Flexural behavior of reinforced recycled concrete beams

In order to evaluate whether concrete with recycled aggregate can be applied for concrete structures, flexural loading tests of reinforced recycled concrete members were carried out. The recycled coarse aggregate and the recycled fine aggregate were produced mainly from various reinforced concrete members of a building structure as well as from 300 mm cubic concrete specimens. The properties of concrete with recycled aggregates, such as strength, Young's modulus, shrinkage, creep and shrinkage-induced stress depending on the combination of natural and recycled aggregates, curing condition, and water to binder ratio, were discussed based on a comparison with the properties of concrete with virgin aggregates. Furthermore, the flexural behavior of reinforced recycled concrete beams was also discussed through comparison with the behavior of companion virgin concrete beams in which the tension reinforcement ratio, curing condition, and water to binder ratio of concrete, are the main factors. The results indicate the mechanics-based possibility of utilizing recycled concrete for reinforced concrete structures under the proper design and within the proper limit of application.