Compressive Behaviour of Concrete Mixtures with Simultaneous Additions of Waste Wind-Turbine Blade and Coarse Recycled Concrete Aggregates

Abstract

The development of more sustainable materials for the construction sector begins with optimal use of natural resources and appropriately recycling the residues produced at the end of the lifecycle of infrastructures. In the coming years, many wind-farms will be dismantled, providing big amounts of waste wind-turbine blade (WWTB). This waste can be an opportunity to decarbonize the construction industry, which causes huge green-house-gas emissions each year endangering the environment. Waste generated during the demolition of concrete elements has been used in the past few years for structural concrete manufacturing in the form of Recycled Concrete Aggregate (RCA). Feasibility of combination of RCA with WWTB has yet to be study in concrete mixtures. This study aims to analyze the simultaneous use of RCA and WWTB to produce a greener concrete mixture as an effort to transform an industry hitherto considered polluting into a more sustainable one. For this purpose, three concrete mixtures were produced with different volume combinations of each waste: 0% WWTB and 0% RCA; 5% WWTB and 50% RCA; and 10% WWTB and 100% RCA. Compressive strength, modulus of elasticity and Poisson's coefficient have all been evaluated at 28 days. Results show that an adequate dosage of both types of residues can result in a structural concrete mixture that preserves basic compressive strength properties while at the same time providing an outlet for a large amount of waste generated in both construction and wind energy sector.