SEISMIC PERFORMANCE OF RUBBERIZED CONCRETE IN STRUCTURAL APPLICATIONS

Rubberized concrete is a promising material for the structural elements, created by replacing sand with rubber particles in order to significantly reduce environmental impacts from large tyre waste with improved behaviour under earthquake loads. Experimental studies on nine columns and three frames were carried out in order to determine the capacity of different structural elements in regard to conventional concrete. The specimens were subjected to a cyclic loading following loading protocol used for the seismic performance assessment of structural and non-structural components, as it allows all damage states to be quantified to develop the corresponding fragility models. The results indicated that rubberized concrete columns and frames made of rubberized concrete can delay and reduce the amount of damage occurring under seismic loading. This is attributed to the higher deformability of rubberized concrete compared to conventional. With these contributions, an increased use of rubberized concrete in global construction can promise a reduction of the significant environmental impacts caused both from waste tyres and the exploitation of natural resources with promotion of environmentally friendly alternative to conventional concrete in structural applications in earthquake prone areas.