Construction and Building Materials 54 (2014) 541–549

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Glass reinforced concrete panels containing recycled tyres: Evaluation

of the acoustic properties of for their use as sound barriers
J.M. Pastor a,⇑, L.D. García a, S. Quintana a, J. Peña a,b,⇑
a
Escuela Politécnica de Cuenca (EPC), UCLM, Campus Universitario s/n, 16170 Cuenca, Spain
b
Dept. Química Inorgánica y Bioinorgánica, Fac. Farmacia. Ciudad Universitaria s/n, UCM, 28040 Madrid, Spain

h i g h l i g h t s

 Crumbed tyre can be integrated in the slurry and projected to prepare GRC panels.
 Tyres induce a loss on flexural strength but better toughness and impact resistance.
 The durability test does not evidence large changes on the mechanical performance.
 A decrease on the density and variation on the pore distribution has been observed.
 The selective absorption maxima found expands the applicability of rubberised GRC.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This work aims to evaluate the inclusion of waste tyres within Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete panels as a
Received 10 August 2013 way to reduce the quantity of sand while giving a second use to a recycled material thus reaching a
Received in revised form 10 December 2013 double ecological benefit. At the same time these materials are characterized from the acoustic point
Accepted 12 December 2013
of view envisaging its possible use as a barrier against the pollution caused by noise. The influence of
Available online 25 January 2014
the rubber inclusion on the mechanical performance as well as on the microstructure and texture is con-
sidered. The durability of these panels is tested, by subjecting them to different aging treatments that
Keywords:
include the drying/soaking cycles and temperature variations to which the material is exposed in a real
Glass reinforced concrete
Recycling
situation.
Acoustic properties Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Durability
Prefabricated façade panels

1. Introduction non-structural, in that they are designed to support their own

Glass fiber reinforced (GRC) composite materials consist of high
strength glass fiber embedded in a cementitious matrix. In this
form, both fibers and matrix retain their physical and chemical
identities, yet they produce a combination of properties that
cannot be achieved with either of the components acting alone.
In general fibers are the principal load-carrying members, while
the surrounding matrix keeps them in the desired locations and
orientation, acting as a load transfer medium between them, and
protects them from environmental damage. In fact, the fibers
provide reinforcement for the matrix and other useful functions
in fiber-reinforced composite materials [1,2].
Commercially, GRC is used to make large, lightweight panels
that are often used as façades. These panels are considered
⇑ Corresponding author at: Escuela Politécnica de Cuenca (EPC), UCLM, Campus
Universitario s/n, 16170 Cuenca, Spain. Tel.: +34 913941789.
E-mail address: juanpena@ucm.es (J. Peña).
weight plus seismic and wind loadings, much in the way glass
window curtain walls are designed. The panels are considered
lightweight because of the thinness of the material, not because
GRC concrete has a significantly lower density than normal con-
crete. Façade panels are normally bonded to a structural steel
frame that supports the panel and provides connection points for
hanging. GRC does not replace reinforced concrete when true load
carrying capacity is required. It is best used for complex, three-
dimensional shells where loads are light. Lately, GRC has been
employed in structural applications such as telecommunications
towers, precast roves or industrial floors [3–6].
Following the growing interest on sustainable construction, -the
global market for green building is estimated, according to differ-
ent reports, to grow in several cents of billions in the present
decade- [7–11], some authors defend the relation between GRC
and sustainable construction taking into account that the main
components (cement, sand and fiber glass) are extracted from
naturally occurring minerals and cannot be regarded as pollutants

