Flexural Behavior of Fiber Reinforced Self-Compacting Rubberized Concrete Beams

Abstract

The massive growth of the automotive industry and the development of vehicles use lead to produce a huge amount of waste tire rubber. Rubber tires are non-biodegradable, resulting in environmental problems such as fire risks. In this search, the flexural behavior of steel fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete (SFRSCC) beams containing different percentages and sizes of waste tire rubbers were studied and compared them with the flexural behavior of SCC and SFRSCC. Micro steel fiber (straight type) with aspect ratio 65 was used in mixes. The replacement of coarse and fine aggregate was 20% and 10% with chip and crumb rubber. Also, the replacement of limestone dust and silica fume was 50%, 25%, and 12% with ground rubber and very fine rubber, respectively. Twelve beams with small-scale (L=1100mm, h = 150mm, b =100mm) were tested under two points loading (monotonic loading). Fresh properties, hardened properties, load-deflection relation, first crack load, ultimate load, and crack width were investigated. Two tested reinforced concrete beams from experimental work were selected as a case study to compare with the results from ABAQUS program (monotonic loading). These two reinforced concrete beams were simulated as a parametric study under repeated loading using this finite element program. The results showed that the flexural behavior of SFRSCC beams containing rubber was acceptable when compared with flexural behavior of SCC and SFRSCC beams (depended on load carrying capacity). Cracks width was decreased with the addition of steel fibers and waste tires rubber.  An acceptable agreement can be shown between the results of numerical analysis and the results obtained from experimental test (monotonic loading). Insignificant ultimate load differences between the results of monotonic loading and repeated loading