In order to study the mechanical properties of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) at different ages, 264 standard cubes were designed to test its direct shear strength and cube compressive strength while considering the parameters of age and recycled aggregate replacement ratio. The failure pattern and load–displacement curve of specimens at direct shearing were obtained; the direct shear strength and residual shear strength were extracted from the load–displacement curves. Experimental results indicate that the influence of the replacement ratio for the front and side cracks of RAC is insignificant, with the former being straight and the latter relatively convoluted. At the age of three days, the damaged interface between aggregate and mortar is almost completely responsible for concrete failure; in addition to the damage of coarse aggregates, aggregate failure is also an important factor in concrete failure at other ages. The load–displacement curve of RAC at direct shearing can be divided into elasticity, elastoplasticity, plasticity, and stabilization stages. The brittleness of concrete decreases with its age, which is reflected in the gradual shortening of the elastoplastic stage. At 28 days of age, the peak direct shear force increases with the replacement ratio, while the trend is opposite at ages of 3 days, 7 days, and 14 days, respectively. The residual strength of RAC decreases inversely to the replacement ratio, with the rate of decline growing over time. A two-parameter RAC direct shear strength calculation formula was established based on the analysis of age and replacement rate to peak shear force of RAC. The relationship between cube compressive strength and direct shear strength of recycled concrete at various ages was investigated.

The sound absorption performance of porous ceramisite is determined by its pore structure, which is mainly governed by a foaming agent and heating rate during a foaming process. By tuning the heating rate and foaming agent concentration, ceramisite with different pore structures was prepared by using flyash, cement, quick lime, and plaster as raw materials as well as ammonium acetate as a low-temperature decomposition foaming agent in this work. The phase composition, microstructure, and sound absorption performance of the prepared porous ceramisite were investigated. Results demonstrate that the apparent porosity and the pore diameter increased with the increase of foaming agent concentration, accompanied with the broadening of the pore diameter distribution. The apparent porosity is positively correlated with heating rate until the temperature is higher than 20 °C·min⁻¹, while the pore diameter is negatively correlated. The pore diameter distribution becomes narrow as a function of the heating rate. The sound absorption performance is positively correlated with the apparent porosity. An optimal pore diameter might exist, meaning diameter sizes that are larger or smaller than the optimal diameter are not conducive to the optimization of the sound absorption performance of the overall frequency band. It was determined that the curing time was not a key factor for optimizing the pore structure.

This paper investigates the compression behavior and failure criteria of lightweight aggregate concrete (LAC) under triaxial loading. A total of 156 specimens were tested for three parameters: concrete strength, lateral confining pressure and aggregate immersion time, and their effects on the failure mode of LAC and the triaxial stress-strain relationship of LAC is studied. The research indicated that, as the lateral constraint of the specimen increases, the failure patterns change from vertical splitting failure to oblique shearing failure and then to indistinct traces of damage. The stress-strain curve of LAC specimens has an obvious stress plateau, and the curve no longer appears downward when the confining pressure exceeds 12 MPa. According to the experimental phenomenon and test data, the failure criterion was examined on the Mohr–Coulomb theory, octahedral shear stress theory and Rendulic plane stress theory, which well reflects the behavior of LAC under triaxial compression. For the convenience of analysis and application, the stress-strain constitutive models of LAC under triaxial compression are recommended, and these models correlate well with the test results.