0950-0618/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2013.12.040
542 J.M. Pastor et al. / Construction and Building Materials 54 (2014) 541–549
and can be easily recycled by simple crushing and land filled. In
addition these raw ingredients are made with available resources
or recycled content that are generally locally or regionally pro-
duced, thus reducing the environmental impact caused by the
transportation. One of the main characteristics of GRC is its re-
duced thickness and weight, i.e. less material is employed than
other traditional precast equivalents. Consequently, in addition to
inferior quantities of the raw ingredients (up to 80%) employed,
higher energy efficiency is reached due to the reduction in the
transportations costs, installations easiness and superstructure
and foundations saving. On the other hand, since these materials
do not contain metallic reinforcements possible problems derived
from corrosion are discarded [12].
Despite all this, GRC may not be that green taking into consid-
eration that the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) con-
siders Green construction materials to those materials composed
of renewable, recyclable or reusable resources that can be used
indefinitely without negatively impacting on the environment
[13]. The main problem is the high content of cement whose pro-
duction accounts for over a 5% of the world́s carbon emissions and
implies other negative effects as the mercury emanations by the
cements kilns [14].
Different strategies have been initiated to improve the greenness
of GRC such as a careful selection of raw materials and its partial
substitution by recycled by-products of other industries or a prop-
er design and more advanced production technology. In this sense
silica fume, fly ash or vegetable residues [15] have been introduced
in GRC formulations. Despite the considerable number of papers
devoted to the inclusion of spare plastics [16–18], and more specif-
ically rubber within concrete [16,17,19–22], scarce works have
considered the introduction of this residue in GRC panels.
Spare tyres, the recycled material introduced in this work has
been extensively studied by several authors considering the envi-
ronmental consequences of their inadequate elimination that gen-
erates, when burned, pollutants to the atmosphere (fumes and
particulate matter) and soil (oils) [23]. Unfortunately the increase
of potential uses is below the quantity of end-of-life tyres gener-
ated, indeed considering that, according to different organizations,
the quantity of cast-off tyres will considerably increment in the
next decades [24–26]. Among the purposes where tyres have been
employed (in agriculture to seal silos, in onshore and offshore
breakwaters, in retaining walls in harbors and estuaries to buffer
the impact of ships, and in artificial reefs to improve fishing, in
the form of rubber granulate, for synthetic and natural football
pitches and for kindergarten play areas since rubber softens the
impact of falls. . .) the construction industry has become as one of
the strategies to reduce this waste.
The so termed rubberized concrete is characterized, when com-
pared to conventional concrete, by a lower workability, compres-
sive and tensile strength, but an improved flexural strength
(toughness) and propagation of cracks in the materials that yields
a less fragile rupture and a lower modulus of elasticity, lower den-
sity values, better fire performance and better resistance to freeze/
thaw cycles [19–22,27,28]. Considering all these modifications on
the rubberized concrete specific applications have been found re-
lated to the increased capacity to absorb energy from impacts thus
reducing the damage from collisions [29–33], as well as to the
noise reduction in asphalt [34–37] and pavements [38,39] that in
addition show, due to the elastic properties of rubber, decreased
cracking and greater resistance to frost/thaw cycles. Taking into
consideration its improved damping capacity lightweight plastic
based concrete composites have been proposed for earthquake
