Sustainable development approach demands the use of environmentally friendly materials. One possible way to encourage sustainable approach is via use of Portland cement (PC) replacement through use of permitted cement constituents in conformity with BS EN 197-1, to lower carbon footprint, and use of recycled aggregates as permitted within BS 8500, to encourage sustainability. Thus, this research study aimed to produce low carbon and sustainable concrete. For this aim, engineering and durability properties of equal 28-day design strength (40 and 50 N/mm 2 ) concretes made with Portland-composite and composite cements, CEM II/B-M and CEM V/A respectively, and partially substituted coarse recycled (RA) and washed recycled glass sand (RGS), 25% and 15% respectively, aggregates was investigated. The loss of workability was found to be larger for particularly CEM V/A and recyled aggregate concrete (RAC) mixes. Studies of hardened concrete properties, comprising bulk engineering properties (compressive cube and cylinder strength, flexural strength, drying shrinkage) and durability (initial surface absorption) showed enhanced performance for CEM II/B-M and CEM V/A mixes of equivalent strength natural aggregate concrete mixes (NAC), except resistance to carbonation. However, the use of CEM II/B-M and CEM V cements in RAC mixes slightly reduced the engineering and durability properties compared to corresponding NAC mixes.Keywords: Carbonation, initial surface absorption, drying shrinkage, fly ash, ground granulated blast-furnace slag, silica fume, recycled glass sand, coarse recycled aggregate
Bullet points:Use of CEM II/B-M and CEM V/A cements and coarse recycled aggregates and recycled glass sand in concrete production increased the required superplasticizer demand to achieve the similar consistency.CEM II/B-M cement recycled aggregate concrete mixes indicated either similar or slightly better loss of workability over time compared to corresponding CEM I cement RAC mix.The partial substitution of natural coarse and fine aggregates by 25% coarse recycled and 15% recycled glass sand aggregates reduced the compressive cube strength of concrete approximately by 10%.Recycled aggregates concrete mixes showed dramatically lower compressive cylinder strength results compared to conventional natural aggregate concrete mixes.Drying shrinkage results showed that the contribution of pozzolanic reactions for Portlandslag and composites cement concretes takes place after 14 days.CEM II/B-M cement mixes indicated lower ISAT-10 values as the design strength class increased.Carbonation penetration results showed improvement as the design strength increased for the same cement type concrete mixes.