Hysteresis performance and design optimization of rubber concrete anti‐collision layer of concrete bridge piers

Abstract

AbstractRubber concrete, with characteristics of light weight, remarkable toughness, impact resistance, and durability, has been gaining increasing application in engineering. This study explored the mechanical properties of rubber concrete, analyzed its performance as anti‐collision layers, and optimized the layers’ thickness. First of all, static and hysteresis experiments were implemented to obtain the compressive strength, elastic modulus, and energy dissipation factor of rubber concrete. Rubber concrete specimens were made by replacing the fine aggregate of C30 concrete with rubber particles of equivalent volume. The rubber particles were categorized into two size groups: 1.5–3.0 mm and 3.0–5.0 mm. Within each size category, the rubber particles were incorporated into the concrete fine aggregates at replacement volumes of 5%, 10%, and 20%. Then truck‐bridge collision models with different thicknesses of anti‐collision layers were conducted to assess the metric variations in anti‐collision performance, including impact force, top displacement of the bridge abutment, Von Mises stress, and damping dissipation energy. Finally, a recommendation on cost‐effective thickness for the anti‐collision layer was given by the indicator weights generated from the triangular fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and the metric evaluation scores of anti‐collision performance. It is found that the compressive strength and elastic modulus of rubber concrete decrease with the increase of rubber particle size and rubber content. The loss factor increases with the increase of rubber content and the amplitude of the loading force. With the increase of rubber concrete anti‐collision layers from 0 to 250 mm, the peak impact force and peak Mises stress decrease, while the peak displacement at the top of the bridge abutment and peak damping dissipation energy decrease and then increase at the thickness of 250 mm. For the collision scenario in this study, the cost‐effective thickness of the rubber concrete layer is 200 mm.