Exterior RC beam-column joints made with recycled concrete: experimental behavior under lateral cyclic reversed loading

The use of recycled materials to cast reinforced concrete structures opens to new frontiers in developing high-performances and sustainable building materials. Recently, the use of electric arc furnace (EAF) slag as artificial aggregate allowed to produce cement-based materials characterized by high mechanical strength and good durability-related properties. However, few tests were carried out in literature dealing with full scale reinforced concrete structural elements. This paper shows the results of the first experimental campaign on two real-scale exterior beam-column joints made with EAF concrete, subject to cyclic lateral load and column axial load, and failing due to shear of the panel joint and yielding of steel bars in the beam. Results are analyzed in terms of hysteretic behavior, dissipated energy, ductility, and local panel joint behavior, and compared with the ones derived for a reference specimen, made with the same concrete mix proportions.