STUDY OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF DIFFERENT COMPONENTS OF RECYCLED CONSTRUCTION AGGREGATE (RCA): STATISTICAL STUDY IN SYDNEY

The rapid economic growth of countries has led to the construction of new structures and infrastructures. Construction projects use up large quantities of natural resources and produce tones of construction and demolition waste (CDW). Because of its growth, these quantities have increased in the last few years and it has now become necessary to create a sustainable method of development in civil construction. Therefore, utilization of recycled materials in construction projects can be the most promising solution to this problem. The utilization of recycled materials including recycled construction aggregates (RCA) in the pavement industry and asphalt production is particularly very promising as 90% of asphalt is made of aggregates. However, the variability in behavior and performance of RCA used in construction projects indicates the variability in their composition. Therefore, in spite of the awareness of the importance of using RCA and much research being conducted, there is still a need for a deeper study of the composition of the RCA. This paper presents the results of the statistical study and experimental work to evaluate the characteristics of RCA as an alternative for virgin aggregate in the asphalt mixture. To this point, a series of characterization tests were conducted RCA samples collected at different dates.