Advanced Materials Research Vols.

1079-1080 (2015) pp 220-225 Submitted: 2014-09-26

© (2015) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland Revised: 2014-10-22
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.1079-1080.220 Accepted: 2014-10-25
Online: 2014-12-24

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON SEISMIC BEHAVIOR OF RECYCLED

AGGREGATE CONCRETE TORSION BEAMS WITH ABAQUS
Jiali Fu1,2,a, Bingkang Liu2,b, Junwei Ma3,c, Hui Zhou2,d
1.
School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Anhui Polytechnic University, Wuhu 241000, China
2.
College of Civil Engineering and Water Conservancy，Hefei University of Technology，Hefei
230009, China
3.
Key Laboratory of Concrete and Prestressed Concrete Structures of Ministry of Education, School
of Civil Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
a.
fjl@ahpu.edu.cn, b. liubingkang@hfut.edu.cn, c. sl_majunwei369@sina.com,
d.
zhouhui@sina.com

Key words: ABAQUS; Recycled aggregate concrete; Torsional capacity; Finite element; Seismic
behavior

Abstract. The torsional capacity of two recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) beams with 100%
recycled coarse aggregate (RCA) and two normal concrete beams subjected to monotonic torsion
was investigated by the finite element software ABAQUS, and the simulated results were compared
with the experimental results. The investigation shows that recycled aggregate concrete torsional
members have good seismic behavior. The simulated results agree well with experimental ones. It
can be reference for actual engineering.
1. Introduction
Over the past decades, with Chinese urbanization speeding up, increasing numbers of concrete
buildings were being demolished, the difficulties of disposing of the concrete rubble produced
together with a developing scarcity of aggregates near to the major urban areas has prompted an
interest in the possibility of using concrete rubble as aggregate in fresh concrete [1-3]. Nowadays
conservation of natural resources and preservation of environment is the essence of any modern
development. How to dispose more and more scrap concrete is a hot potato and needs to settle
urgently for the government of each country. The use of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) is such
an attempt and one way to solve some of the problems in construction engineering. Through falling
to pieces, classification and mixing according to certain proportion, the scrap concrete would form
recycled concrete aggregate (RCA). Using proportion or full recycled concrete aggregate as
aggregate to make concrete is one of the effective methods. The concept of using RAC is now
gaining popularity and the research in this field has gained some momentum. In order to apply
recycled aggregate concrete to structural engineering, tests and theory studies, such as experimental
research on seismic behavior of recycled concrete components are obligatory.
In the past, large amount of experimental work has been carried out, Previous investigators
mainly engaged themselves in the bending capacity, shearing capacity of RAC members[4-7],
however, little research has been conducted on torsional capacity of RAC members. The aim of this
paper is to investigate the torsional capacity of torsional concrete members using finite element
software ABAQUS and compare the numerical results with the experimental results, then give some
suggestions in simulating experiment using ABAQUS.

All rights reserved. No part of contents of this paper may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of Trans
Tech Publications, www.ttp.net. (ID: 142.103.160.110, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, Canada-06/07/15,17:49:26)
 Advanced Materials Research Vols. 1079-1080 221

2. Experimental program
2.1. Design of specimens
A total of 4 beams, including 2 recycled aggregate concrete beams (named RAC-1 and RAC-2)
and 2 corresponding normal concrete beams (named RC-1 and RC-2) were tested. The dimensions
and reinforcement details of the 4 specimens are same. and the seismic design including the
construction details were accomplished in accordance with Chinese standard[8,9]. The left part of
each specimen is a enlarged part, which was used to fix the specimen when the test was conducting.
The dimensions and reinforcement details of the specimens are presented in Fig.1.

(a) Sectional plan. (b) profile.

Fig. 1 Specimen configuration and reinforcement details
2.2. Test devices
All 4 specimens were tested under a low-frequency cyclic lateral load, the tests were carried out
in the Province Key Laboratory for Structures and Materials in Civil Engineering at Hefei
University of technology (PR China). The experimental set-up is shown as Fig. 2. In order to
simulate the actual situation, 4 hydraulic jacks, measuring range 50t were applied to fix the enlarged
part of the specimen in the vertical direction. Another 2 pair of hydraulic jacks were used to offer a
low-frequency cyclic lateral load in the horizontal direction. The loading process included two main
steps, namely a load control step and a drift control step. A computer controlled the whole load
processing automatically.

（a）Front view. (b) Side view.

