Construction and Building Materials 205 (2019) 10–20

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Construction and Building Materials

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

Experimental study on fatigue properties of normal and rubberized

self-compacting concrete under bending
Xudong Chen a,⇑, Zhiheng Liu a, Shengshan Guo b, Yebo Huang a, Wenlei Xu a
a
College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210098, China
b
China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing 100038, China

h i g h l i g h t s

Fatigue performance of normal and rubberized self-compacting concrete was tested.

The effects of rubber aggregates on fatigue behavior were provided.

Weibull distribution was used to evaluate the fatigue behavior.

Fatigue equations of concrete were established.

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

Article history: Self-compacting concrete with the unique property of flowing under its own weight has great importance
Received 6 October 2018 for the design of structures and pavements. The use of rubber aggregates in self-compacting concrete
Received in revised form 5 January 2019 improves its working performance such as fatigue behavior and ductility. With respect to the influences
Accepted 27 January 2019
of maximum stress level, loading frequency and stress ratio, the fatigue behavior of normal self-
compacting concrete (NSCC) and rubberized self-compacting concrete (RSCC) under four-point bending
was investigated. Considering the number of cycles to failure and the developments of strain and stiff-
Keywords:
ness, RSCC shows improvements in fatigue behavior and resistance of deformation compared to NSCC.
Normal and rubberized self-compacting
concrete
Furthermore, because the fatigue lives were discrete, the fatigue lives of NSCC and RSCC were modeled
Fatigue by the two-parameter Weibull distribution. Based on the results, double logarithmic fatigue equations
Four-point bending which provide a way to predict the fatigue life were established.
Stress level Ó 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Loading frequency
Stress ratio
Weibull distribution

