Pre-Failure Deflection and Residual Load Capacity of Reinforced Lightweight Aggregate Concrete Beams under High-Cycle Fatigue

The present study experimentally investigated the pre-failure and post-fatigue behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) beams constructed with lightweight aggregate concrete (LWAC) in comparison with that constructed of normal weight concrete (NWC) of the same compressive strength (40 MPa). A total of twelve RC beams were tested under different fatigue loadings. Based on the experimental observations, the midspan total deflection measured in the fatigue testing consisted of the elastic and plastic components. The mechanismof the two deflection components developed with load cycles was different. The experimental results showed that the fatigue resistance of LWAC beams was better than that of NWC beams for the same fatigue loading levels. It was reflected in both the lower evolution of fatigue damage and the smaller growth of midspan residual deflection. After 2 million cycles, an average increase in residual load capacity of about 8% was found in the NWC beams, while that in the LWA beams remained virtually unchanged.