Experimental and numerical simulation study on fracture properties of self-compacting rubberized concrete slabs

Abstract

The limited availability of raw materials and increasing service demands for pavements pose a unique challenge in terms of pavement design and concrete material selection. The self-compacting rubberized concrete (SCRC) can be used in pavement design. The SCRC pavement slab has advantages of excellent toughness, anti-fatigue and convenient construction. On the premise of satisfying the strength, the SCRC can increase the ductility of pavement slab. The aim of this investigation is proposing a new method to predict the crack growth and flexural capacity of large-scale SCRC slabs. The mechanical properties of SCRC are obtained from experiments on small-scale SCRC specimens. With the increasing of the specimen depth, the bearing capacity of SCRC beams decreases at the same initial crack-depth ratio. By constructing extended finite element method (XFEM) models, crack growth and flexural capacity of large-scale SCRC slabs with different fracture types and force conditions can be predicted. Considering the diversity of fracture types and force conditions of the concrete pavement slab, the corresponding test was used to verify the reliability of the prediction model. The crack growth and flexural capacity of SCRC slabs can be obtained from XFEM models. It is convenient to conduct the experiment and can save cost.