OTREC-RR-11-09

The primary goal of this research project was to investigate the long-term durability of concrete incorporating recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) through accelerated laboratory testing. Overall it was found that modifications to standard aggregate testing and characterization standards were necessary for testing RCA. This included modifications to standard tests including ASTM C 128, C 305 and C 1260. It was found that the potential for alkali silica reactivity did exist for new concrete containing RCA. The characteristics of the RCA also had a profound effect on ASR related expansion. RCA with a higher content of reactive coarse or fine aggregate (compared to paste fraction) exhibited greater reaction and would therefore require higher levels of mitigation. Based on testing in this research project precision and bias statements in ASTM C 1260 (for virgin aggregate) do not apply to RCA. Recommendations for future work are also included in this report.