1. Introduction
As one of the latest innovations in concrete technology, normal
self-compacting concrete (NSCC) was firstly proposed by scholars
from Japan. NSCC which flows under its own weight with no need
for vibration provides benefits beyond conventional concrete in
these aspects: saving time, reducing overall cost, avoiding vibrat-
ing noise and improving working environment [1]. NSCC has gen-
erated tremendous interest among researchers and it is expected
to replace most of normally vibrated concrete [1–3].
But researches showed that due to the lack of vibration, there
are some unstable bubbles existing in NSCC [4], leading to its poor
ductility and fatigue performance. In order to improve its perfor-
mance, rubber aggregates were applied in NSCC. The application
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: xdchen@hhu.edu.cn (X. Chen), guoss@iwhr.com (S. Guo).
of rubber in concrete also was beneficial for protecting the envi-
ronment. With the rapid development of automobile and rubber
industry, the scrap rubber like grinded tires surged has caused seri-
ous ‘black pollution’ [5,6]. The application of rubber aggregates in
NSCC is one of the ways to deal with the waste rubber products
especially grinded tires [7]. Rubber aggregates made from grinded
tires are elastic. It results its great resistance to deformation. RSCC
combines the benefits of NSCC and rubber aggregates. Investiga-
tions documented in literature demonstrated that improvements
were found in ductility and fatigue performance of RSCC [8,9].
However, the use of rubber aggregates in concrete still faces
some challenges. Incorporating rubber aggregates in the concrete
mix will result in degradation of physical and mechanical proper-
ties. Hesami et al. [10] found that rubber crumb decreases com-
pressive strength, tensile strength and flexural strength of the
hardened concrete. Zhou et al. [11] found that as the rubber con-
tent increased, the flexural strength of concrete beams decreased.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.01.207
0950-0618/Ó 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
 X. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 205 (2019) 10–20
Eldin and Senouci [12] mixed rubber aggregates with different
sizes into concrete. Results showed that with the aggregates sizes
increasing, the concrete mixtures exhibited lower splitting
strength and compressive strength.
Research works showed that concrete including rubber aggre-
gates has been used as structural components and pavements
[5]. But the wide application of RSCC still faces a challenge of lack
of comprehensive understanding. Furthermore, the fatigue behav-
ior of concrete under bending was an important parameter for the
design of structures and pavements. Therefore, in this investiga-
tion, experimental study on fatigue performance of NSCC and RSCC
under bending was carried out. The fatigue performance of con-
crete was mainly affected by loading condition, stress level, loading
frequency, stress ratio, mechanical properties and waveform [13].
Chen et al. reported that the fatigue behavior of concrete was influ-
enced by stress level and loading frequency, the number of cycles
to failure decreased as the increasing of stress level and the
decreasing of loading frequency [14]. The results of a research on
high-strength concrete demonstrate that the triangular waveform
leads to larger number of cycles to failure than the sinusoidal
under same stress levels [15]. Ganesan et al. added the scrap rub-
ber to NSCC and investigated its fatigue performance under various
stress levels. As a result, an improvement in the fatigue perfor-
mance was found under the effects of rubber [16]. But for further
study, the influence of more parameters should be selected to eval-
uate the fatigue behavior of RSCC.
In this investigation, with respect the effects of stress level,
loading frequency and stress ratio, the fatigue performance of
NSCC and RSCC was researched. The effects of rubber aggregates
on fatigue performance and deformation were analyzed. Further-
more, taking discrete number of cycles to failure into account, Wei-
bull distribution was used to describe the probability distributions
of fatigue life.
2. Experimental study
2.1. Materials
The mix proportions of NSCC and RSCC are shown in Table 1. Cement, fly ash,
silica fume, water, water reducing agent, rubber aggregate, sand and gravel are used
in this research. P.O.42.5 plain Portland cement with a density of 3100 kg/m3 was
used as the binder. Coarse aggregate was gravel with a maximum size of 15 mm
and an apparent density of 2650 kg/m3. Fine aggregate used in the research was
natural river sand. The sand content is 56% of the total aggregate mass in this
investigation, i.e. the sand rate is 56%. The particle size of river sand fits well with
the JGJ/T283-2012 [17] and ASTM C33 [18]. In RSCC, the fine aggregate was
