Experimental study on cracking of reinforced recycled concrete slabs

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation on cracking of fifteen reinforced recycled concrete slabs. Five recycled concrete mixes with different coarse recycled aggregates replacement percentage have been realized. The slab dimensions are 1100 ⋅ 1100 ⋅ 50 mm and flexural reinforcement of all specimens has been realized by using two 100 ⋅ 100 mm welded mesh layers and wire diameter of 5 mm. Tensile strength, cylindrical compressive strength and modulus of elasticity of the concrete mixes have been estimated experimentally. The simply supported reinforced recycled concrete slabs have been tested under the action of central patch load in order to evaluate the central deflection - load curve. The experimental cracking load is determined on the curve as the linear limit load. The recycled concrete slabs show a similar behaviour to those realized with ordinary concrete. The theoretical cracking loads are in good agreement with experimental results.