NUMERICAL INVESTIGATIONS ON RECYCLED AGGREGATE RC BEAMS

One of the major challenges in our present society is the protection of environment. Some of the important elements in this respect are reduction in the consumption of energy and natural raw materials. The use of recycled aggregates from construction and demolition waste has been receiving increased attention in recent sustainable construction environment. However the question that needs to be addressed is whether one can consistently produce good quality concrete using recycled aggregates (RA). Strength, stiffness and durability characteristics of structural components built using recycled aggregates are required to be studied carefully. Towards this, a static nonlinear finite element analysis is carried out to understand the behavior of reinforced concrete beam made with Recycled aggregate to the extent of 50% replacement of total aggregate volume. Flexural load is applied on the beams. The capacity in terms of strength and stiffness are discussed. Equivalent stress strain graph is derived using moment curvature relationship. Equivalent model is validated by comparing with experimental results available in literature. Response from numerical investigation indicates that Recycled aggregate can be used as structural members.