Experimental investigations on potential of brick-based building-derived materials for geotechnical applications

A large quantity of solid waste, known as construction and demolition waste (CDW), are being generated by the construction activities and its associated demolition practices. Huge proportion of CDW is comprised of building-derived materials (BDM) that come from the demolition of buildings which include brick and concrete—based elements. The present study was aimed at characterization of brick-based building-derived materials (BBDM) to encourage by reusing and recycling them in practical purposes. Currently, BDM find its application as recycled aggregates, and extraction of the antecedent aggregates from virgin BDM by various physical and chemicals processes increases the cost. To address this issue, this study accentuates the use of BDM to provide significant cost reduction, which besides reduces the impact on landfills, preserves natural coarse aggregates and saves energy. BBDM were characterized through a series of physical and microscopic investigations to assess their compatibility for using in combination with local soil and even exposed to a very aggressive chemical environment like acids, salts and seawater to study their response. Grain size analysis, compaction characteristics, water absorption, abrasion and strength tests were performed on locally available sand mixed with 5, 10, 20 and 30% of BBDM by weight in a chemically aggressive environment. Aggregate impact value (AIV) of 41% and Los Angeles (LA) abrasion value of 45.8% indicate that the BBDM are resistant to impact loads and satisfy the prerequisites of a subbase material. The angle of shearing resistance (ϕ) of virgin BBDM is 46°, and it is found to decrease with exposure to the chemicals.