Analyses of the geometrical properties of fine recycled aggregates

Abstract

The acquisition of natural sand and dumping of fine recycled aggregates (FRA) are two serious environmental problems that can be solved simultaneously by using FRA as replacement of natural sand in high-end applications. In the past, FRA has been considered an unwanted by-product of construction and demolition waste (CDW) processing, due to the high levels of contaminations and high content of fines. However, FRA is currently considered as a new secondary raw material with large potential. Due to the increasing interests in FRA it is of utmost importance to extensively examine their characteristics. To date, research has been done on the water absorption, density, chemical and mineralogical composition, and size distribution of the FRA. However, knowledge on the geometrical properties of FRA is limited. In this paper the geometrical properties of several types of FRA are examined using digital image processing (DIP). The effect of processing methods, crusher openings and crushing cycles are considered to gain new insights into the characteristics of FRA.