Crushed Burnt Clay Bricks as Partial Replacement of Sand in Portland Cement Concrete – A Sustainable Construction Approach
Getachew M ASHEBIR, Elsaigh A WALIED
Abstract: The rapid pace of urbanization and infrastructure expansion has triggered a notable escalation in the generation of Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste. This investigation seeks to assess the performance of recycled fine aggregates from Crushed Burnt Clay Brick (CBCB) as a viable sustainable partial substitute for sand in the production of Portland cement concrete. Waste clay bricks were obtained from a land fill near Johannesburg, South Africa and were crushed. The fine particles that pass sieve 5 mm was utilized in this study. Concrete mixes with water- to- cement ratio of 0.55 was created to the control, and with an increase in percentage of CBCB were adjusted to 0.61, 0.66, 0.71, and 0.77. CBCB content of 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100% by mass was used to replace the crusher sand in the mixes. Standard tests were conducted to evaluate the workability, cube compressive strength, tensile strength, and drying shrinkage. While the samples for tensile strength were tested only after 28 days of a standard water curing, the samples for compressive strength were cured for 3, 7, and 28 days before testing. The results showed that up to 75% crusher sand substitution is possible for both tensile and compressive strengths. Also, an increase in CBCB content led to greater shrinkage. Consequently, incorporation of CBCB fines to replace natural sand in Portland cement concrete is viable. Such use can mitigate environmental impacts associated with sand mining and waste burnt clay bricks disposal.
Keywords
Recycled Fine Aggregates, Waste Clay Bricks, Tensile and Compressive Strength, Drying Shrinkage, Sustainable Construction, Portland Cement Concrete
Published online 4/2/2026, 8 pages
Copyright © 2026 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Getachew M ASHEBIR, Elsaigh A WALIED, Crushed Burnt Clay Bricks as Partial Replacement of Sand in Portland Cement Concrete – A Sustainable Construction Approach, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 63, pp 195-202, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644904053-22
The article was published as article 22 of the book Advances in Cement and Concrete Research
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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