replaced by rubber aggregate in the same volume. Rubber aggregates with a density
of 1060 kg/m3 were obtained by shredding the grinded tires and were sieved with a
size of 2 mm  4 mm. The percentage volume of replacement chosen in this
research was 10%. To improve the workability of concrete, polycarboxylic acid
water reducer was used.
2.2. Specimen properties
Standard molds with size of 100 mm  100 mm  400 mm were used to cast
specimens. Before the addition of water, to ensure that the rubber aggregates were
evenly distributed in the concrete matrix, rubber aggregates and other components
of concrete are mixed for 2 min. Furthermore, the result of measurement showed
that the slump flow of fresh concrete was 695 mm meeting the requirement of
the JGJ/T283-2012 [17]. The mold used for the molding of fresh concrete was
removed three days later. Then these specimens were put into some barrels in
the laboratory. The barrels were fulfilled with water. The specimens were cured
in water at room temperature. To ensure strength, the specimens were taken out
Table 1
Mix proportions of NSCC and RSCC (kg/m3).
Specimen Cement Fly ash Silica fume Water
NSCC 385 139 26 200
RSCC 385 139 26 200
11
until the time of fatigue tests. The plan of the experimental study was composed
of 8 static flexural tests and 112 flexural fatigue tests. A total of 120 specimens were
prepared including 60 NSCC specimens and 60 RSCC specimens.
2.3. Experimental procedure
In this research, static flexural tests and flexural fatigue tests under four-point
bending were conducted by the hydraulic servo-controlled electrical material test-
ing system MTS 810 (MTS). The support span is 300 mm and each support is located
50 mm from the end of the specimen. The upper span is 100 mm. The position of
support and upper loading point were determined by drawing line. During the test,
the force was measured by the force sensors of the test device. The deformation was
measured by an extensometer. To ensure the fracture position in the range of mea-
surement, each fixture was fixed 150 mm from the end of the specimen in the range
of pure bending section. The data was measured continuously, whereby the sam-
pling rate was 100 Hz. Sine wave is chosen in the test. Furthermore, test conditions
mentioned above conform to GB/T 50081-2002 [19]. Test device and loading pro-
gram was shown in Fig. 1.
With respect to stress level (S = fmax/fa), loading frequency (f) and stress ratio
(R = fmin/fmax), the fatigue behavior of NSCC and RSCC was researched in this inves-
tigation. fa is the mean value of static flexural tests, fmax is the maximum stress of
fatigue test and fmin is the minimum stress. Three stress levels, three loading fre-
quencies and three stress ratios were selected in this experimental study. Experi-
mental programs are shown in Table 2.
3. Analysis of test results
3.1. Static flexural tests
With a loading rate of 0.1 kN/s, static flexural tests on NSCC and
RSCC were conducted to determine fmax and fmin. Static test results
are shown in Table 3. Results demonstrate that the flexural
strength of RSCC is lower than that of NSCC. Investigation docu-
mented in literature demonstrated that the reduction of flexural
strength resulted from the corporation of rubber aggregates. Fur-
thermore, the flexural strength decreased with an increase of rub-
ber content [20]. The reduction can be attribute to following
reasons [4,20]: (1) During the process of mixing, air bubbles cling-
ing to rubber aggregates resulted in that air was entrapped in the
concrete. (2) The weak bond between rubber aggregates and
cement paste result in the quick failure of the rubber-cement
matrix. As the absence of adhesion between rubber aggregates
and cement, rubber aggregates played the role of voids.
3.2. The number of cycles to failure
The number of cycles to failure was defined as fatigue life Nf
[14]. The results of fatigue tests were usually discrete. Hence, in
this investigation, both the single value and the mean value of fati-
gue tests was analyzed. Due to the limitation of the number of
tests, the evidence of analysis was limited. Therefore, some inves-
tigations documented in literature were taken into consideration.
3.2.1. Influence of the stress level
In this part, the fatigue properties of NSCC and RSCC were
researched under the stress level of 0.95, 0.90 and 0.85. The loading
frequency and stress ratio were kept constant. Fig. 2 showed the
results of fatigue tests and results of other investigations [16,21].
The mean values of fatigue lives under different stress levels were
connected by polylines. It can be found that as the stress level
increases, the average fatigue life decreases. It agrees with the con-
clusions documented in literature [16,21]. The influence of stress
Water reducer Rubber aggregate Sand Gravel
7.5 0 1018 800
7.5 41.5 916.2 800
12 X. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 205 (2019) 10–20

