Structural behavior of recycled tire crumb rubber sandwich panel in flexural bending

Abstract

AbstractThis study presents the first phase of research, in which recycled tire crumb rubber is used as core in precast concrete sandwich panels. The proposed sandwich panel offers sustainable reuse of waste tires and improved structural efficiency by utilization of natural properties of rubber like high flexibility, thermal and sound insulation. Three types of panels namely solid concrete panel, foam (polystyrene) sandwich panel, and recycled tire crumb rubber sandwich panel are prepared and cast using 50 MPa self‐compacting concrete. A core thickness of 20 mm is provided as insulation in sandwich panels. A total of six specimens having 1100 mm length, 500 mm width, and 100 mm thickness are tested in flexural bending under four‐point loading. The structural performance of crumb rubber sandwich panel is compared against foam panel and solid concrete panel in terms of initial crack load, vertical deflection, critical peak load, strain distribution on concrete surface and in reinforcement, crack pattern, degree of composite action, and deformed shape. Moreover, initial stiffness method at elastic stage and the ultimate strength method at failure is implemented to gauge the percentage of composite behavior in sandwich panels. Both approaches predicted partial composite behavior in all specimens of sandwich panel. The research analysis demonstrated encouraging results in terms of flexural behavior for crumb rubber sandwich panel and feasibility of using it as a structural member in construction industry. The numerical analysis was performed in commercially available software “ABAQUS” in standard/explicit model using in‐built concrete damage plasticity model (CDP). The proposed model is developed as a potential tool for future studies on crumb rubber sandwich panels. The validation phase predicted a good agreement between experimentation and numerical results.