Recycled aggregate / concrete tests

I am doing a science fair project that uses recycled materials as the aggregate for a concrete mix. The materials are crushed glass, stripped plastic, and bottom ash from a coal fired power plant. I have mixed concrete and poured 6" dia. by 12" tall test cylinders. They were taken to a test facility and broken after 7 days. A question I have is what should a mix break at on 7 days. I know that they reach the rated strength at 28 days, but I don't know what they should test at on the 7 day break.

Any charts or graphs would be most grateful. Any information you may have on the use of recycled materials in concrete will be of great help. Thank you for your time and considerations.


As a rough rule of thumb, normal Portland cement concrete reaches about 70% of 28 day strength after 7 days. However, this ratio depends a lot on the type of cement used (some react faster), on the curing conditions (hot and humid will be faster), on the amount and quality of the ash (some fly ash will react but take longer to gain strength), etc.

I have seen ratios of between 50% to almost 90% in 7 days tests.

As for sources for graphs and charts - if you have access to an engineering library (at some college) I would look for the "Concrete Manual" by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, or for any text book on concrete.

I don't have anything ready to upload into the Web at this time. If I get some I will send you a copy.

A good source for information on recycled concrete would be the ACI special publications. Again, a college library is the best source unless you live next to ACI headquarters. ACI have their own Web Site which may help you locate these publications. For its address check links from my page.

Where are you located? What sources for information do you have nearby? If you have the time, I can mail you copies of some graphs.


I am currently a senior Civil Engineering student at the [ ] School of Engineering in New York City. Our Senior Experimental Project this semester involves the design, mixing, and testing of common household glass-concrete samples. While we are aware that such testing has been performed in the past, we are currently finding difficulty in obtaining information regarding this topic.

If you have any information which you would deem useful to our project I would greatly appreciate if you could let us know. My email address here at the [ ] is [ ]. Thank you.


I am sorry, but I don't have anything on the subject available now. A good source may be the magazine "Concrete Construction". They used to have articles on any popular subject and they may be reached through the Internet. You may also try the ACI web site.

Since this seems to be a popular subject in schools (you are the second one this week) I will try to find out more in the next few weeks.