Experimental study on fracture behavior of SCC pavement slab containing crumb rubber under cyclic loading

The increase in waste tires has brought serious environmental problems. Using waste tires rubber particles as aggregate in concrete can reduce pollution and decrease the usage of natural aggregate. The paper describes an investigation on flexural bearing capacity of self-compacting concrete (SCC) pavement slabs containing crumb rubber. Cyclic loading tests with different stress ratios and loading frequencies are carried out on compact concrete pavement slabs containing crumb rubber. Based on Paris Law and test data, the fatigue life of SCC pavement slab containing crumb rubber is discussed, and a revised mathematical model is established to predict the fatigue life of SCC pavement slab containing crumb rubber. The model applies to different stress ratios and loading frequencies. The fatigue life of SCC pavement slab containing crumb rubber is affected by the stress ratio and loading frequency. The fatigue life increases with the increase of stress ratio and loading frequency. Real-time acoustic emission (AE) signals in the SCC pavement slab containing crumb rubber under cyclic loading are measured, and the characteristics of crack propagation in the SCC pavement slab containing crumb rubber under different stress ratios and loading frequencies are compared. The AE signals provide abundant information of fracture process zone and crack propagation. The variation of AE ringing count, energy and b-value show that the fracture process of SCC pavement slab containing crumb rubber is divided into three stages.