Properties of concrete prepared with crushed fine stone, furnace bottom ash and fine recycled aggregate as fine aggregates

Abstract This paper presents the results of a study to compare the properties of concretes prepared with the use river sand, crushed fine stone (CFS), furnace bottom ash (FBA), and fine recycled aggregate (FRA) as fine aggregates. Two methods were used to design the concrete mixes: (i) fixed water–cement ratio (W/C) and (ii) fixed slump ranges. The investigation included testing of compressive strength, drying shrinkage and resistance to chloride-ion penetration of the concretes. The test results showed that, at fixed water–cement ratios, the compressive strength and the drying shrinkage decreased with the increase in the FBA content. FRA decreased the compressive strength and increased the drying shrinkage of the concrete. However, when designing the concrete mixes with a fixed slump value, at all the test ages, when FBA was used as the fine aggregates to replace natural aggregates, the concrete had higher compressive strength, lower drying shrinkage and higher resistance to the chloride-ion penetration. But the use of FRA led to a reduction in compressive strength but increase in shrinkage values. The results suggest that both FBA and FRA can be used as fine aggregates for concrete production.