before the specied load (400 kN) was
reached. Based on the test results, it seems that RA1 was of the best
quality among all the RAs used; while the properties of RA2 and
RA3 were nearly the same. It is noted that RA2 had more impurities
and clay bricks while RA3 contained more attached mortar, rendering both of them weaker and more porous.
4.2. Concrete properties
Table 5 lists the test results of different grades of concrete
mixtures.
4.2.1. Density
As shown in Fig. 6, the densities of the hardened concrete made
with RA were lower than those prepared with NA. Good relation-

ships can be established between the density of the concrete and

the specic gravity of the corresponding aggregates used, with
the correlation coefcients R 2 all exceed 0.85.

4.2.2. Compressive strength

The compressive strength of concrete made with NA and RAs is
shown in Fig. 7. As expected, the compressive strength of the concrete made with RA was mostly lower than that made with NA, regardless of the w/c ratio used; besides, the strength of the concrete
made with NA and RA all increased with age.
It can be noticed from Fig. 7 that there were large reductions in
compressive strength when RA2 and RA3 (over 10% at both 28th
and 90th day) were used to fully replace NA to produce the concrete, which might be due to the large amounts of old mortar attached to them. With the decrease in w/c ratio, it was
increasingly difcult for RA2 and RA3 to produce concrete that
can satisfy the target strength. For Series IV, the strength values
were about 11% and 18% lower than the target strength of 80
MPa when RA2 and RA3 were used, respectively. This might be

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Zhen Hua Duan, C.S. Poon / Materials and Design 58 (2014) 1929
Table 6
Predicted results of ANN model in compressive strength of RAC.
Experimental resultsa

Mix

NC30
C30RA1
C30RA2
C30RA3
NC45
C45RA1
C45RA2
C45RA3
NC60
C60RA1
C60RA2
C60RA3
NC80
C80RA1
C80RA2
C80RA3

Predicted results by ANN modelsb

fcu (MPa)

SD

COV (%)

fANN (MPa)

Error (%)

34.5
35
29.2
27.7
48.3
47.6
42
42.9
61.6
60
53.7
53.2
80.5
78.2
71.2
65.4

2.26
1.41
2.16
3.31
2.39
0.55
1.06
1.2
1.36
2.46
2.02
1.97
2.37
4.52
0.36
0.78

6.57
4.02
7.42
11.98
4.94
1.17
2.53
2.81
2.21
4.11
3.76
3.71
2.95
5.77
0.5
1.19

35.57
34.95
32.68
31.69
52.21
47.4
45.08
42.33
65.39
56.46
55.89
53.08
73.32
67.86
67.6
64.49

3.10
0.14
11.92
14.40
8.10
0.42
7.33
1.33
6.15
5.90
4.08
0.23
8.92
13.22
5.06
1.39

Average

4.1

5.73

fcu, SD and COV are the mean compressive strength value of 3 specimen tested after 28 days curing, corresponding standard deviation and coefcient of variation,
respectively.
b
fANN1 and Error are the predicted compressive strength value by ANN and absolute error, respectively.

Table 7
Comparison of predicted results of ANN model and Equation (3) in elastic modulus of RAC.
Experimental resultsa

Mix

NC30
C30RA1
C30RA2
C30RA3
NC45
C45RA1
C45RA2
C45RA3
NC60
C60RA1
C60RA2
C60RA3
NC80
C80RA1
C80RA2
C80RA3
Average
a
b

Predicted results by ANN modelsb

Predicted results by Eq. (3)

Ec (GPa)

SD

COV (%)

EANN (GPa)

Error (%)

EANN (GPa)

Error (%)

25.1
20.85
21.9
20.49
30.69
28.86
24.46
26.55
32.36
29.42
24.61
28.5
35.43
34.76
29.52
30.62

1.56
0.6
0.52
1.97
0.8
1.82
0.78
1.51
1.15
1.88
2.65
1.42
1.32
2.66
0.27
1.41

6.2
2.88
2.39
9.63
2.6
6.32
3.18
5.67
3.54
6.39
10.78
4.99
3.71
7.65
0.91
4.62

24.97
20.07
20.33
21.21
30.55
25.27
24.78
24.92
32.53
28.08
27.63
27.76
34.97
30.78
29.86
29.83

