Effect of recycled aggregate concrete on the seismic behavior of DfD beam-column joints under cyclic loading

Abstract

The problem of environmental pollution and waste concrete generation will be alleviated if concrete structures can be designed with both recycling and reuse strategies. In this regard, this study employed recycled coarse aggregate as the structural material in a novel beam-column joint with Design for Deconstruction (DfD) connections. Two series cyclic loading tests including pre-loading and re-loading on this frame joint was undertaken and the effect of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) on structural behaviors was carefully evaluated. It is demonstrated that the DfD joint with RAC had favorable integrity and the influence of RAC was acceptable for practical application. Furthermore, the shear force model of the joint core area for RAC beam-column joint with DfD connections was put forward in this study, which showed good agreements with experimental results. Life cycle assessment (LCA) indicated that the carbon emission of the beam-column joint with DfD connections made of RAC increased at construction process but would reduce the total carbon emission from the perspective of lifetime.