Experimental and Numerical Studies on the Direct Shear Behavior of Sand–RCA (Recycled Concrete Aggregates) Mixtures with Different Contents of RCA

Materials

Haijun Mao¹  Shiqiang Huang²  Zhi Chen²  Yiming Liu²  Henglin Xiao²  Lihua Li² 

[1] Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China;School of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Environment, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China;

关键词: discrete element method;    direct shear test;    recycled concrete aggregates (RCA);    RCA contents;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ma14112909

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) is a typical construction and demolition (C&D) material generated in civil engineering activities and has been widely used as the coarse-grained filler added to sand for roadbed fillings. The effect of RCA content on the mechanical behavior of sand–RCA mixtures is complicated and still not fully understood. To explore the effect of RCA content on the macroscale and microscopic behavior of the sand–RCA mixtures with various RCA contents, laboratory direct shear tests and numerical simulations using the 3D discrete element method were performed. Experimental direct shear tests on sand–RCA mixtures with different contents of RCA were first carried out. Numerical direct shear models were then established to represent the experimental results. The particle shape effect was also considered using a new realistic shape modeling method to model the RCA particles. Good agreement was observed between the DEM simulation and experimental results, verifying the ability of the numerical direct shear models to represent the direct shear behavior of sand–RCA mixtures. The macroscopic responses of both experimental and numerical tests showed that all samples presented an initial hardening followed by a post-peak strain softening. The peak-state friction angles increased with the RCA content for samples under the same vertical stress. The effect of RCA content on the microscopic behavior based on DEM simulation was also found. The microscopic properties of RCA–sand mixtures, such as coordination numbers, PDFs and contact force transformation features, were analyzed and related to the macroscopic results.

【 授权许可】

Unknown