Small-scale testing for feasibility of rubblized concrete foundations

Affordable, sustainable housing plays an essential role in providing equal opportunity for individuals within most communities in the United States, (e.g., in the area of eastern Washington State). In particular, a lack of family residences presents a challenge for the City of Spokane, and low-income residents. Moreover, building materials reuse is an important sustainability issue and concrete waste from demolition of residential buildings presents a challenge. This paper presents preliminary results for development of rubblized concrete foundations. Initial tests were conducted on scaled pseudo-soil/concrete materials to observe the relative stiffness of the proposed system for potential use in planning subsequent phases of testing, including full-scale testing. Initial results of this early testing confirms that a reinforced rubblized footing will likely have an overall stiffness (in terms of response to loading) that is measurably less than that of a conventional reinforced concrete footing.

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