Use of waste marble aggregates in concrete

Today we are faced with an important consumption and a growing need for aggregates because of the growth in industrial production, this situation has led to a fast decrease of available resources. On the other hand, a high volume of marble production has generated a considerable amount of waste materials; almost 70% of this mineral gets wasted in the mining, processing and polishing stages which have a serious impact on the environment. The processing waste is dumped and threatening the aquifer. Therefore, it has become necessary to reuse these wastes particularly in the manufacture of concrete products for construction purposes. The main goal of this study is to demonstrate the possibility of using marble wastes as a substitute rather than natural aggregates in concrete production. The paper presents the study methodology, the characterization of waste marble aggregates and various practical formulations of concrete. This experimental investigation was carried out on three series of concrete mixtures: sand substitution mixture, gravel substitution mixture and a mixture of both aggregates (sand and gravel). The concrete formulations were produced with a constant water/cement ratio. The results obtained show that the mechanical properties of concrete specimens produced using the marble wastes were found to conform with the concrete production standards and the substitution of natural aggregates by waste marble aggregates up to 75% of any formulation is beneficial for the concrete resistance. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.