Structural Behavior of RC Beams with EAF Slag as Recycled Aggregates: Numerical Versus Experimental Findings

This papers aims at investigating the structural behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) beams with electric arc furnace (EAF) slag as full replacement of coarse natural aggregates. A few real scale EAF RC beams have been experimentally investigated under four-point bending tests in order to analyze their structural behavior in terms of peak load, deflections and crack patterns in comparison with traditional RC beams without recycled aggregates. Then, a numerical investigation has been carried out through two different three-dimensional finite element procedures: the former is a conventional step-by-step incremental analysis based on a nonlinear stress-strain law for concrete in compression and a post-failure response in tension based on a smeared-crack approach; the latter is an iterative, simplified methodology based on the application of the limit analysis theory. Comparison between numerical and experimental results is discussed and the main advantages and drawbacks of the two proposed numerical procedures are outlined.