Fig. 1. Test device and loading program.

Table 2 Comparing the fatigue behavior of NSCC and RSCC, under a cer-
Experimental programs. tain stress level, an improvement in fatigue lives of RSCC can be
Influence factor Stress level Loading frequency Stress ratio found. The results demonstrate that the improvement is relatively
smaller when stress level is high and becomes relatively larger
Stress level 0.85, 0.90, 0.95 0.90 0.90
Loading frequency 4 Hz 0.25 Hz, 1 Hz, 4 4 Hz with the decrease of stress level. Furthermore, as the rubber con-
Stress ratio 0.3 0.3 0.1, 0.3, 0.5 tent increases, investigations [16,21] documented in literature
demonstrated that the fatigue lives of concrete incorporating rub-
ber aggregates show an uptrend. The results indicated that the
level on fatigue lives can be attributed to the damage accumulation incorporation of rubber aggregates has a positive effect on the fati-
rate [14]. The increase of stress level results in a larger damage in gue behavior of concrete. The reasons can be summarized as fol-
same numbers of cycles. lows. For one thing, rubber aggregates with small size can be

Table 3
Static flexural strength.

Specimen 1 2 3 4 fa
NSCC/MPa 4.60 4.18 4.34 4.42 4.38
RSCC/MPa 3.94 4.18 4.36 4.29 4.19
 X. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 205 (2019) 10–20 13

Fig. 2. Fatigue lives under different stress levels.

filled in the voids of NSCC, and that results in a higher compaction
degree of concrete. For another, rubber aggregates with great resis-
tance of deformation can absorb the strain energy during the pro-
cess of tests.
3.2.2. Influence of the loading frequency
To investigate the influence of the loading frequency, fatigue
tests under different loading frequency of 4 Hz, 1 Hz and 0.25 Hz
were conducted. The stress level was kept constant as 0.90 and
the stress ratio was 0.30. The results were shown in Table 4. The
single values and mean values of fatigue life were shown together
with other results documented in literature [22,23] in Fig. 3. The
mean values were connected by polylines. It is obvious that the
higher the loading frequency is, the larger the number of cycles
to failure is. Chen et al. [14] attributed it to the effect of loading
rate, that increasing of loading rate results in a higher tensile
strength of concrete. Saucedo et al. explained this phenomenon
from the dynamic behavior of concrete. The increasing of loading
frequency resulted in an increase of the dynamic exponent [24].
But the effect of the loading frequency is not linear. It can be seen
from the figure, that as the loading frequency increases, the slope
becomes smaller, especially the results of [22]. Furthermore, the
improvement of fatigue behavior in concrete incorporating rubber
aggregates also can be observed from the results. But as the loading
frequency increases, the improvement in fatigue life becomes
slighter. As it can be seen from the Fig. 3, for loading frequency
of 4 Hz, the numbers of cycles to failure are approximately same.
3.2.3. Influence of stress ratio
The influence of stress ratio was also considered in this investi-
gation. The stress level and loading frequency were kept constant.
The stress level is 0.90. The loading frequency is 4 Hz. The stress
ratio was selected from 0.50, 0.30 and 0.10. Together with test data
documented in literature [23,25], the number of cycles to failure
under different stress ratios was shown in Fig. 4. The data value
was given in the Table 5. As shown in Fig. 4, for a constant stress
level, as the stress ratio increases, the number of cycles to failure
increases. It has been found that in [25], for higher maximum
stress levels, the increase was more obvious. The relationship
between number of cycles to failure and stress is almost vertical
for higher stress levels. In addition, as it has been found that the
fatigue performance of RSCC is better than that of NSCC. It indi-
cates that the addition of rubber aggregates was benefit for
improving fatigue behavior of NSCC.
3.3. Strain and stiffness
In order to study the fatigue characteristics of concrete, the
deformation characteristics of concrete under maximum and min-
imum stress are usually researched [15]. In the fatigue tests, the
evolution curves of strain are s-shaped and the curves can be
divided into three stages. Fig. 5 showed a typical evolution curve
of strain under maximum and minimum stress. It was documented
in the literature [26] that the deformation in the first stage which is
in the range of 0–10% of the fatigue life is characterized by a dis-

