Shear Behavior of Recycled Coarse Aggregate Concrete Beams after Freezing-and-Thawing Cycles

This paper presents the results of research on the shear behavior of recycled coarse aggregate concrete (RAC) beams after freezing-and-thawing cycles. Six RAC beams and six natural aggregate concrete (NAC) beams were manufactured and tested. The experimental results show that the crack patterns and distributions of RAC beams and NAC beams after freezing-and-thawing cycles were similar. The shear capacity and the stiffness of RAC beams decreased with the increase of freezing-and-thawing cycles. The shear capacity and the stiffness of RAC beams was lower than that of NAC beams for exposure to equal numbers of freezing-and-thawing cycles. A prediction model for the shear capacity of RAC beams after freezing-and-thawing cycles was established.