Fig.2 Details of the test setup.
2.3. Measured value of tests
Pseudo-static testing program was adopted in this test, and measured ultimate torque value was
obtained by utilizing static synchronous antisymmetric load imposed at the end of the beam. The
test results are presented in Table 1.
Table 1 Measured ultimate torque
Ultimate RC-1 RC-2 RAC-1 RAC-2
torque Forward Reverse Forward Reverse Forward Reverse Forward Reverse
Measured
value 10.860 10.210 11.060 10.010 10.360 10.610 10.500 10.710
(kN· m)
222 Civil, Materials and Computing Engineering

3. Finite element analysis process

3.1. Finite element model
In the finite element analysis (FEA) software of ABAQUS [10], there are two kinds of material
models, they are ‘elastic-plastic fracture model’ and ‘plastic-damage model’. The former can more
accurately describe the behavior of ductile materials, the later is based on an internal
variable-formulation of plasticity theory, and usually used for the non-linear analysis of concrete
material specially, typical mechanics behavior of concrete such as crack and crush can be welled
simulated using this model. In this paper ‘plastic-damage model’ was employed.
3.2. Stress-strain relationships for concrete and reinforcement
3.2.1. Stress-strain relationships for concrete
The Sargin model which described concrete behavior originally is modified to describe the
behavior of the specimen [14]. The Sargin model is described as:
ε ε
A( ) + ( D − 1)( ) 2
ε0 ε0
σ = k3 f c （1）
ε ε
1 + ( A − 2)( ) + D( ) 2
ε0 ε0 ,
Where A= E0/ Es, E0 is the initial elastic modulus of concrete. Es =σ0/ε0 is the secant modulus at
peak compressive stress, parameter k3 is influence coefficient unconfined compression strength.
When k3=1 the above expression is suitable to unconfined plain concrete. D is a parameter that
control the descending branch of the curve, has little effect to the ascending branch of the curve. σ0
is the peak stress and ε0 is the corresponding peak strain.
The above analytical expression could well reflect the σ-ε relationship, so is widely used in
F.E.M. for analysing kinds of concrete structures.
ε
σ  ε  − c2 ⋅ ε f
= 1 + c1 ( ) 4  e （2）
f t  ε f 
.
The tensile stress-strain constitutive relationship of concrete used in the present paper is
Reinhardt model[11].
where ft, εf are the peak tensile stress and strain of the concrete; k, c1, c2 is depend on the
experiment results, J.J. Jiang suggest that, k=0.31，c1＝9.0，c2=5.0 [11].
1.083x + 0.834 x 2 − 0.917 x3 　 0 ≤ x <1

　　　
y= x （3）
x ≥1
 7.032( x − 1) 2 + x
　
　　　
　　　
　　　　　　　
　　　
　　
.
The compressive stress-strain constitutive relationship of RAC used in the present paper is
proposed by J.Z. Xiao [12].
where x=ε/ε0, y=σ/fc, ε0=0.0026, ε0 here is the peak strain, and fc is the prism compressive
strength.
y = 1.26 x − 0.26 x 6 . （4）
The ascending branch of the tensile stress-strain constitutive relationship curve of RAC used in
the present paper is proposed by J.Z. Xiao [12].
where x=ε/εt, y=σ/ft, εt here is the peak tensile strain, and fc is the corresponding peak tensile
stress. As related literature on stress-strain constitutive relationship of RAC is not enough, so
 Advanced Materials Research Vols. 1079-1080 223

Reinhardt model is adopted as the descending branch of the tensile stress-strain constitutive
relationship curve of RAC.
3.2.2. Stress-strain relationships for reinforcement
In the analysis, elastic strengthening model was used for reinforced bars, that is to say, we
consider the bars to be elastic before they yield, and their stress-strain relationship curves to be
gentle inclined straight lines. To accelerate the calculation, we consider E’s = 0.01 Es , and the
mathematical expressions are given as,
 σ s = Esε s 　　　　 　 　　
　　　
　　　
　　εs ≤ ε y
 ' （5）
σ s = f y + Es (ε s − ε y ) 　
　　　
　　　　εs ≥ ε y 　
　　　
　　
.
3.3. The ABAQUS F.E.M. model
3.3.1. The selection of unit type
The main parameters which need to input are: the Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio of concrete,
and the compressive and tensile stress-strain constitutive relationship of concrete. T3D2 element in
ABAQUS was employed to simulate the reinforcements, the main parameters which need to input
are: the Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio of the reinforced bar, and the compressive and tensile
stress-strain constitutive relationship of the reinforced bar.
3.3.2. Simulation of rebar-to-concrete bond–slip behavior
In order to simulate the rebar-to-concrete bond-slip behavior, embedded units were defined in
the main unit. After defining the embedded units, when computing ABAQUS will search their
nodes and determine the geometric relations between the embedded units and the main units [10].
3.3.3. Model building and Meshing
Firstly enter the Assembly module, create an instance, then enter the Mesh module, mesh the
finite element model in defaulted mesh parameters. The finished F.E. model is shown as fig. 3.