Table 4
Fatigue lives of NSCC and RSCC under different loading frequencies.

f No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
NSCC
0.25 Hz Nf 2 3 17 25 84 148 150 272
1 Hz Nf 23 28 79 102 178 247 392 406
4 Hz Nf 185 242 369 459 484 608 703 918
RSCC
0.25 Hz Nf 4 6 42 72 108 134 222 400
1 Hz Nf 18 25 112 265 289 293 302 559
4 Hz Nf 126 284 391 450 538 562 812 1097
14 X. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 205 (2019) 10–20

Fig. 3. Fatigue lives under different loading frequencies.

Fig. 4. Fatigue life under different stress ratios.

Table 5
Fatigue lives of NSCC and RSCC under different stress ratios.

R No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
NSCC
0.1 Nf 22 59 69 149 170 324 349 657
0.3 Nf 185 242 369 459 484 608 703 918
0.5 Nf 250 255 310 317 372 1411 2615 3296
RSCC
0.1 Nf 25 61 92 285 405 486 594 691
0.3 Nf 126 284 391 450 538 562 812 1097
0.5 Nf 367 407 675 767 1074 1145 2479 4527

proportionate increase. This can be attributed to the internal
defects of specimen. In the second stage, i.e., in the range of 10–
90% of the fatigue life, after the redistribution of stress inside spec-
imen, because of the stable growth of crack, a linear increase of
strain can be observed. The third stage is defined as the stage to
failure. As the localization of microcrack, the strain grows rapidly
until the specimen fails. Furthermore, a typical curve of stiffness
was shown in Fig. 6. The development of stiffness is also s-
shaped and it also can be divided into three stages as the develop-
ment of strain.
Some scholars have analyzed the developments of strain and
stiffness under fatigue loading [27,28]. It was found that higher
 X. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 205 (2019) 10–20
Fig. 5. Evolution curve of strain.
Fig. 6. Typical curve of stiffness.
the stress level is, the smaller the growth of strain in the first stage
is. The development of strain under maximum stress is related to
the relative value of N/Nf. But the development is not affected by
the loading frequency. Similarly, in the fatigue tests, the higher
the stress level is, the smaller the relative loss of stiffness is. How-
ever, these researches mainly focused on the number of cycles to
failure. The developments of strain and stiffness were not analyzed
in detail. In particular, the impacts on the developments of strain
and stiffness are not analyzed in detail. Therefore, in this investiga-
tion, different parameters, such as the overall growth of strain
under maximum and minimum stress e0:01:0 max and e0:01:0
min , and the
strain at failure ef, were selected for the analysis of strain and stiff-
ness. Furthermore, because fatigue failure occurs at different stres-
ses which are mostly in the range of the maximum stress, the
strain at maximum stress in the last complete cycle which was
defined as the end strain at maximum stress e1:0 max . The parameters
considered in this research are shown in Fig. 5 exemplarily for the
development of strain under maximum stress.
3.3.1. Development of strain
Fig. 7 showed the mean values of the overall growth of strain
under maximum and minimum stress. Comparing the growth of
15
strain of NSCC and RSCC, it can be found that, with the increase
of stress level, the values of e0:01:0
max and e0:01:0
min decrease. Further-
more, the values of emax0:01:0
and emin
0:01:0
decrease with the decrease
of loading frequency and stress ratio. But the decrease of overall
growth is more pronounced, as loading frequency varies from
4 Hz to 0.25 Hz. It is different from the results of investigation doc-
umented in literature. Oneschkow [15] found that the reduction is
more pronounced as the stress level increases and the reduction as
the loading frequency decreases is smaller.
The mean values of strain at failure and end strain at maximum
stress were shown in Fig. 8. The results show that both parameters
are less influenced by the variation of fatigue loading. Considering
the influence of stress level, loading frequency and stress ratio, the
variations of strain at failure and end strain at maximum stress are
less than 10%. Besides, the variations of these parameters were in
the range of overall growth of strain under maximum stress.
The results of analysis shown in the Figs. 7 and 8 demonstrates
that the overall growth of strain, strain at failure and end strain at
maximum stress of RSCC are larger than that of NSCC. It indicates
that RSCC possesses great resistance of deformation. It can be
attributed to the corporation of rubber aggregates. It is known that
rubber aggregates have great elasticity. During the process of fati-
gue tests under four-point bending, the rubber aggregates can
absorb the deformation energy. Therefore, the toughness of con-
crete is improved and the improvement can result in the great
capacity of resisting deformation.
3.3.2. Development of stiffness
The development of stiffness is shown in Fig. 9. The results
show that the percentile loss of stiffness increase with the decrease
of stress level. With the increase of loading frequency, the per-
centile loss increases. This finding can be applied to both the NSCC
and RSCC. But for NSCC, when the stress ratio decreases, the per-
centile loss of stiffness increases. The value of the percentile loss
of RSCC decreases with the decrease of stress ratio. It indicates that
the effects on the relative loss of stiffness of the modifications of
fatigue loading are different. Furthermore, the effects of rubber
aggregates on the development of stiffness is irregular. Therefore,
the fatigue behavior of concrete should not be evaluated by choos-
ing only percentile loss of stiffness.
4. Weibull distribution
At the early stage of fatigue study, the researchers found that
the fatigue strength and fatigue life was discrete. Even if a lot of
efforts have been done to create the same test conditions, the test
results were discrete obviously. Therefore, it is necessary to apply
statistical theory to the analysis of test results. Investigations doc-
umented in literature found that the fatigue life complies with the
normal distribution [29] and Weibull distribution [30]. But the
normal frequency function uses the horizontal axis as its asymp-
tote and both ends of the curve can extend to infinity. The survival
rate can not reach 100% unless the logarithm of fatigue life is taken
and extended to infinity [5]. It does not match the results of fatigue
tests. In contrast, the minimum safety life was considered in the
Weibull probability density function. The Weibull distribution is
named after the Swedish mathematician Waloddi Weibull who
explained the probability distribution in detail, based on
weakest-link theory. By means of Weibull distribution, a safety life
and a minimum safety life can be obtained and they are close to
reality. Therefore, in recent years, the Weibull distribution is often
used to describe fatigue life.
In this investigation, the Weibull distribution was applied to
evaluate the fatigue life of NSCC and RSCC. Under the same work-
16 X. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 205 (2019) 10–20

Fig. 7. Overall growth of strain under maximum and minimum stress: (a) NSCC; (b) RSCC.

Fig. 8. Strain at failure and end strain at maximum stress: (a) NSCC; (b) RSCC.
 X. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 205 (2019) 10–20 17

Fig. 9. Relative loss of stiffness: (a) NSCC; (b) RSCC.

ing condition, the Weibull function f(Nf) can be used to express the The above equations are fatigue life equations described by
distribution of fatigue life Nf: Weibull functions.

 (
 ) Eq. (7) is a linear function. It can be applied to examine whether
b Nf  N0 Nf  N0 b the data of fatigue tests conform to the two-parameter Weibull
f ðN f Þ ¼ exp  ðN 0  Nf < 1Þ
Na  N0 Na  N0 Na  N0 distribution. Linear regression analysis was performed on the
ð1Þ results of tests. If relationship between Y and X shows a good linear
correlation, it indicates that the data of tests conform to the two-
where b is shape parameter of the Weibull, Na is the characteristic parameter Weibull distribution. The relationship between Nf and
life, N0 is the minimum safety life. P can be expressed as the following:
The fatigue life Nf is Weibull variation. The fatigue life under
survival rate of P is defined as N. The distribution function F(N) is i
P ¼1 ð8Þ
the derivation of Eq. (1): K þ1
(
b )
N  N0 where K is the number of fatigue data at the given stress level, i is
FðNÞ ¼ PðNf < NÞ ¼ 1  exp  ð2Þ the sequence number of specimens.
Na  N0