resistance building construction or the production of railway
sleepers [16,40].
Despite abundant number of uses based on the energy dissipa-
tion capacity, there are only a few works that deepen in the
acoustic characterization of rubber containing concrete [41,42].
This work focuses on the acoustic characterization of rubberized
GRC panels and its relation with the microstructure, specifically
the density, pore size distribution and porosity percentage. This
type of textural characterization may help to answer many ques-
tions related to the better behavior to fire exposition, thermal insu-
lation or the increased capacity to adsorb water.
Additionally, this work also considers the durability of this type
of materials when subjected to a cyclic weathering test. The con-
cern about this point and the possible degradation on the mechan-
ical properties continues to be a key factor to predict the effects
ageing effects on the performance of GRC materials [4,43–46]. In
addition, in order to minimize the expected decrease on compres-
sive and tensile strength, nanosilica (n-SiO2) has been introduced
into the formulations and evaluated after the ageing test.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Panels fabrication
Different formulations (Table 1) based on the composition usually employed to
fabricate commercial panels, i.e. 50 kg of cement, 50 kg of sand, 16–18 l of water
and 0.5 kg of a plasticizer, have been prepared in this work. Two different additives:
spare tyres and commercial nanosilica have been included. The 5 or 10 kg of recy-
cled tyres included instead of the equivalent quantity of sand was sieved below
2 mm in order to facilitate the passage of the tyres granules through the projection
system.
These formulations were employed to prepare 50  80 cm panels. An alkali-
resistant fiber at a percentage of 3% was employed, being the fiber/mortar ratio
adjusted between 4.67 and 5.00. The quantity of water varied as a function of the
environmental conditions and the components’ requirements. The casting of the
panels was carried out by spray up; the concrete is sprayed out of a gun-like nozzle
that also chops and sprays a separate stream of fibers (Fig. 1). The concrete and fi-
bers mix upon hitting the mold surface. Glass fiber is fed off of a spool in a contin-
uous thread into the gun, where blades cut it just before it is spayed. The so
obtained panels were demoded after 24 h and cured at ambient temperature inside
the factory.
2.2. Durability test
The cyclic weathering type test employed was proposed by the European
Committee for Standardization (UNE-EN_1170-8) [47]. This test incorporates the
main ageing parameters to which a glass-fiber reinforced concrete will be subjected
under natural exposure conditions: humidity, drying, temperature and corresponds
to natural weathering during 20 years. The test conditions are schematized in Fig. 2.
2.3. Panels characterization
In order to characterize the mechanical performance, the panels were cut and
divided in coupons in accordance with the standards of UNE-EN_1170-5 [48] that
rules the measurement of the bending strength.
Thermogravimetry Analysis (TGA) was performed in a SDT-Q 600 TA instru-
ments TG/DTA analyser, with 10 °C/min heating ramps. A Hg intrusion porosimetry
study was carried out using a Micromeritics AutoPore III 9410 porosimeter. In order
to determine the scaffolds densities, different types of volumes have been deter-
mined by three techniques: Hg intrusion porosimetry, He picnometry (AccuPyc
1330 Micromeritics) and manually measured by means of a micrometer. In this last
case with each linear dimension being the average of three locations along the spec-
imen, the sides and ends of each specimen were polished to render them flat and
approximately parallel. The data obtained have been calculated as an average of
Table 1
Nomenclature and nominal composition.
Cement Sand Water Tyres Plast. n-SiO2
(kg) (kg) (l) (kg) (kg) (l)
A 50 45 16–18 5 0.5
An 45 5 0.44
B 40 10
Bn 40 10 0.44
C 50 –
Cn 50 – 0.44
 J.M. Pastor et al. / Construction and Building Materials 54 (2014) 541–549 543

