Abstract

Sustainability in the construction industry is becoming everyday more a major issue in todays world. To accomplish sustainability goals, adopted also by the Agenda 2030 of the United Nations, wide research has been carried out in the past years. Among this, the use of recycled aggregates has been proven to be promising both in terms of sustainability and material properties. Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) concrete has demonstrated a significant increase in mechanical properties when compared to natural aggregates (NA) ones. However, the mechanical properties enhancement is accompanied by an increase of its specific weight and the overall effects of its use in RC structures subjected to dynamic loads, has not been investigated yet. The present study aims to investigate the seismic reliability of reinforced concrete frame buildings made with EAF in comparison to the same structural configurations made with NA concrete, considering three different configurations (3-, 6- and 9- story building type) designed considering ordinary concretes made with natural aggregates.

Abstract

The development of sustainable concretes is becoming an emerging issue in civil construction sector. The use of Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) slag aggregates in the production of concretes is one way to fulfill sustainability goals. Past research demonstrated a significant increase of mechanical properties of EAF concretes when compared with ones made with natural aggregates (NA); however, at the same time, their use implies also an increase of self-weight loads. The present contribution aims to investigate the reliability of structural systems realized with EAF concretes, with special emphasis to bridge structures. Two different bridge types, considered as case-study examples, are designed considering ordinary concrete mixes, and subsequently, a reliability analysis is run for each EAF concrete class in order to investigate the variation of structural safety margins related to the use of the sustainable EAF concretes in replacement to the ordinary NA concrete mix.