Bonding of Carbon Steel Bars in Concrete Produced with Recycled Aggregates: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Civil construction is essential for the world economy and the largest generator of construction and demolition waste (CDW), mainly due to a lack of planning, technological control, and restoration execution, among other factors. While efforts are made to minimize this waste generation, one possible application for CDW is its incorporation into Portland cement-based materials as recycled aggregates, in partial or total replacement of natural aggregates. However, for CDW use to be feasible, the structure performance and safety must be assured, and the adherence between concrete and reinforcement bars, in this context, is a fundamental mechanism. With this perspective, this paper aims to investigate the influence of recycled aggregate on steel–concrete bonding. To this end, the SREE (Systematic Review for Engineering and Experiments) method was employed as a novelty, including a methodology quality analysis, to search and analyze relevant scientific articles published in the last ten years. The results revealed that the use of CDW as recycled aggregates in concrete worsens the steel–concrete bonding, and that ribbed steel bar seems to be the best option when employed in RC structures built with CDW-concrete, although the bar diameter and the anchorage length still need further investigations, and that CDW-concrete’s use can significantly contribute to reducing the emission of greenhouse gases and to capturing CO2 from the atmosphere. Therefore, further investigations should focus on the real influence of recycled aggregate type and replacement content, bar diameter, anchorage length, and CDW’s potential to capture CO2.