Conclusions
In this work, the flexural performance of recycled concretes has been determined. On the basis of these results the following conclusions can be drawn:
• The cracking moment decreases as the replacement percentage increases. This reduction is consistent with the lower tensile splitting strength of recycled concretes, which leads to a greater and earlier cracking than with conventional concrete.
• At serviceability, bending moments and deflections are slightly affected by the content of recycled coarse aggregate due to the low influence of material properties on structural response when structural members are designed to present a ductile behaviour.
• The ductile design of steel reinforcement leads to yielding and ultimate behaviour of recycled concretes similar to that of conventional concrete, even when high replacement percentages are used. Therefore, the decrease in cracking moment and the invariability of yielding and maximum moments confirms early cracking development in recycled concretes.
• The crack pattern shows, in general, a similar behaviour in both recycled and conventional concretes. In terms of crack spacing, the lower modulus of elasticity and tensile splitting strength of recycled concrete make the flexural cracks closer together and therefore, reduce the crack spacing. However, the lower bond strength of recycled concretes counteracts this effect. As a result, recycled concrete shows similar crack spacing to that of conventional concrete. Consequently, this similar crack spacing and the higher strains of concrete and steel reinforcement result in greater crack width in recycled concrete compared with conventional concrete.