A Practical Equation for the Elastic Modulus of Recycled Aggregate Concrete

For greater sustainability in construction, coarse recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) is becoming popular as a replacement for natural aggregate concrete (NAC) in structures. The elastic modulus of concrete (E) is a fundamental parameter in structure design. However, the empirical equations for E of NAC cannot apply to RAC because E of RAC is lower than NAC of equal strength, which hinders the widespread use of RAC to a certain extent. This paper provides a practical equation for E of RAC based on a comprehensive statistical analysis of 1383 mixes from 154 publications, allowing designers to easily estimate E of RAC by known parameters at the design stage, such as compressive strength, replacement rate and quality of recycled aggregate. This equation is developed by introducing a reduction factor η into the empirical equation for NAC and verified by the additional experimental results. Compared with JGJ/T443-2018 (a Chinese standard), this paper provides a more reasonable and accurate estimate by analysing much more data and taking into account other factors, such as aggregate type and the volume ratio of aggregate to paste.

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