{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T13:02:24Z","timestamp":1785416544191,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"13","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,25]],"date-time":"2026-06-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782345600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100009967","name":"XPCC","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2024AB079"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024AB079"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100009967","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["2024AB079"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024AB079"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03hcmxw73","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["52268034"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52268034"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["52268034"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52268034"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Materials"],"abstract":"<jats:p>To explore the shear behavior and evolutionary pattern of desert sand concrete beams (DSCBs) subjected to freeze\u2013thaw cycles, 16 DSCBs were subjected to rapid freeze\u2013thaw cycling and shear tests, with desert sand replacement ratios (0%, 20%, 40%, and 60%) and numbers of freeze\u2013thaw cycles (0, 25, 50, and 75) considered as the main variables. The failure mode, diagonal crack development, diagonal cracking load, shear capacity, and load\u2013stirrup strain curves of DSCBs were tested and analyzed. The results indicate that all specimens exhibited typical shear-compression failure. The diagonal crack development pattern of DSCBs was similar to that of ordinary concrete beams, whereas freeze\u2013thaw cycles accelerated the initiation and propagation of cracks. Freeze\u2013thaw cycling significantly reduced both the diagonal cracking load and shear capacity. After being exposed to 75 cycles of freezing and thawing, the ultimate shear capacity of test pieces with desert sand replacement proportions of 0%, 20%, 40%, and 60% decreased by 15.6%, 12.9%, 13.9%, and 13.8%, respectively, while the corresponding stirrup strains increased by 47.2%, 34.1%, 37.1%, and 53.7%, respectively. An appropriate desert sand replacement ratio can improve the shear performance of concrete beams. Among all specimens, the beam with a 20% replacement ratio exhibited the best overall mechanical performance, achieving a maximum increase of 6.0% in shear capacity and a maximum reduction of 26.8% in stirrup strain compared with conventional concrete beams. Finally, by introducing modification coefficients related to the desert sand replacement ratio as well as the freeze\u2013thaw cycling times, predictive equations for the diagonal cracking load and shear capacity of DSCBs under freeze\u2013thaw conditions were established. The numerical predictions achieve a high consistency with measured data.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ma19132721","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,25]],"date-time":"2026-06-25T12:37:55Z","timestamp":1782391075000},"page":"2721","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Shear Behavior and Predictive Model of Desert Sand Concrete Beams Subjected to Freeze\u2013Thaw Cycles"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Chao","family":"Huang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Water Conservancy & Architectural Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China"},{"name":"College of Safety Science and Engineering, Xinjiang Institute of Engineering, Urumqi 830023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Meng","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Water Conservancy & Architectural Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7869-3578","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhiqiang","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Water Conservancy & Architectural Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yingsheng","family":"Dang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Water Conservancy & Architectural Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jian","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Water Conservancy & Architectural Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"155877","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2022.155877","article-title":"The environmental impacts of river sand mining","volume":"838","author":"Rentier","year":"2022","journal-title":"Sci. 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