Mechanical Performance and Sustainability Potential of Concrete Containing Construction and Demolition Waste Recycled Aggregates

Authors

  • Mariya Zahran Ahmed Al Rawahi

    Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Middle East College, Muscat 124, Oman
  • Kiran Kumar Poloju

    Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Middle East College, Muscat 124, Oman
  • Amira Al Shareqi

    Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Middle East College, Muscat 124, Oman
  • Nagarju Kola

    National Institute of Technology Puducherry, Karaikal 609609, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/jbms.v8i2.13264
Received: 5 March 2026 | Revised: 24 March 2026 | Accepted: 8 April 2026 | Published Online: 3 June 2026

Abstract

The construction sector is a major contributor to global carbon emissions and the extinction of resources owing to the heavy use of natural aggregates and production of construction and demolition waste (CDW). The paper examines the viability of using recycled aggregates in the form of CDW as substitutes (0, 10, 30 and 50) of natural coarse aggregates in M25 structural concrete. Experimental testing comprised workability, density, water absorption and compressive strength after 7 and 28 days, which was backed by statistical analysis at 95% confidence level. The findings have shown that the workability reduces with high content of CDW because of augmented water absorption. Internal curing effect enhanced the 10% replacement with the highest compressive strength (31.52 MPa), which was up by 3.5% compared to control. The 30% replacement was found to give similar strength (29.82 MPa) with no statistically significant difference whereas the 50% replacement was found to allow significant reduction as a result of increasing porosity and reducing interfacial transition zones. The replacement level was positively correlated with water absorption, which means that pore connectivity was high. The sustainability analysis indicated possible CO2 cuts between 6–10% on 30% replacement. The results confirm that at least 30% CDW recycled mixes can be used safely in the structural concrete without affecting the performance, which is in line with the principles of the circular economy and sustainable construction practices.

Keywords:

Recycled Aggregate Concrete; Construction Demolition Waste (CDW); Sustainable Construction; Compressive Strength; Circular Economy; Recycled Aggregates

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How to Cite

Al Rawahi, M. Z. A., Poloju, K. K., Al Shareqi, A., & Kola, N. (2026). Mechanical Performance and Sustainability Potential of Concrete Containing Construction and Demolition Waste Recycled Aggregates. Journal of Building Material Science, 8(2), 41–57. https://doi.org/10.30564/jbms.v8i2.13264

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Vol. 8, Iss. 2 (June 2026): in progress

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Article

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Copyright © 2026 Mariya Zahran Ahmed Al Rawahi, Kiran Kumar Poloju, Amira Al Shareqi, Nagarju Kola

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This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.

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