Experimental Investigation on Flexural Performance of RC Beams with 50% & 100% Recycled Concrete Aggregates

Flexural tests were conducted on reinforced normal-strength concrete beam specimens to encourage the utilisation of recycled concrete aggregates (RCA). Moreover, companion cylinder samples also tested to evaluate the tensile and compressive strength of recycled and natural aggregate concrete (NAC) used in beam specimens. The replacement ratio was taken as 0%, 50% and 100%. The size of all beam specimens was 2100 mm long, 125 mm wide, and 250 mm deep. The four-point loading was applied to the beam specimens, and the region of constant moment was taken as 600 mm, which is equal to one-third of the effective span of the beam specimens. The primary goals of this investigation were to assess the flexural performance and to evaluate the prospective use of RCA in concrete structures, and to substantiate the suitability of the current design code provisions for flexural beams. The reduction in the ultimate moment of the beam was approximately 8.75% at a 50% replacement level and 13.75% at 100% replacement level compared to the counterpart with 0% replacement of RCA. The study outcome showed no significant difference in cracking and ultimate strength between beam specimens with and without RCA.