Fig. 1. Inclusion of recycled tyres during the GRC panels fabrication.

measurement of the normal incidence absorption coefficients and the impedance

cyclic weathering test ratios when compared with the one-third octave frequencies technique [53]. The
C50c characterization of the acoustic properties implied the extraction of circular sam-
ples (diameter = 29 mm or 100 mm, thickness = 5 mm) being the diameter of these
20oC y 60% humidity degree
pieces critical, which hindered their withdrawal, since they have to adjust precisely
28 within the samples holder.
0 days 128 As has been schematized in Fig. 3 the sound absorption measurement consisted
on an impedance tube sealed at its two ends; at one end a source sound speaker
50 cycles (each cycle 48 h.) generates the standing wave while at the other the test material is placed against
a solid non-transmitting wall. Two microphones mounted within the wall of the
tube measures the sound pressure levels. The measurement of the sound transmis-
sion measurement is based on the same concepts except that the test sample is
24h 70oC
Cycle: placed in the sound field so that the sound wave is allowed to pass through it.
Two microphones are positioned before and after the sample enabling the calcula-
tion of the transmission loss.
30` 30`

COUPONS 20oC 3. Results and discussion

IMMERSED at
20oC for 24h 3.1. Workability and projection capability

Since the fabrication technology of these panels is based on the

Fig. 2. Climatic chamber and scheme of the cyclic weathering test employed to test
the durability of GRC panels.
four sample measurements. The determination of water absorption by immersion
was determined following the standards of UNE-EN_1170-6 [49]. The micrographs
were collected by means of a Bresser Biolux NV.
2.4. Acoustic properties measurement
The material sound absorption and transmission were measured by the
standing wave tube method following established standards [50–52]. The transfer
function technique employed in this work ensures a much faster and easier
projection of slurry on a designed model, its rheological properties
result critical. At the same time the tyres additive introduced
should have a size below that of the orifices of the gun employed
to project the paste, be homogeneously dispersed causing no seg-
regation and bleeding. The inclusion of the tyres within the slurry
causes an augmentation of its viscosity as demonstrated by a de-
crease on the slump degree from 2.0 for formulations with no tyres
included to 1.5 and 1.0 for A and B compositions respectively
(Fig. 4). This viscosity increase can be explained considering the
increment in the friction between the rubber particles and those
544 J.M. Pastor et al. / Construction and Building Materials 54 (2014) 541–549
a 4
TRANSMISSION
1
3 3
2 2
1: SAMPLE 2: SOUND SOURCE
3: SIGNAL GENERATOR AND AMPLIFIER
4: MICROPHONES
HIGH FREQUENCY
4 4
2 1
b
LOW FREQUENCY 4
2 4 1
Fig. 3. Acoustic properties measurement devices: scheme (a) and instruments used to measure transmission at high (b) and low (c) frequencies; scheme (d) and device (e)
employed to measure absorption and samples of different diameters to measure at high (above) and low (below) frequencies (f).
of the different phases that compose these formulations. Despite
this, a suitable projection of the paste could be carried out. In this
sense it should be discussed the validity of the slump test that
depends on gravity on this type of slurries where the additive in-
cluded has a much lower density value. At the same time the incre-
ment in the air content entrapped as can be deduced from the
porosity percentage increase (Table 2) and already described for
rubberized concretes [27], should facilitate the slurry pumping at
high flow rates.
In any case the tyres particles do not agglomerate thus facilitat-
ing their homogenous distribution within the whole matrix leading
to a slight darkening of the panels (Fig. 1e). A thermogravimetric
analysis has been carried out in order to determine the actual
quantity of rubber within the materials by heating at a tempera-
ture (1000 °C) much over to that when the rubber has disappeared.
The obtained experimental values are slightly below to the theo-
retical ones: 8.5% (10%) and 4.3 (5%), respectively, thus revealing
that the scrap-tyre particles, which can be termed as crumb rubber
aggregates according to their size [27], are homogeneously dis-
persed within the hardened cement matrix.
3.2. Mechanical performance: influence of the ageing test
This homogeneity can observed more closely in Fig. 5 that
collects micrographs of sample A before (a–c) and after (d–f) being
subjected to the cyclic weathering type test. The examination of
the non-treated samples shows an excellent integration of the tire
particles within the cement together with the glass fibers and the
sand granules. The exposition to some of the parameters to which a
glass-fiber reinforced concrete can be subjected: humidity, drying,
temperature, does not induce significant changes on the
A [56–59] together with the rubber surface modification [58,60].
C B
Fig. 4. Slump test of the slurries employed to fabricate panels without (C), with a
5% (A) or 10% (B) of tyres.
d ABSORPTION 4
1
e
f
microstructure of the exposed panels; specifically no alterations
in the interphase between the different components as well as ab-
sence of evidences of degradation of the glass fibers.
However, the cyclic weathering does influence on the mechan-
ical performance of the panels as can be deduced from the Modulus
of Rupture (MOR) values which, as can be deduced from Fig. 6,
shows a decrease on this parameter after the cyclic weathering
which in any case results higher that a 12%. In addition this figure
also collects the rupture values of coupons aged during the same
period of time (128 days) in the interior of the laboratory without
any changes on the humidity or temperature. The obtained values,
which can be considered as a control sample to minimize the pos-
sible influence of time, show a similar decrease to that obtained for
the samples subjected to the cyclic weathering treatment. Thus,
considering this treatment, whose results can be extrapolated to
correspond to natural weathering during 20 years, or those ob-
tained after laboratory aging, it can be concluded that the materials
prepared in this work show an excellent durability with a maxi-
mum MOR decrease slightly over a 10%.
Besides this durability considerations the influence of the two
additives included can be discussed. The introduction of the tyres
provokes a decrease on the mechanical performance, which has
already been described by several authors for compression and
flexural strength in concrete with rubber additions [16,17,19–21,
28,54]. This strength reduction is minimized by the nanosilica
addition yielding rubberized GRC panels that meet the Spanish
compliance mechanical requirements (MOR > 15 N/mm2) are
slightly below the GRCA recommendations (18 N/mm2) [55]. This
decrease can be quantified, yielding a 11.5% reduction for sample
An and a 27.5 for Bn, while materials without nanosilica show
decreases over a 30%.
This decrease on the mechanical performance can be explained
considering to interdependent mechanisms: (i) the disparity be-
tween the modulus of elasticity of rubber aggregates and that of
the hard cement matrix and (ii) the abrupt change of properties
in the interfacial transition zone between these phases. The use
of nanosilica induces the formation of a denser interphase, besides
a more homogeneous cement matrix, that has been used to mini-
mize the negative impact of the scarp-tire addition in concretes
In addition to the above-described MOR reduction, the tyres
addition causes differences on the rupture behavior when sub-
jected to the flexural strength test as can be tested in Fig. 7 which
 J.M. Pastor et al. / Construction and Building Materials 54 (2014) 541–549 545

