Mechanical and durability properties of concretes manufactured with biomass bottom ash and recycled coarse aggregates

Recycled materials of various types have been used as substitutes for coarse recycled aggregates and natural sand in the manufacture of concrete. Generally, the values of mechanical and durability properties decreases when applying different replacements of natural aggregates with recycled aggregates in both fine and coarse granulometries. However, new waste from the combustion of biomass as bottom ash has not been applied as a substitute for fine aggregate in the manufacture of concrete. In this research, concrete consisting of recycled aggregate substitutions was manufactured by applying different replacement rates of natural sand with biomass bottom ash. An efficient dosage method can be applied to obtain an optimal ratio of recycled concretes made with biomass additions. Mechanical properties and durability were evaluated in order to know the possibilities of application of these recycled materials in real concretes. The results showed a worse behaviour in these properties, however these reductions were inferior than it can be expected, due to the appropriate manufacture of the concrete applied. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.