Recycled concrete beams subjected to combined reinforcement corrosion and static pre-loading

To investigate the flexural behavioural characteristics of recycled concrete beams under the combined action of steel corrosion and static pre-loading, 12 recycled concrete beam specimens, encompassing a combination of three recycled coarse aggregate (RCA) replacement ratios (0, 50 and 100%) and four static pre-load levels expressed as ratio of the ultimate moment capacity (0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6), were prepared for accelerated corrosion test and four-point bending test. The test results indicated that under a given RCA replacement ratio of the beams, the maximum width of corrosion-induced longitudinal cracks exhibited a linear relationship with the corresponding corrosion depth of longitudinal tension reinforcement. For the beams with 50% RCA replacement ratio, when the applied static pre-load level increased from 0 to 0.6, the ultimate load and ultimate deflection reduced by 10.4% and 21.2%, respectively, whereas for the beams with 100% RCA replacement ratio, the corresponding reduction in ultimate load and ultimate deflection were respectively 8.9% and 35.5%. Theoretical degradation models for the ultimate moment capacity and yield moment capacity of corroded beams were proposed, whereby the analytical values were in good agreement with the experimental values. This study provides useful reference for practical analysis of recycled concrete beams, which promote sustainable concrete construction.