Mechanical behavior of recycled aggregate concrete-filled steel tube stub columns after exposure to elevated temperatures

Abstract

The compressive mechanical behaviors of recycled aggregate concrete-filled steel tube (RACFST) stub columns after exposure to elevated temperatures were experimentally investigated in this study. The RACFST stub columns incorporating different recycled coarse aggregate (RCA) replacement ratios of 0, 50% and 100% were heated under elevated temperatures of 200°C, 500°C, and 700°C. The results show that the compressive strength and elastic modulus of RACFST columns were relatively inferior to those of the corresponding natural aggregate concrete-filled steel tube (NACFST) columns after exposure to the same elevated temperatures, and the degradations became more pronounced with increasing RCA replacement ratio and higher temperature. This phenomenon might be attributed to the lower resistance of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) than natural aggregate concrete (NAC) when was exposed to elevated temperatures. However, after elevated temperature exposure, the peak strain of RACFST stub column was relatively higher than that of the NACFST counterpart. Degradation regression formulas of mechanical properties and deformation behaviors of RACFST stub columns after exposure to elevated temperatures were proposed and agreed well with the experimental results.