The probability of failure is P (Nf < N). Then: 4.1. Analysis of fatigue life
(
b )
N  N0 The fatigue lives of NSCC under different stress levels are listed
PðNf > NÞ ¼ 1  PðNf < NÞ ¼ exp  ð3Þ
Na  N0 in Table 6 together with the results of analysis. The fatigue life of
RSCC and results of analysis are listed in Table 7. The abscissa of
From the Eq. (3), if b, Na and N0 are all known under a certain
axis is ln Ni. The ordinate of axis is ln[ln(1/P)]. Regression coeffi-
survival rate P, N can be obtained.
cients a and b at different stress levels were obtained by linear
Because the strength of concrete is discrete, the N0 of normal
fitting.
and rubberized self-compacting concrete are taken as 0. Therefore,
Table 8 shows the results of linear regression of NSCC and RSCC.
Eq. (1) can be simplified into two-parameter Weibull function as
It can be observed from the table that the data of tests is approxi-
follows:
mately linear distribution. The correlation factors of the fitting

 (
 )
b results are close to 1. This indicates that Y and X under different
b Nf Nf
fðNf Þ ¼ exp  ð0  N < 1Þ ð4Þ stress levels are linearly dependent. That is to say, the fatigue life
Na Na Na
conforms to the two-parameter Weibull distribution.
The survival rate P and the failure probability can be expressed
as: 4.2. Fatigue life under different failure probabilities
(
 )
b
N
P ¼ exp  ð5Þ In engineering practice, two kinds of S-N curves are mainly con-
Na sidered. The first one is the S-N curve under the failure probability
(
 ) of 0.5. It can be used to determine the fatigue limit strength which
b
N provides a reference for the preliminary design of structure. The
1  P ¼ 1  exp  ð6Þ second one is the S-N curve under the failure probability 0.05. It
Na
can be used to determine the conditional fatigue ultimate strength
  
Let Y ¼ ln ln 1P , X ¼ lnN, a ¼ blnN a . Then, Eq. (5) can be simpli- providing a reference for the fatigue design of structures.
fied as: In fact, in order to meet the requirements of structures design, it
is necessary to establish the S-N curves under different survival
Y ¼ bX  a ð7Þ rates. By calculating the fatigue life at different survival rates, the
18 X. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 205 (2019) 10–20

Table 6
Analysis of fatigue life of NSCC.
  
Stress level Specimen number Fatigue life Ni ln N i P ¼ 1  Kþ1
i ln ln 1P

0.95 1 16 2.772589 0.888889 2.13891

2 22 3.091042 0.777778 1.38105
3 39 3.663562 0.666667 0.90272
4 61 4.110874 0.555556 0.53139
5 98 4.584967 0.444444 0.20957
6 100 4.60517 0.333333 0.094048
7 136 4.912655 0.222222 0.40818
8 137 4.919981 0.111111 0.787195
0.90 1 85 4.442651 0.888889 2.13891
2 142 4.955827 0.777778 1.38105
3 369 5.910797 0.666667 0.90272
4 459 6.12905 0.555556 0.53139
5 484 6.182085 0.444444 0.20957
6 608 6.410175 0.333333 0.094048
7 703 6.555357 0.222222 0.40818
8 918 6.822197 0.111111 0.787195
0.85 1 504 6.222576 0.888889 2.13891
2 659 6.490724 0.777778 1.38105
3 1002 6.909753 0.666667 0.90272
4 1066 6.971669 0.555556 0.53139
5 1280 7.154615 0.444444 0.20957
6 1695 7.435438 0.333333 0.094048
7 2906 7.974533 0.222222 0.40818
8 4944 8.50593 0.111111 0.787195

Table 7
Analysis of fatigue life of RSCC.
  
Stress level Specimen number Fatigue life Ni ln N i P ¼ 1  Kþ1
i ln ln 1P

0.95 1 36 3.583519 0.888889 2.13891

2 75 4.317488 0.777778 1.38105
3 77 4.343805 0.666667 0.90272
4 93 4.532599 0.555556 0.53139
5 102 4.624973 0.444444 0.20957
6 145 4.976734 0.333333 0.094048
7 147 4.990433 0.222222 0.40818
8 151 5.01728 0.111111 0.787195
0.90 1 126 4.836282 0.888889 2.13891
2 284 5.648974 0.777778 1.38105
3 391 5.968708 0.666667 0.90272
4 450 6.109248 0.555556 0.53139
5 538 6.287859 0.444444 0.20957
6 562 6.331502 0.333333 0.094048
7 812 6.6995 0.222222 0.40818
8 1097 7.000334 0.111111 0.787195
0.85 1 933 6.838405 0.888889 2.13891
2 1447 7.277248 0.777778 1.38105
3 1524 7.329094 0.666667 0.90272
4 1636 7.40001 0.555556 0.53139
5 1970 7.585789 0.444444 0.20957
6 2293 7.737616 0.333333 0.094048
7 3249 8.086103 0.222222 0.40818
8 7602 8.936167 0.111111 0.787195

Table 8
Results of linear regression of NSCC and RSCC.

