Influence Mechanisms of Recycled Brick Aggregate Replacement Ratio and Particle Size on Fracture Behavior in Recycled Brick Aggregate Concrete
Zhaowei Du1, Huan Lian2,*, Heng Yang2
1 Henan Transportation Investment Group Co., Ltd., Zhengzhou, China
2 College of Civil Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, China
* Corresponding Author: Huan Lian. Email: 
Structural Durability & Health Monitoring https://doi.org/10.32604/sdhm.2026.085055
Received 14 May 2026; Accepted 13 July 2026; Published online 24 August 2026
Abstract
Brick-concrete recycled aggregate concrete (BCRAC) represents a crucial pathway for the resource utilization of construction solid waste. To elucidate the effects of recycled brick aggregate (RBA) particle size and replacement ratio on the fracture properties of BCRAC, this study employed continuously graded recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) as the baseline material. Fracture tests were conducted by replacing RCA with 5–10 and 10–20 mm RBA through size-by-size substitution at replacement levels ranging from 0% to 50%. The results indicate that, with increasing RBA replacement ratio, the descending branch of the load-displacement curve of BCRAC becomes steeper and more contracted. Concurrently, fracture energy, initial fracture toughness, and unstable fracture toughness decrease, indicating enhanced brittle failure characteristics. For 10–20 mm RBA, the more pronounced degradation may be associated with its higher porosity, larger-scale pre-existing defects, and weaker interfacial transition zone (ITZ), which tend to reduce crack propagation resistance and facilitate damage localization. The fracture energy of this group exhibited a maximum reduction of 39.2%. In contrast, 5–10 mm RBA exhibits a more uniform distribution and larger specific surface area, which may improve the aggregate-paste contact condition and increase the tortuosity of the potential crack propagation path to some extent. As a result, the maximum reduction in fracture energy was limited to 18.2%. These results suggest that the preferential use of smaller RBA particles can effectively mitigate the degradation of fracture performance in BCRAC.
Keywords
Recycled brick aggregate; brick-concrete recycled aggregate concrete; fracture energy; fracture toughness; fracture process
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