Application of waste ceramic powder as a cement replacement in reinforced concrete beams toward sustainable usage in construction

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete beams (RCBs) containing waste ceramic powder (CP) as partial replacement of cement. For this purpose, flexural tests were carried out using various amounts of mixing ratios. By determining the amount of CP used in the optimum ratios, it was aimed both to make predictions for design engineers and to show its beneficial effect on the environment by recycling the waste material. For this purpose, twelve specimens were produced and verified to monitor the flexural behavior. The longitudinal reinforcement percentage (0.77%, 1.21%, and 1.74%) and CP percentage (0%, 10%, 20%, and 30%) were chosen as the parameters. CP could be effectively utilized up to 10% of cement as a replacement material. Increasing the CP percentage by more than 10% could considerably reduce the load-carrying capacity, ductility, and rigidity of RCBs, specifically when the longitudinal reinforcement percentage was high. In other words, as CP increased from 0% to 30%, the load-carrying capacity decreased between 0.4% and 27.5% compared with RCB with the longitudinal tension reinforcements of 2ϕ8 without CP. However, reductions of 5.5%–39.8% and 2.15%–39.5% in the load-carrying capacity occurred respectively compared with RCB with the longitudinal tension reinforcements of 2ϕ10 and 2ϕ12 without CP. Consequently, 10% CP can be consumed as a cement replacement, while the longitudinal reinforcement percentage is close to the balanced ratio, and more than 10% CP cannot be used without any precautions for mixtures.