Fig.3 Finite element models

3.4. Boundary condition and loading
In order to get the best simulation results, rational boundary condition and loading scheme need
to be considered adequately. In this numerical simulating, the appropriate boundary conditions were
achieved by either deleting or constraining relevant nodal degrees of freedom of the enlarged parts.
In order to simulate a fixed boundary condition all the degrees of freedom of the nodes which
belong to the enlarged parts were deleted. Connections between confining elements were modelled
as rigid joint to restrict their slide and moment-rotation behavior. This simplification will have little
effect on the load deformation relation . Regarding the loading, the models were subjected to a
constant vertical loading to represent the loads from the upper floors and subsequently applied
lateral displacements. However, due to it is difficult to converge when the concrete structure was
224 Civil, Materials and Computing Engineering

modeled under repeated cyclical loading condition. Therefore the FE models were subjected to
positive monotonically increasing instead of cyclic loading at the enlarged parts of the specimens.
This simplification will have little effect to the simulating results.
4. Comparison between experimental and F.E.M. results

(a) NC beam. (b) RAC beam.

Fig.4 Von mises stress of the two kind of specimens

Fig.5 Specimen deformation Fig.6 Specimen principal stress vectogram

Fig.4 shows Von mises stress of the two kind of specimens, in the figure the maximum
compressive stress reaches the ultimate value of concrete tensile strength and the concrete was
crushed, the specimen had been failure, it means that the specimens have been broken. Figure 6
shows vector plot of the major principal stress in the concrete of the models, which show that the
typical torsional failure process of RAC beams is similar to this of the normal concrete beams. They
were all concrete beam torsional failure modes. The principal stress in the middle of the span is
maximum, principal strain direction and beam longitudinal axis form an angle of 45 degrees. It was
found that, in general, the mechanics model developed for normal concrete beams is acceptable for
the calculations of RAC beams.
5. Conclusions
The non-linear F.E.M. code ABAQUS has been used to simulate the failure process of recycled
aggregate concrete beams. The experimental results and simulating results have been compared,
then the following conclusions can be drawn:
1) In the analysis, ABAQUS can simulate the concrete beam behavior well, when the
elastic-plastic fracture damage model is employed, and parameters are choosed reasonably during
the concrete cracking. The F.E.M. computed results accord with the experimental data.
 Advanced Materials Research Vols. 1079-1080 225

2) The typical torsional failure process of RAC beams is similar to this of the normal concrete
beams. They were all concrete beam torsional failure modes. The principal stress in the middle of
the span is maximum, principal strain direction and beam longitudinal axis form an angle of 45
degrees. It was found that, in general, the mechanics model developed for normal concrete beams is
acceptable for the calculations of RAC beams.

Acknowledgements
The authors wish to express their sincere appreciation to Anhui Province Outstanding Young
Scholars Fund (No. 2011SQRL169) and the Young Scholars Fund of Anhui Polytechnic
University (No. 2009YQ024). The financial support is highly appreciated.

References
[1] Nixon PJ. Recycled concrete as an aggregate for concrete— a review. Materials and Structures.
Vol. 11(65), (1978), p. 371-378.
[2] Hansen TC. Recycled aggregate and recycled aggregate concrete, second state-of-the-art report,
developments from 1945-1985. Materials and Structures. Vol. 19 (111) , (1978), p. 201- 46.
[3] Hansen TC. Recycling of demolished concrete and masonry. E & FNSPON, London, (1992).
[4] Zhang Bo-zhi, Wang She-liang, Zhang bo, et al., Experimental analysis of the basic mechanical
properties of recycled concrete. Concrete, Vol. 261(7), (2011), p. 4-6.
[5] Wu Jin, Ding Dongfang, Yang Xi. Experimental research on the cracking moment of normal
section for recycled concrete beams. Building Structure, Vol. 40(2), (2010), p.112-114.
[6] XIAO Jianzhuang, LAN Yang. Experimental Sstudy on Shear Behavior of Recycled Concrete
Beams. Structural Engineers, Vol. 20(6), (2004), p.54-58.
[7] HUANG Ying, DENG Zhi-heng, LUO Yan-ming, et al., Experimental study on shear strength of
recycled aggregate concrete, Concrete, Vol. 244(2), (2010), p.15-17.
[8] Chinese Standard. Code for seismic design of buildings (GB 50011-2001). Chinese Building
Press, Beijing, (2001).
[9] Chinese Standard. Code for design of concrete structures (GB 50011-2002). Chinese Building
Press, Beijing, (2002).
[10] Zhuang zhuo, Zhang fan, Censong, et al.. ABAQUS nonlinear finite element analysis and case
study. Science Press, Beijing, (2005).
[11] Jiang Jianjing, Lu Xinzheng, Ye Lieping. Finite element techniques for static analysis of
stractures in reinforced concrete. Tsinghua University press, Beijing, (2005).
[12] XIAO Jianzhuang. Experimental Investigation on Complete Stress-Strain Curve of Recycled
Concrete Under Uniaxial Loading. Journal of Tongji University (Natural Science), Vol. 35(11),
(2007), p. 1446-1449.
Civil, Materials and Computing Engineering
10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.1079-1080

Experimental Study on Seismic Behavior of Recycled Aggregate Concrete Torsion Beams with
ABAQUS
10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.1079-1080.220