Creep strain of recycled aggregate concrete

Aimed at providing an in-depth study of globally published literature in the English medium on creep of concrete made with recycled aggregates, literature search establishing research published from 27 countries since 1984 undertaken and for its systematic analysis, evaluation and synthesis, 9200 data matrix developed. Of all the recycled aggregates those produced from crushed concrete, recycled concrete aggregates (RCA), have been vastly reported. It is shown that the creep of concrete increases at a decreasing rate with increasing coarse RCA, giving an average increase of 32% at 100% coarse RCA content. Factors influencing creep of concrete made with recycled aggregates, such as aggregate size and type, use of pozzolanic cements, water/cement ratio/design strength, curing and loading age have also been reviewed. The experimental creep coefficient data have been compared with the estimated values using selected prediction models. A simple empirical method developed from the globally published data is proposed for estimating creep of concrete made with coarse RCA. To make RCA more acceptable to specifying structural engineers and to improve its perception as a sustainable construction material that can be successfully used in practice, methods for making the creep of concrete made with coarse RCA similar to the corresponding concrete made with natural aggregates are also proposed.