Crack Propagation and Failure Characteristics of Modeled Concrete with Natural and Brick Aggregates

The failure characteristics of recycled concrete containing brick aggregates are still indistinct,especially how the angular aggregates effect the crack propagation.Based on the concept of modeled concrete,the development of cracks in concrete containing the natural aggregate and brick aggregate under a compression loading was studied.The strain distribution was analyzed with the Digital Image Correlation(DIC).The modeled aggregates include circular and squared ones,and the squared modeled aggregates were placed in different orientations,including 0°,22.5°and 45°.The results show that when the aggregate is placed at 45°,the upper and lower vertices of the aggregate lead to the highest critical strain concentration,therefore,cracks are easy to propagate from these areas and the strength of the corresponding modeled concrete is the lowest.When the modeled natural aggregate is placed at the orientation of 0°,the strain concentration first appears at the interface on both lateral sides of the aggregate.The brick aggregate has a lower elastic modulus and strength than the surrounding mortar.As a result,cracks always propagate through the brick aggregate,which is the primary reason for the low strength of the corresponding concrete.

Chloride ingress and macro-cell corrosion of steel in concrete made with recycled brick aggregate

An investigation on chloride ingress and macro-cell corrosion of steel bars in concrete made with recycled brick aggregate(RBA)was carried out.As control cases,virgin brick aggregate(BA)and stone aggregate(SA)were also investigated.Both cylindrical and cracked prism specimens were studied for 16 different cases.The prism specimens were made with a segmented steel bar providing electrical connection from outside of the specimens to measure macro-cell corrosion current continuously under seawater splash exposure for a period of 30 d using a data logger.Cylindrical specimens were submerged in 3%NaCl solution at a temperature of 40℃ to investigate chloride ingress in concrete made with RBA,BA,and SA after 120 and 180 d.Half-cell potential,corrosion area,and depths of corrosion were also investigated.The chloride ingress as well as corrosion of steel bars in concrete made with the different types of aggregate is ordered as RBA>BA>SA.

Controlled low-strength material incorporating recycled fine aggregate from urban red brick based construction waste

Sixteen controlled low-strength material( CLSM)mixtures with various cement-to-sand( C/Sa) ratios and water-to-solid( W/So) ratios were prepared using recycled fine aggregate from urban red brick based construction waste.The fluidity and bleeding of the fresh CLSM mixtures were measured via the modified test methods, and the hardened CLSM mixtures were then molded to evaluate their compressive strength and durability. The results showthat the fluidity of the fresh CLSM mixtures is 105 to 227 mm with the corresponding bleeding rate of 3. 7% to 15. 5%, which increases with the increase in fluidity. After aging for 28 d,the compressive strength of the hardened CLSM mixtures reaches 1. 15 to 13. 96 M Pa, and their strength can be further enhanced with longer curing ages. Additionally, the strength increases with the increase of the C/Sa ratio, and decreases with the increase of the W/So ratio under the same curing age. Based on the obtained compressive strength, a fitting model for accurately predicting the compressive strength of the CLSM mixtures was established, which takes into account the above two independent variables( C/Sa and W/So ratios).M oreover, the durability of the hardened CLSM mixtures is enhanced for samples with higher C/Sa ratios.

Laboratory evaluation of cement treated aggregate containing crushed clay brick

The waste clay bricks from debris of buildings were evaluated through lab tests as environ- mental friendly materials for pavement sub-base in the research. Five sets of coarse aggregates which contained 0, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% crushed bricks, respectively, were blended with sand and treated by 5 % cement. The test results indicated that cement treated aggregate which contains crushed clay brick aggregate had a lower maximum dry density （MDD） and a higher optimum moisture content （OMC）. Moreover, the unconfined compressive strength （UCS）, resilience modulus, splitting strength, and frost resistance performance of the specimens decreased with increase of the amount of crushed clay brick aggregate. On the other hand, it can be observed that the use of crushed clay brick in the mixture decreased the dry shrinkage strain of the specimens. Compared with the asphalt pave- ment design specifications of China, the results imply that the substitution rate of natural aggregate with crushed clay brick aggregate in the cement treated aggregate sub-base material should be less than 50% （5 % cement content in the mixture）. Furthermore, it needs to be noted that the cement treated aggre- gate which contains crushed clay bricks should be cautiously used in the cold region due to its insuffi- cient frost resistance performance.