Table 2
Bulk, skeletal, solid densities, calculated porosities percentages and water.

BULK SKELETAL SOLID %Water absorption (UNE-EN_1170-6)

dg (kg/m3) dp (kg/m3) dSKE (kg/m3) PSKE (%) dSOL (kg/m3) PSOL (%)
A 1840 1950 2032 20.69 2350 21.70 7.34
An 1860 1990 2033 20.17 2360 21.18 6.63
B 1800 1890 2260 21.23 2300 22.60 8.19
Bn 1810 1920 2280 21.05 2310 22.07 7.68
C 1960 2090 2410 18.67 2440 19.67 6.86
Cn 1990 2160 2440 18.44 2470 19.43 6.31

dg: bulk density manually measured, dp: bulk density determined by Hg porosimetry. dSOL: true density obtained with a He-picnometer. PSKE and PSOL are calculated using
Eq. (1) where dg is the numerator and dSKE or dSOL used in the denominator, respectively.

the Modulus of Elasticity of aged samples: Cn (0.44), An (0.28)

a b and Bn (0.15). The higher difference is observed for control samples
and can be explained taking into consideration one of the major
concerns about the GRC products durability: the decrease on duc-
tility due to the corrosion of glass fibers in the highly alkaline envi-
100μm ronment within the cement mortar matrix [4,27,43,61–65]. The
presence of rubber aggregates seems to minimize this problem.
c
3.3. Density and porosity characterization