Stress level Specimen type b a R

0.95 NSCC 1.143 5.15069 0.94958
RSCC 1.93095 9.2669 0.91777
0.90 NSCC 1.14746 7.28415 0.93271
RSCC 1.43549 9.25554 0.96356
0.85 NSCC 1.2284 9.33878 0.89814
RSCC 1.3765 11.0129 0.78593
 X. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 205 (2019) 10–20 19

Table 9
The fatigue life of NSCC and RSCC under different survival rates.

Kinds of specimen Stress level Survival rate

0.95 0.90 0.80 0.70 0.60 0.50
NSCC 0.95 7 13 24 37 50 66
0.90 43 81 155 233 319 416
0.85 178 321 591 865 1159 1486
RSCC 0.95 26 38 56 71 86 100
0.90 80 132 220 308 395 489
0.85 345 582 1003 1410 1831 2286

fatigue equation of concrete can be obtained. Then, the fatigue lgS ¼ a þ blgNf ð10Þ
strength of concrete can also be obtained. According to Eq. (5):
It is obvious that the fatigue behavior of concrete described by
1
the Eq. (10) depends on the parameters of intercept a and slope b
Nf ¼ Na jlnðPÞjb ð9Þ The value of slope reflects the sensitivity of concrete to the change
of stress levels. The value of intercept will decide the height of
By using the Eq. (9), the fatigue lives of NSCC and RSCC under
curve. According to Eq. (10), the coefficients of the equation and
different survival rates can be obtained. The results of calculations
the relevance factor R can be obtained by fitting the results listed
are shown in Table 9. It can be found that under a certain stress
in Table 9. The values of coefficients are shown in Table 10.
level, the fatigue lives of NSCC and RSCC decrease with survival
It can be seen that the correlation factors of the fatigue equa-
rate P increases.
tions are all larger than 0.97. It indicates that distribution of the
Usually, the S-N fatigue equation at a survival rate is expressed
fatigue lives of NSCC and RSCC can be described by the Weibull dis-
as a single logarithmic equation or a double logarithmic equation.
tribution. The lg S - lg Nf curves of NSCC and RSCC are shown in
In this investigation, the double logarithmic fatigue equation is
Fig. 10. Furthermore, the double logarithmic equations of NSCC
extensively used:
and RSCC under failure probability of 0.05 and 0.50 are presented
in Table 11. Fig. 11 shows the comparation of fatigue curves of
Table 10 NSCC and RSCC when the failure probability is 0.05 and 0.50. As
The results of fitting. it has been found that the fatigue behavior of RSCC is better than
Specimen Survival rate a b R that of NSCC. It is obvious that the RSCC fatigue curves are steeper
than that of NSCC, especially under the failure probability of 0.05.
NSCC 0.95 0.00765 0.03416 0.98512
0.90 0.01722 0.03441 0.98111
0.80 0.02642 0.03435 0.97558
0.70 0.03376 0.03491 0.97478
0.60 0.03846 0.03495 0.97177
0.50 0.04326 0.03526 0.97089 Table 11
The double logarithmic equations.
RSCC 0.95 0.03748 0.04287 0.99249
0.90 0.04148 0.04069 0.99764 Probability NSCC RSCC
0.80 0.04488 0.03853 0.99962 of failure
0.70 0.0467 0.03722 0.99994
0.60 0.04828 0.03637 0.99959 0.05 lg S ¼ 0:00765  0:03416lg N f lgS ¼ 0:03748  0:04287lg N f
0.50 0.04913 0.03554 0.99881 0.5 lg S ¼ 0:04326  0:03526lg N f lgS ¼ 0:04913  0:03554lg N f

