Damping properties of concrete with sand coated rubber aggregates

Abstract

Waste tire rubber disposal causes major environmental problems and serious threats to human health. A viable solution for reducing waste tire rubber is to reuse the material in concrete production. Since ordinary concrete is brittle, and has low energy absorption capacity, elastic rubber could possibly improve the damping behavior of concrete. In this study, the mechanical and dynamic properties of concrete with partial replacement of coarse aggregate by rubber and epoxysand coated rubber at different volume fractions ranging from 5 to 25% were investigated. Test results indicate that uncoated rubber chips in concrete cause a significant reduction in strength. However, epoxy-sand coated rubber aggregate partial replacement improved the interfacial properties of the rubber. Accordingly, an optimum compressive strength was achieved with 15% epoxysand coated rubber aggregate replacement. Furthermore, the maximum increment in damping ratios for uncoated and sand-coated rubber aggregates were found to be 58% and 23%, respectively as compared to normal concrete. Hence, the utilization of epoxy sand coated rubber presents a promising approach to enhance the dynamic performance of concrete structures, without affecting their mechanical properties.