Effect of fired clay brick aggregates on mechanical properties of concrete

Abstract

This study presents an experimental program to evaluate the effect of using crushed brick waste in concrete as a replacement for natural coarse aggregates. Coarse aggregates from bricks were obtained by crushing fired clay bricks. The properties of the brick coarse aggregates concrete including density, compressive strength, tensile splitting strength, flexural strength, modulus of elasticity, and stress-strain behavior were determined and compared with concrete made of natural aggregates. Two replacement ratios of brick coarse aggregates i.e., 50% and 100% were investigated. Test results indicated that the strength-related properties of brick aggregates concrete reduced as the percentage of crushed brick aggregates increased in the concrete mixture. However, although the ultimate stress level for brick aggregates concrete was lower than that of the normal concrete, the resulting strain increased as the percentage of brick coarse aggregates increased in the concrete mixtures, indicating that concrete containing brick aggregates is more ductile as compared with the natural aggregates concrete. © 2006 Institute of Research and Development, Suranaree University of Technology.