Carlo Pellegrino

Abstract:

Recent years have shown the growth of a great number of recycled building materials, among which green concretes, made with recycled aggregates coming from construction and demolition waste (C&DW), metallurgical slags, plastic and other man-made materials, are being increasingly studied and used in several real-scale applications. Such a scenario aims to achieve challenging goals in terms of reduction of carbon emissions, reuse of waste materials promoting a circular economy, and avoidance of the use of bulk natural resources. This work shows the recent research carried out at the University of Padova on this topic. Experimental work, aimed at proving the suitability of using recycled aggregates and mainly slag from the Electric Arc Furnace in structural concrete, is shown. Particularly, results both about small-scale specimens for the analysis of mechanical and durability properties, and also about large-scale applications are presented. These latter applications allow the study of the structural performance of reinforced concrete elements under gravity and seismic-like actions. Lastly, some real construction projects are discussed, highlighting how environmental impacts can be effectively mitigated through the use of such materials.