A year following the devastating earthquake in Haiti, researchers from
the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a method to recycle rubble
into a strong construction material, which could be a possible solution for safely
and inexpensively rebuilding Haiti’s structures.

Georgia Tech Professors Reginald
DesRoches and Kimberly E. Kurtis from the School of Civil and Environmental
Engineering (CEE), along with CEE graduate students Joshua J. Gresham and Brett
Holland, say the concrete is made from recycled rubble and indigenous raw
materials using simple techniques. And it meets or exceeds the minimum strength
standards defined by the American Concrete Institute and used in the U.S.

This new method for
developing concrete could be a sustainable strategy for clearing the “logjam
that is blocking reconstruction,” the Georgia Tech research team said in the article
“Breaking the reconstruction logjam: Progress
through rubble reuse” that appears in
this month’s Bulletin of the American
Ceramic Society.

“The commodious piles of concrete rubble and
construction debris form huge impediments to reconstruction and are often
contaminated,” said DesRoches, professor of civil and environmental engineering
at Georgia Tech. “There are political and economic dilemmas as well, but we
have found we can turn one of the dilemmas – the rubble and debris – into a
solution via some fairly simple methods of recycling it into new concrete.”

The 7.0-magnitude
earthquake that hit Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010, caused an estimated 300,000 deaths
and collapsed more than 300,000 homes and 30,000 businesses. A year later, many
of the damaged areas remain covered with a vast amount of debris, estimated to be
about 20 million cubic yards.

Born in Haiti, DesRoches traveled to
Port-au-Prince eight times last year to collect samples of typical concrete
rubble and available sand types that could be used in concrete preparation. He
and his colleagues at Georgia Tech made concrete samples from the collected
materials.

“Based upon these results, we now believe that
Haitian concrete debris, even of inferior quality, can be effectively used as
recycled coarse aggregate in new construction,” said Kurtis, Georgia Tech
professor of civil and environmental engineering. “It can work effectively, even
if mixed by hand. One key is having a consistent mix of materials that can be
easily measured.”

DesRoches said recycling the debris eliminates
two hurdles to reconstruction – limited landfill space for storing the debris
and fiscal challenges of importing new building materials.

The Tech research team plans to share their
research with Haitian government officials and non-governmental organizations
working on reconstruction projects.