Behavior of a Mixture of Coal Wash and Rubber Crumbs under Cyclic Loading
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 33, Issue 5
Abstract
The interest in the utilization of granular waste materials as construction fills in lieu of quarried natural aggregates has been increasing recently, resulting in more sustainable and cost-effective industry practices being adopted. This study proposes a mixture of coal wash (CW; a by-product of coal mining) and rubber crumbs (RC; shredding of waste rubber tires) as a potential capping composite for railways. A series of cyclic triaxial tests mimicking typical rail traffic loads were conducted on CWRC mixtures with and without rest periods to gain an insightful understanding of the deformation mechanism of rubber particles. It is found that the inclusion of RC increases the axial permanent strain, the volumetric strain, and the damping ratio, and it reduces the resilient modulus, the shear modulus, and the breakage index (BI). Also, it is found that the mixture with RC recovers part of its energy dissipation efficiency after a rest period is applied, reducing the breakage index further even when the number of load cycles increases. Accordingly, a modified equation is proposed to determine the void ratio, capturing the deformation of the rubber.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support from the Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project (LP160100280) and Discovery Project (DP170101279). Financial and technical assistance provided by the industry partners of LP160100280, i.e., Ms. Robyn Lyster and Mr. Damian Mulcahy (Roads and Maritime Services), Mr. Geoff McIntosh and Mr. Arthur Castrissios (Douglas Partners), and Mr. Michael Arroyo (South32), are gratefully acknowledged. The assistance provided by South32 in the procurement of CW material used in this study and the assistance provided by Richard Berndt in the performance of laboratory tests is also gratefully appreciated.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 33 • Issue 5 • May 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 27, 2020
Accepted: Sep 14, 2020
Published online: Feb 18, 2021
Published in print: May 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Jul 18, 2021
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