Compressive behavior of recycled aggregate concrete with different stirrup confinements subjected to axial loading after freeze–thaw cycles

Abstract

Recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) undergoes irreversible freeze–thaw damage, with more complex and stochastic crack propagation than natural aggregate (NA). Consequently, steel stirrups are commonly used to enhance its durability and mechanical performance. 36 specimens with four recycled aggregate (RA) replacement ratios (0%, 30%, 70%, and 100%) and three stirrup types (no stirrup restraint (PCC), rectangular stirrup restraint (RSC), spiral stirrup restraint (SSC)) were therefore tested for uniaxial compression after 100 freeze–thaw cycles. Afterward, the stress–strain behavior of specimens was analyzed. The results demonstrate that RA exhibits superior resistance to freeze–thaw cycles compared to NA under similar strength, the peak stress increases with higher RA replacement ratios. SSC exhibits a stronger strengthening effect than RSC due to the uniform confinement of spiral stirrups. Lateral strain increases with axial strain, following a cubic nonlinear relationship. Subsequently, by employing the cohesive elastic ring model and the modified elastic beam theory, the lateral effective stress of RSC and SSC can be accurately predicted, with a standard deviation of 0.113 and an average absolute error of 0.186. A novel compressive damage constitutive model for RAC, incorporating lateral stress effects, shows strong agreement with test stress–strain curves, with R² > 0.91. Finally, a comparison of bearing capacity calculations shows the proposed method aligns best with experimental results.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

RAC / stress–strain curves / peak stress / lateral effective stress / damage constitutive model

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