Open Access

ARTICLE

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

by Qiong Liu, Jianzhuang Xiao^*, Amardeep Singh

College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

* Corresponding Author: Jianzhuang Xiao. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Recycled Concrete Towards a Sustainable Society)

Journal of Renewable Materials 2021, 9(7), 1309-1327. https://doi.org/10.32604/jrm.2021.015326

Received 09 December 2020; Accepted 18 January 2021; Issue published 18 March 2021

Abstract

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.

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Citations