An assessment of optimal mixture for concrete made with recycled concrete aggregates

Due to a wide range of variability of engineering properties for recycled concrete, in general, a large number of experiments are usually required as to decide a suitable mixture for obtaining the desired requirements for concrete made with recycled concrete coarse/fine aggregate. This article adopts Taguchi's approach with an L-16 (2(15)) orthogonal array and two-level factor to reduce the numbers of experiment. Five control factors and four responses (slump and compressive strengths at 7, 14, and 28 days) were used. Using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and significance test with F statistic to check the existence of interaction and level of significance, and computed results of total contribution rate, an optimal mixture of concrete qualifying the desired engineering properties with the recycled concrete aggregates can easily be selected among experiments under consideration. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.