Some of these studies have also thoroughly characterized the

500μm
d e
f determined by two methods: measuring manually the volume by
500μm
Fig. 5. Micrographs of sample A before (a–c) and after (d–f) being subjected to the
cyclic weathering type test.
shows the load versus deflection curves of panels with nanosilica.
Since no significant differences when compared to non n-SiO2 con-
taining samples have been observed, only those have been re-
flected for clarity sake. The photographs included in the figure
allow to clearly perceive the higher ductility of the tyres containing
material (below). The load versus deflection curves included
confirms this behavior that can be quantified by calculating the
Elasticity modulus which decreases progressively from 0.34 for
Cn panels to 0.23 and 0.18 for An and Bn, respectively. A similar
tendency is observed in the Limit of Proportionality LOP, which ac-
counts for the elastic limit that evolves from 8.89 to 6.49 and 6.10
respectively. This decrease on the Modulus of Elasticity agrees with
the well-established relation to the rubber content, which can be
explained considering the complete different elasticity values of
the concrete and the rubber components. The more deformable
feature of rubber containing GRC does not result altered after
the durability test as can be deduced from the similar values of
100μm
influence of different types of rubber on the density and porosity
as well as on the capillarity and permeability. However scarce
works have been able to relate the porosity increase with changes
on the pore size distribution as well as on the open/close pores
ratio.
Three types of densities have been quantified (Table 2): First of
100μm
all the BULK (also known as envelope) density, which assumes the
volume resulting from close-fitting imaginary envelopes com-
pletely surrounding each scaffold (ASTM D3766 [66]), has been
means of a micrometer (dg) and by Hg intrusion porosimetry
(dp). The SKELETAL (also known as absolute) density, which takes
into consideration the sum of the volumes of the solid material
100μm and closed pores within the pieces, has been also determined by
Hg intrusion porosimetry at higher pressures (dSKE). Finally, the
SOLID (also known as true) density values, which consider the
volume excluding open and close pores, have been obtained in a
He picnometer (dSOL).
Two different types of porosity percentages (PSKE and PSOL)
were determined using the Eq. (1) where the BULK densities are
maintained as the numerator (d1) while the SKELETAL (dSKE) or
the SOLID (dSOL) densities appears in the denominator (d2),
respectively:
% P ¼ 100  ð1  d1 =d2 Þ ð1Þ
A decrease on the skeletal, bulk and solid density has been ob-
served as a consequence of the lower density values of the spare
rubber employed. Despite this decrease, the BULK densities, either
that determined by means of a micrometer (dg) or by Hg-intrusion
porosimetry (dp), are over the minimum bulk dry density recom-
mended by the GRCA (1800 kg/m3) [55]. The nanosilica inclusion
induces a densification process that causes a slight decrease on
the porosity. This effect seems to be due to the better packing of
the nanosized particles as well to the pozzolanic reactions pro-
duced. The scarce difference between the skeletal, associated with
546
a b
25 C 28d
C c weather. t
C 128d
20
15
2
σ N/mm
10
5 5
0 0
Fig. 6. Modulus of rupture (MOR) of panels without (a) or with (b) nanosilica before and after being aged for 128 days or subjected to the cyclic weathering test.
open porosity, and the solid, related to open and closed pores, den-
sities indicates a poor contribution of the porosity attributable to
closed pores to the overall porosity. Consequently, a great part of
the pores within the materials prepared can be analyzed by Hg-
porosimetry. This technique allows to observe (Fig. 8a) a bimodal
pore size distribution centered at 0.5 and 0.05 lm that evolves
towards an increase of the bigger pores when the tyres percentage
in increased. The creation of bigger pores can be attributed to an
imperfect integration of the rubber aggregates within the cement
