In this paper, uniaxial compression tests were carried out for recycled aggregate concrete with water cement ratios of 0.38, 0.49, and 0.66 and replacement ratios of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%, respectively. The influence of the replacement ratio of recycled aggregate and water cement ratio on the strength, elastic modulus, and deformation characteristics of concrete was discussed. The results show that the replacement rate of recycled aggregate has a significant effect on the macro stress–strain behavior of concrete. In the case of a constant water cement ratio, the peak nominal stress first decreases and then increases with the increase of the replacement rate; while the water cement ratios equal 0.38, 0.49, and 0.66, the corresponding transition states are 25%, 50%, and 50% of the replacement rate, respectively. The deformation and failure is characterized by two stages: distributed damage and local failure. Combined with the statistical damage mechanics, the influence of the aggregate replacement rate on the damage evolution mechanism of recycled concrete on a mesoscopic scale was explored. Two mesoscopic damage modes, fracture and yield, are considered. Their cumulative evolutions are assumed to follow triangular probability distributions, which could be characterized by four parameters. The peak nominal stress state and the critical state are distinguished, and the latter is defined as a precursor to local failure. With the increase of the replacement rate of recycled aggregate, the inhomogeneous evolution of mesoscopic damage shows obvious regular change, which is consistent with the internal chemical and physical mechanism and macro nonlinear stress–strain behavior.

Damage evolution in concrete after high temperature is a complicated procedure, in which the pre-peak strain hardening behaviour, the post-peak strain softening behaviour and the impact of high temperature play key roles. Uniaxial and biaxial compression damage models of concrete considering high temperature degradation effect are proposed based on damage theory and experimental phenomena. They consider that the destruction of concrete is actually the cumulative evolution course of the two meso-damage modes, rupture and yield. High temperature changes the mechanical performance in microstructure of concrete and the generation and propagation of microcracks. It could be described by adjusting the probability distributions which characterize the mesoscopic damage evolution. The damage constitutive model is employed to determine the stress-strain behaviour of concrete under uniaxial compression, and the calculated results are compared with the experimental results under different high temperature levels. Results indicate that the proposed model can not only predict the stress-strain behaviour with acceptable accuracy in macroscopic scale, but also reveal the damage evolution mechanism in mesoscopic scale. Finally, the constitutive behaviour under biaxial compression is also simulated to investigate the influence of high temperature on biaxial stress-strain behavior and strength envelope.