Experimental study on energy and failure characteristics of rubber-cement composite short-column under cyclic loading

Abstract

The recycling of waste tire rubber resources and its application in the field of civil engineering materials have the importance of the economy, environmental protection, and promoting the development of civil engineering materials. In this work, rubber cement mortar short-column was used as the research object, and the cyclic loading-unloading tests with finite cycles were carried out under three different loading modes (I, II, and III). A series of basic characteristics of rubber cement mortar under three different cyclic loading-unloading modes were further discussed and analysed, such as energy, deformation, damping ratio, failure mode mechanism, and crack development mechanism. The results showed that when the rubber content was 30%, the energy damage was reduced by 13.7 ~ 45.7%, and the cumulative damping ratio was increased by 57.0%. The evolution characteristics of the hysteresis loops in the loading-unloading curves in the form of ''non-closed crescent'' were explained. The development mechanism of cracks based on the principle of minimum energy was revealed, and the evolution characteristics of cracks were confirmed. The crack resistance effect of rubber cement mortar was explained by the property of damping energy dissipation of rubber particles. The purpose is to better apply rubber-cement composites to seismic structures, underground structures, and road engineering.

Keywords

• Rubber-cement composite
• Cyclic loading-unloading
• Energy damage
• Failure characteristics
• Damping characteristics