Mechanical and fatigue performance of rubber concrete

Abstract This study determines the mechanical and fatigue performance of rubber concrete, which consists of 0%, 5%, 10% and 15% of the selected rubber contents in terms of the fine aggregation in volume. The rubber particles used in the experiments are made of the recycled tire. The fatigue performance of 60 standardized rubber concrete specimens with various rubber contents was experimentally studied under the constant-amplitude cyclic loading condition. This study provided a solution of the fatigue life of the rubber concrete, which was in good agreement with the Weibull distribution. It also provided the formulation of the double logarithmic fatigue equations indicating the characteristics of the rubber concrete and predicted the ultimate fatigue strength of rubber concrete with various rubber contents. Furthermore, discussion on the mechanism of fatigue damage of the rubber concrete was also undertaken and the results suggested that the fatigue process leading to the internal damage of rubber concrete would consist of three development phases, i.e., the nucleation, stable state and instable state. Under certain stress levels, the fatigue life and dynamic strain of the rubber concrete are higher than those of the ordinary concrete, and they increase to some extent with the rubber contents. Under the same strength level, the fatigue performance of the rubber concrete is better than that of the ordinary concrete.