Enhancing Sustainability in Concrete Construction: Investigating the Benefits of Composite Slabs with Recycled Aggregates through Experimental Analysis

The importance of reducing the environmental impact of concrete buildings is growing. One specific concern is the consumption of natural aggregates, which necessitates the opening of new quarries and poses an environmental problem. An effective solution to address this issue is the utilization of concrete recycled aggregates derived from construction and demolition waste. Actually, composite slabs present numerous advantages over traditional reinforced concrete slabs. These advantages include increased strength and stiffness, faster and easier installation, as well as reduced environmental impact. Consequently, employing composite slabs with concrete recycled aggregates is a promising strategy to mitigate the environmental impact of concrete construction. In this paper the main results of an experimental campaign aimed at measuring the mechanical performances of recycled concrete composite slabs are presented and discussed. Different span lengths (2.4 m, 2.8 m, 3.2 m) and replacement percentages (30-50-100%) have been investigated proving that at structural scale the presence of recycled aggregate does not significatively reduce the mechanical performance.