0.52
3.74
7.17
3.51
0.46
12.44
1.31
6.14
0.53
4.55
12.27
2.6
1.3
11.45
1.15
2.58

25
25.12
23.66
23.25
27.93
27.8
26.67
26.86
30.27
30.01
28.93
28.84
33.06
32.75
31.75
30.87

0.4
20.48
8.04
13.47
8.96
3.67
9.04
1.17
6.46
2.01
17.55
1.19
6.69
5.78
7.55
0.82

5.09

4.48

7.08

Ec , SD and COV are the mean elastic modulus value of 2 specimen tested after 28 days curing, corresponding standard deviation and coefcient of variation, respectively.
EANN1 and Error are the predicted elastic modulus value by ANN and absolute error, respectively.

due to the porous nature of RA2 and RA3 with a larger amount of
cracks and attached mortar.
For the concrete made with RA1, the compressive strength was
comparable to that of the control mix (and even exceeded the control in the case of C30 concrete). With the increase in target
strength, the difference between the strength of concrete made
with NA and RA1 increased gradually to about 2.9% and 4.8% for
C80 at 28 days and 90 days, respectively. However, it can be noticed from Table 5 that the concrete made with RA1 was still able
to reach the target strength of 60 MPa. So RAs of high quality
may be used for producing concrete with comparable strength to
that of natural aggregates.
4.2.3. Tensile splitting strength
The results in Table 5 indicates that the concrete made with RA1
had higher tensile splitting strength (except C30) than the corresponding natural aggregate concrete. The improved strength may
be due to the presence of the attached cement mortar, which
would enhance the bonding between the RA and the new cement

paste [36]. Furthermore, the rough surface of the RAs might also
further improve the microstructure of the interfacial transition
zone (ITZ) [37], and enhanced the splitting tensile strength.
Although RA2 and RA3 also had higher amounts of attached
mortar than NA, the excessive amounts of porous mortar led to a
decrease in tensile strength.
As shown in Fig. 8, the tensile splitting strength of concrete had
a good correlation with the corresponding compressive strength,
and the correlation coefcient R 2 reached as high as 0.93.
4.2.4. Static modulus of elasticity
The results of the static modulus of elasticity tests are shown in
Fig. 9. A decline of elastic modulus values is noted for the concrete
made with RAs and the decrease is more obvious in concrete made
with RA2 and RA3.
The elastic modulus values of the concrete made with RA1 were
almost as good as those made with NA in all the mix series at both
28 and 90 days of curing. As the elastic modulus of concrete is
related to the quality of coarse aggregate, a comparison between

26

Zhen Hua Duan, C.S. Poon / Materials and Design 58 (2014) 1929

Fig. 6. Relationship between specic gravity of aggregates and density of concrete.

Fig. 7. Effect of different aggregates on compressive strength of concrete mixes.

mechanical strength (TFV and ACV) of NA and RA1 in Table 3 further

proves that good quality RA is able to fully replace NA to produce
even high strength concrete.
Fig. 10 shows the relationship between elastic modulus and
compressive strength of all mixes at both 28 and 90 days. The
relationship stipulated by ACI 318-95 [38] and BS EN 1992-1-1
[39], together with some empirical relationships (Eqs.2-4) that
have been proposed by other researchers [36,40,41] based on their
laboratory studies on testing concrete produced with RA, are also
plotted to compare the present ndings with that of the
relationships.
Ravindrarajah and Tam [36] :
0:33
Ec 7:77 fcu

Dhir et al [40] :

Ec 0:37 f cu 13:1

Fig. 8. Relationship between 28d compressive strength and tensile splitting

strength.

Dillmann [41] :

Ec 0:63443 f cu 3:0576

The regression equation based on the 28 and 90 days experimental results in this study can be expressed as follow:
0:4485
Ec 4:7863 fcu

R2 0:8281

where fcu and Ec are expressed in MPa and GPa, respectively.

It can be noticed from Fig. 10 that most of the codes and established empirical relationships overestimate the elastic modulus of
the RAC. This may be due to that only one parameter, compressive
strength, is used to evaluate the corresponding elastic modulus value in such relationships. More parameters, such as aggregate characteristics and cement type, should be considered to be included
for better estimation of the properties of recycled aggregate
concrete.

