Deformation Recovery of Reinforced Concrete Beams Made With Recycled Coarse Aggregates

Abstract

[Abstract] The purpose of this research is to analyse the long-term deformations of reinforced concrete beams made of recycled coarse aggregates (RCA), using four different replacement ratios, 0%, 20%, 50% and 100%. For said purpose, three different loading stages were carried out: firstly, loading and sustained load for 1300 days, secondly, unloading and recovery where the deformations were registered over a one year period, and lastly, testing the concrete beams up to failure in order to analyse the effect of recycled aggregates on pre-cracked concrete members. The results led to the analysis of deformations under sustained load, as well as those produced after removing the load and the performance of pre-cracked members, while identifying the effect of recycled coarse aggregates on concrete performance in terms of plastic deformation, recoverability and concrete stiffness, and also on structural design.