Compressive Strength Study on the Freeze-thaw Resistance of Recycled Aggregate Concrete Members

Introduction: Freeze-thaw resistance of recycled aggregate concrete with partial or total replacement of recycled aggregate compared with that of natural aggregate concrete was investigated in this paper. Method: Ninety specimens were fabricated to study the influence of different recycled aggregate replacement ratios on the surface scaling, mass loss, and residual compressive strength after 100 freeze-thaw cycles. Results: The experiment results indicate that the type of recycled aggregate and its replacement ratio have significant effects on the freeze-thaw performance. The cubic compressive strength of recycled aggregate concrete is overall slightly lower than that of normal concrete. After 100 freeze-thaw cycles, the compressive strength decreases and the reduction extent increases with increasing replacement rate of recycled aggregate. The surface scaling of reinforced recycled concrete prisms tends to be more severe with the increase of freeze-thaw cycles. Conclusion: Furthermore, a notable rise in mass loss and the bearing capacity loss is also found as the substitution ratio increases. Under the same replacement rate, recycled fine aggregate causes more negative effects on the freeze-thaw resistance than recycled coarse aggregate.