matrix due to the different mechanical properties, surface hydro-
phobicity and polarity that hinders the adequate integration of
the different components particles. In addition it must be taken
into consideration that these particles are surrounded by a hydra-
tion layer that may contribute or difficult an intimate packing
between them. At the same time the cumulative intrusion curves
(Fig. 8b) shows a higher capacity to adsorb fluids for samples with
higher porosity that agrees with the quantity of water adsorbed
(Table 2). As can be deduced from its denomination these curves
represent the quantity of mercury that enters within the sample
when the pressure is progressively increased and gives an idea of
how a fluid penetrates the matrix starting from the bigger pores
and occupying progressively those smaller. However, it must be
taken into consideration that these intrusion values are calculated
for the intrusion of mercury, a bigger and heavier substance that
0.6
Bn
An
0.5 Cn
0.4
Strenght (kN)
0.3
Bn
0.2
0.1
0.0
0 2 4 6
Position (mm)
Fig. 7. Load versus deflection curves of unreinforced (C) and tyres reinforced (A-5%-,
B-10%-) GRC panels. The photographs included reflect the different breakage status
of coupons extracted from samples C and B after the bending test.
J.M. Pastor et al. / Construction and Building Materials 54 (2014) 541–549
Cn 28d An 28d Bn 28d
Cn C c weather. t An C c weather. t Bn C c weather. t
A 28d 25
B 28d Bn 128d
Cn 128d An 128d
A c weather. t B c weather. t
A 128d B 128d
20
15
2
σ N/mm
10
water that requires elevated pressures to penetrate within the sol-
ids. The variation of the permeability observed in different rubber-
ized concretes is not conclusive and seem to be highly dependent
on the different preparation and compositional parameters em-
ployed in each particular case. The worse homogeneity observed
for rubber-containing matrixes may be compensated by the less
porous nature of the rubber aggregates.
3.4. Acoustic characterization
Once discussed the pore architecture of these materials and
taking into consideration its critical role on their acoustic proper-
ties, a characterization in which the materials response to the
transmission and absorption under different frequencies is consid-
ered. Two main aspects should have a marked influence on this
behavior:
(i) The presence of completely different phases, i.e. the rubber
granules and the cementitious matrix that, in addition,
includes the glass fibers besides the sand particles, and the
corresponding interphases.
(ii) The majority open structure, where the pores are intercon-
nected, causes an increment on the airflow resistivity that
facilitates the dissipation of the noise energy.
Concerning the sound transmission no significant dissimilari-
ties can be appreciated between the different GRC materials pre-
Cn pared although they difference from the mortar that show higher
transmission looses. This dissimilarity can be related to the lower
density of GRC (1700–2100 kg/m3) with respect to conventional
concrete (2400–2500 kg/m3). In general all the samples studied
are characterized by a linear behavior based on the mass law by
which a + 6 dB/octave increase is observed (Fig. 9a). The transmis-
sion looses (TLn), i.e. the acoustic isolation capacity, of these mate-
rials slightly increase with frequency, yielding values between 10
and 50 dB. The transmission looses detected within the overlap-
ping (500–1600 Hz) between the two measuring ranges fluctuates
between 25 and 35 dB. No considerable differences can be ob-
served between glass fiber containing samples that show lower
transmission looses when compared to a mortar.
8 10
The variation of the absorption coefficients as a function of the
frequency are shown in Fig. 9b which demonstrates that the
different materials studied are characterized by a insignificant
absorbance below 1000 Hz, where the absorption coefficient re-
mains below a 5%. However, over the 1250 Hz frequencial band,
 J.M. Pastor et al. / Construction and Building Materials 54 (2014) 541–549 547

