The influence of aging on the fracture characteristics of recycled aggregate concrete through three methods
Hossein Fallahnejad, Mohammad Reza Davoodi, Iman M. Nikbin
Abstract
Abstract In this research, to assess the impact of aging on the fracture properties of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC), three‐point bending tests were carried out on 260 specimens. Then, work of fracture method (WFM), size effect method (SEM), and boundary effect method (BEM) were utilized for analysis of fracture parameters. The result showed that fracture energy values for RAC were 4.2%, 7.1%, 22.7% and 24.2% less than natural aggregate concrete (NAC) ones at 3, 7, 28 and 90 days, respectively. Based on calculation of the characteristic length, the behavior of RAC is more ductile than NAC at early ages. However, through time, the ductility of RAC becomes less than NAC. On average, the ratio of fracture energy achieved from WFM ( G F ) to initial fracture energy achieved from SEM ( G f ) for RAC and NAC was 2.38 and 2.14, respectively. The comparison of fracture energy obtained by BEM and modified WFM showed that these values were close to each other.