More and more industries are finding ways to use recycled materials in their products, but the building industry seems to be behind when it comes to concrete.
Concrete is the most widely used building material in the world, but it also has the largest impact on the environment. More than half of the concrete used in the world was produced in the last 20 years. A team of researchers and engineers, led by Yahya Kurama, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and earth sciences, is currently developing an understanding of how recycled concrete affects structures.
The biggest barrier to using recycled concrete has been the variability and uncertainty in the quality and properties of the recycled material and how this variability affects the strength, stiffness and durability of reinforced concrete structures. Kurama's team is trying to develop an understanding of how using recycled concrete affects the behavior of reinforced concrete structures so that buildings using large amounts of recycled material can be designed for safety and to serve their intended purpose without undesirable consequences in performance.