Zhen Hua Duan, C.S. Poon / Materials and Design 58 (2014) 1929

27

4.2.6. Drying shrinkage

Fig. 11 also illustrates the effect of RA on the drying shrinkage of
the concrete at 112 days and the trends are similar to that of the
chloride ion resistance test results. For concrete made with the better quality of RA, lower shrinkage values were recorded generally.
The drying shrinkage development of concrete made with different coarse aggregates in all series is presented in Fig. 12. As expected, the drying shrinkage of concrete increased with the curing
days in all series. Similar to the chloride penetration test, the drying shrinkage of concrete made with RA1 was the best in all series,
and can be comparable with those with NA.
4.3. Modeling by ANN

Fig. 9. Effect of different aggregates on elastic modulus of concrete mixes.

ANN model with a 16-40-1 structure (Fig. 13), proved previously to be capable of predicting the properties of concrete made
with RAs derived from different sources after training and testing
[20], was also used in this study to model the compressive strength
and elastic modulus values.
The predicted results of the ANN models, together with the actual values, are compared in Tables 6 and 7, respectively. The
mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) produced by the ANN
model in compressive strength, 5.73%, is just marginally above
the coefcient of variation (COV) of the test results (4.1%). For
the modeling of the results of elastic modulus, Table 7 shows that
the MAPE of 4.48%, predicted by the constructed ANN model, was
much lower than that produced by Equation (2), and was comparable or even better than the COV of the experimental results
(5.09%). It can be also noticed from Fig. 14 that most of the predicted values are in the deviation ranges of the experimental test
results. The determination coefcients (R2) of both exceeding
0.994 indicate that the constructed ANN models can be used to
evaluate the properties of RAC made with RAs derived from different sources.

Fig. 10. Relationship between compressive strength and elastic modulus.

4.2.5. Chloride ion penetrability

Fig. 11 shows the effect of different types of aggregates and w/c
ratios on the resistance of chloride ion penetration of the concrete.
The results show that concrete made with RAs generally had
poorer resistance to chloride ion penetrability, and it decreased
with the trend: RA1 [ RA2 [ RA3. However, it should be noted
from the Figure that the resistance to chloride ion penetration of
the concrete made with RA1 was the best in all mix series, and it
can be comparable with those prepared with NA, especially in Series II and III mixes at 28 days.resistance to chloride ion penetrability, and it decreased with the trend: RA1 [ RA2 [ RA3. However, it
should be noted from the Figure that the resistance to chloride ion
penetration of the concrete made with RA1 was the best in all mix
series, and it can be comparable with those prepared with NA,
especially in Series II and III mixes at 28 days.

Fig. 11. Effect of different aggregates on chloride ion penetration and shrinkage of
concrete mixes.

5. Conclusions
Through examining both the RAC prepared with different target
strength and RAC made with various types of RAs, this study established the relationship between the amount and nature of the attached old cement mortar on RAs and other RAC properties;
Besides, the experimental test data at 28 days, compressive
strength and elastic modulus values, were also used to test the
generalization abilities of the constructed ANN models, respectively, the data of which are derived from a number of international literatures. Based on the experimental results of this study,
the following conclusions can be drawn:
(1) The mortar contents attached to RAs obtained from different
sources varied greatly, and this might be related to original
mortar content and the degree of prior mechanical crushing
received.
(2) The presence of residual mortar in RAs led to their poorer
aggregate properties, including lower density and crushing
strength values.
(3) The hardened density of the concrete made with RA was
generally lower than that made with NA, and had a good correlation with the specic gravity of the RA used.
(4) The experimental results on compressive strength, splitting
tensile strength and elastic modulus indicated that RA of
good quality (namely, low attached mortar content and
water absorption value, high 10% nes value) can be used
to fully replace NA to produce concrete with mechanical
properties comparable to the concrete that are made with
NA.

28

Zhen Hua Duan, C.S. Poon / Materials and Design 58 (2014) 1929

Fig. 12. Drying shrinkage of concrete made with different types of aggregates.

Fig. 13. Performance of ANN models.

Zhen Hua Duan, C.S. Poon / Materials and Design 58 (2014) 1929

Fig. 14. A comparison between experimental and predicted results by ANN models.

(5) The test results on the resistance to chloride ion penetration

and drying shrinkage show that the durability properties of
the concrete made with a good quality RA can be comparable
to those made with NA.
(6) The comparison of the predicted results by ANN models and
the experimental values shows that the ANN models constructed can be used to evaluate the properties of RAC made
with RAs derived from different sources. This will facilitate
the wider application of RA in concrete.

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank The Hong Kong Polytechnic
University and Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. for funding supports.
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