0,07 0,08
a b C
Cn
Log differential intrusion (mL/g)

Cn
An 0,07

cumulative intrusion (mL/g)

0,06 A
Bn
0,06 B
0,05 An
0,05 Bn
0,04
0,04
0,03
0,03
0,02
0,02

0,01 0,01

0,00 0,00
100 10 1 0,1 0,01 100 10 1 0,1 0,01
pore size diameter (μm) pore size diameter (μm)

Fig. 8. (a) Pore size distribution and (b) Hg cumulative intrusion of the different samples prepared.

55 1,0
a C
b
50
0,8 A
45 B
Cn
40 An
0,6
35 Bn
M
30
TLn

0,4
α

25

20 0,2

15
0,0
10

100 1000 10000 100 1000 10000

F(Hz) F(Hz)
Fig. 9. Transmission and absorption spectra of the different samples prepared. The curves of a mortar sample (M) with the same composition but not including fiber have
been incorporated.

a considerable increase of the absorption values, with a maximum infrastructures is characterized by a considerable tread noise in
over a 50% for frequencies between 2000 and 3150 Hz, is observed. the medium and high frequency bands.
These absorption maxima can be described as selective for a partic- The design of noise control elements such as acoustic barriers
ular frequency band since this maximum is constrained within a built with these types of materials would allow to absorb a great
narrow frequencial interval. part of the noise generated in this infrastructure and, consequently,
The reduced absorption at low frequency ranges has already reduce the disturbance to the different receptors. In addition, con-
been described for several types of concrete [67,68]; only extre- sidering the selective absorption feature of these materials within
mely lightweight concretes such as autoclaved aerated concrete a highly sensitive frequency zone for the human hearing, the
with density values around 400–800 kg/m3, show appreciable receptors would feel a lower psychoacoustic perception among
absorption at this low frequencies [41]. Moreover, at the mid fre- all the surrounding noise. Another of their potential applications
quencies (500 Hz), higher a values have been observed for rubber is its possible utilization for the construction of these infrastruc-
containing concretes although noticeable differences in absorption tures, since higher absorption efficiency could be reached by situ-
between lightweight and plain concrete cannot be measured until ating these materials closer to the noise source, thus reaching a
1000 Hz frequencies are reached, thus confirming the better sound superior noise reduction.
absorbing properties of tyres containing concrete at the high- The comparison between the results obtained by means of an
frequency range. impedance tube, where the sound incidences perpendicularly to
In the particular case of the materials studied in this work, the the sample surface, to values of concrete, mortars and related
selective absorption between 2000 and 3150 Hz, a zone that is con- materials collected in different data bases concerning the sound
sidered of maximum frequency-sensitivity for the human hearing, absorption properties show remarkable differences. The described
results of great applicability when a selective adsorption, without selective absorption in high frequency bands (2000–3150 Hz) has
altering the rest of the audible spectrum, is required. One of these not been previously collected in these databases; this can be
applications would be related to the absorption of the road trans- explained considering that these bibliographic data have been ob-
portation in heavily concentrated motorways with speed media tained in a reverberant chamber where no predominant incidence
over 40–50 km/h, since the emission spectrum for these type of angle is employed yielding a diffuse field. This differential factor
548 J.M. Pastor et al. / Construction and Building Materials 54 (2014) 541–549
may result of awareness when facing the real application of con-
crete or mortar based materials in situations where these materials
are subjected to a directional sound field and noticeable absorption
increments around 40–50% in the high frequency are achieved.
4. Conclusions
This work has demonstrated the benefits of substituting part of
the sand by a recycled material: tyres, thus reaching a double eco-
logical benefit without affecting to the fabrication procedure. The
presence of the rubber additive produces a decrease on the
mechanical performance, extensively described in rubberized con-
crete, which can be compensated by the introduction of nanosilica
additives. The exposition of the panels to a cyclic weathering test,
that simulates some of the humidity and temperature variations to
which this material may suffer in an actual situation, does not
cause a noticeable worsening of the mechanical performance. In
fact the more ductile behavior induced by the presence of the rub-
ber aggregates contributes to minimize the GRC panels embrittle-
ment caused by the fiber degradation with time.
The presence of rubber induces lower densities, a slight increase
on the porosity and a modification of the pore size distribution to-
wards the generation of bigger pores. However these variations do
not have a strong incidence on the transmission properties. Despite
this, the selective adsorption within a sensitive frequency zone for
the human hearing observed for concrete and, specifically, for GRC
materials results of considerable interest. This differential factor
may result of awareness when facing real applications of concrete
or mortar based materials in situations where these materials are
subjected to a directional sound field and noticeable absorption
increments around 40–50% in the high frequency are achieved.
The improved ductility and impact resistance together with the de-
scribed acoustic behavior makes rubberized concrete as a suitable
candidate to fabricate safety barriers with improved resistance to
traffic noise.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Min. de Economía y Competi-
tividad, through a INNPACTO project: ‘‘FAMAX’’ ref: IPT-420000-
2010-017 in collaboration with DRAGADOS SA (ACS Construction
Group) and by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, (project
BIA2009-10225). The authors would like to thank to all the person-
nel in SEIS for their valuable assistance in the fabrication of the
GRC panels.
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