Performance Evaluation of Modified Rubberized Concrete Exposed to Aggressive Environments

Abstract

Recycling of the waste rubber tire crumbs (WRTCs) for the concretes production generated renewed interest worldwide. The insertion of such waste as a substitute for the natural aggregates in the concretes is an emergent trend for sustainable development towards building materials. Meanwhile, the enhanced resistance of the concrete structures against aggressive environments is important for durability, cost-saving, and sustainability. In this view, this research evaluated the performance of several modified rubberized concretes by exposing them to aggressive environments i.e., acid, and sulphate attacks, elevated temperatures. These concrete (12 batches) were made by replacing the cement and natural aggregate with an appropriate amount of the granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) and WRTCs, respectively. The proposed mix designs’ performance was evaluated by several measures, including the residual compressive strength (CS), weight loss, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), microstructures, etc. Besides, by using the available experimental test database, an optimized artificial neural network (ANN) combined with the particle swarm optimization (PSO) was developed to estimate the residual CS of modified rubberized concrete after immersion one year in MgSO4 and H2SO4 solutions. The results indicated that modified rubberized concrete prepared by 5 to 20% WRTCs as a substitute to natural aggregate, provided lower CS and weight lose expose to sulphate and acid attacks compared to control specimen prepared by ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Although the CS were slightly declined at the elevated temperature, these proposed mix designs have a high potential for a wide variety of concrete industrial applications, especially in acid and sulphate risk.

Effective Microorganism Solution and High Volume of Fly Ash Blended Sustainable Bio-Concrete

“…Meanwhile, cement substitution with a high volume of FA reduced the hydration process, thus affecting the net C-S-H gel formation and making the bio-concretes more porous with reduced CS performance. The reduction in the strength loss percentage of the bio-concretes by increasing the curing ages from 3 to 56 days can be attributed to the improvement of the hydration of alite (Ca 3 SiO 5 ), belite (Ca 2 SiO 4 ), and tricalcium aluminate (Ca 3 Al 2 O 4 ) [ 35 , 36 ]. The observed enhancement in the CS values of the cement-FA specimens after 28 days was mainly due to the formation of extra C-S-H gels originating from alite and belite [ 37 ], together with the secondary to extra FA-mediated C-S-H gel formation [ 38 , 39 ].…”

The Effect of Basalt Aggregates and Mineral Admixtures on the Mechanical Properties of Concrete Exposed to Sulphate Attacks

“…As alkali silica gel absorbs moisture, the concrete expands up to 2-3% in volume. Having expanded due to moisture, alkali silica gel forms fractures and cracks in and on the surface of the concrete in unreinforced mass concretes, coating concretes as a result of a decrease in tensile strength, leading to loss in durability [29,30]. Typical ASR-induced cracks observed at Izmir Adnan Menderes airport shown in Figure 1 [31].…”

Mechanical and durability characterization of hybrid fibre reinforced green geopolymer concrete

“…The rate of increment in compressive strength at all curing ages was gradual with 1% rubber, compared to the control mixture [35]. The strength character was reduced with increasing the rubber fibre addition above 1% due to the unstiffened matrix developed by the augmentation of fibres [63]. The rate of increment in early age compressive strength was higher than the other ages [24].…”