Compressive strength retention of recycled aggregate concrete: A systematic review
Keywords:
compressive strength; recycled aggregate concrete; recycled coarse aggregate; strength retention; concrete materialsAbstract
The utilization of recycled coarse aggregate in concrete offers a practical pathway toward more sustainable construction, yet its wider engineering adoption remains constrained by concerns regarding mechanical performance consistency. This systematic review synthesizes recent experimental evidence on the compressive strength behavior of recycled aggregate concrete produced with raw, unmodified recycled coarse aggregates. A strength retention normalization approach relative to natural aggregate concrete controls was adopted to enable meaningful cross-study comparison while reducing bias associated with absolute strength class, specimen geometry, and testing conditions. A total of 18 eligible studies were identified through a PRISMA guided screening process, yielding 77 individual mix configurations extracted from the included papers. Of these, 56 mix configurations reported sufficient information to compute compressive strength retention relative to companion controls and were therefore included in the categorical comparison (low n = 14, medium n = 17, high n = 25). The results indicate that no systematic reduction in mean compressive strength retention can be attributed solely to increasing recycled aggregate replacement. Instead, low to moderate replacement levels generally exhibit more consistent strength retention behavior, whereas higher replacement levels are primarily associated with increased variability rather than uniformly inferior performance. The findings demonstrate that recycled aggregate replacement level alone is insufficient as a deterministic predictor of compressive strength performance. Variability observed at higher replacement levels highlights the importance of material quality and mix design considerations, including water demand control, aggregate particle size distribution, and matrix densification strategies. From an engineering perspective, the compiled evidence indicates that high recycled aggregate utilization does not inherently preclude acceptable strength retention, although performance stability appears more sensitive to material quality and mix design controls. Overall, the results support a performance-based approach to recycled aggregate concrete design that balances structural reliability with sustainability considerations.
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