Fig. 10. Lg S – lg Nf curves under different survival rates: (a) NSCC; (b) RSCC.
20 X. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 205 (2019) 10–20
Fig. 11. Fatigue curves of NSCC and RSCC under failure probability of 0.05 and 0.50.
5. Conclusion
In this investigation, rubber aggregates were applied into
NSCC to improve its performance in structure and pavement.
In order to research the effects of rubber aggregates, experimen-
tal studies were carried out. The fatigue and deformation proper-
ties of RSCC and NSCC were researched. Based on the results
obtained from tests and analysis, the following conclusions can
be obtained:
1. Under four-point bending, as the increasing of stress level, the
decreasing of loading frequency and the decreasing of stress
ratio, the fatigue lives of both NSCC and RSCC decrease. Further-
more, in all working conditions, the average fatigue lives of
RSCC are larger than that of NSCC. It indicates that rubber
aggregates effectively improved the fatigue performance of
NSCC.
2. Some parameters were selected to evaluate the development of
strain and stiffness of NSCC and RSCC under fatigue loading. The
results of analysis show that RSCC possesses better toughness.
The application of rubber aggregates to NSCC was seen to
enhance the resistance of deformation.
3. The results of research show that the fatigue lives of NSCC and
RSCC at a certain stress level can be modeled by the two-
parameter Weibull distribution. In addition, double logarithmic
fatigue equations which provide a reference for the design of
structures under different failure probabilities were
established.
4. Although the incorporation of rubber aggregates in NSCC results
in improvements in fatigue behavior and resistance of deforma-
tion, applying the RSCC to practice such as structures and pave-
ments still faces a challenge of lack of comprehensive
understanding. Deeper investigations aiming at the effects of
rubber content, the kinds of rubber and the damage mechanism
of RSCC under fatigue loading should be conducted and that will
be the future lines of researches.
Conflict of interest
None.
Acknowledgements
The research is based upon the work supported by the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51779085) and
Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST (Grant No.
2017QNRC001) granted to the corresponding author Prof. Xudong
Chen.
References
[1] S. Goel, S.P. Singh, Fatigue performance of plain and steel fibre reinforced self
compacting concrete using S-N relationship, Eng. Struct. 74 (2014) 65–73.
[2] N. Su, K.C. Hsu, H.W. Chai, A simple mix design method for self-compacting
concrete, Cem. Concr. Res. 31 (2001) 1799–1807.
[3] H.J.H. Brouwers, H.J. Radix, Self-compacting concrete: theoretical and
experimental study, Cem. Concr. Res. 35 (2005) 2116–2136.
[4] I. Mohammadi, H. Khabbaz, K. Vessalas, In-depth assessment of Crumb Rubber
Concrete (CRC) prepared by water-soaking treatment method for rigid
pavements, Constr. Build. Mater. 71 (2014) 456–471.
[5] F. Liu, L.Y. Meng, G.F. Ning, et al., Fatigue performance of rubber-modified
recycled aggregate concrete (RRAC) for pavement, Constr. Build. Mater. 95
(2015) 207–217.
[6] R. Pacheco-Torres, E. Cerro-Prada, F. Escolano, et al., Fatigue performance of
waste rubber concrete for rigid road pavements, Constr. Build. Mater. 176
(2018) 539–548.
[7] K. Bisht, P.V. Ramana, Evaluation of mechanical and durability properties of
crumb rubber concrete, Constr. Build. Mater. 155 (2017) 811–817.
[8] H. Zhu, B. Rong, R. Xie, et al., Experimental investigation on the floating of
rubber particles of crumb rubber concrete, Constr. Build. Mater. 164 (2018)
644–654.
[9] T. Gonen, Freezing-thawing and impact resistance of concretes containing
waste crumb rubbers, Constr. Build. Mater. 177 (2018) 436–442.
[10] S. Hesami, I.S. Hikouei, S.A.A. Emadi, Mechanical behavior of self-compacting
concrete pavements incorporating recycled tire rubber crumb and reinforced
with polypropylene fiber, J. Cleaner Prod. 133 (2016) 228–234.
[11] M. Zhou, H. Zhu, C.S. Liu, Effect of crumb rubber proportion on flexural
behavior of concrete and evaluation methodology, Bull. Chin. Ceram. Soc. 28
(2009) 264–268.
[12] N.N. Eldin, A.B. Senouci, Rubber-Tire particles as concrete aggregate, J. Mater.
Civ. Eng. 5 (1993) 478–496.
[13] H. Li, M.H. Zhang, J.P. Ou, Flexural fatigue performance of concrete containing
nano-particles for pavement, Int. J. Fatigue 29 (2007) 1292–1301.
[14] X. Chen, J. Bu, X. Fan, et al., Effect of loading frequency and stress level on low
cycle fatigue behavior of plain concrete in direct tension, Constr. Build. Mater.
133 (2017) 367–375.
[15] Nadja Oneschkow, Fatigue behaviour of high-strength concrete with respect to
strain and stiffness, Int. J. Fatigue 87 (2016) 38–49.
[16] N. Ganesan, Raj J. Bharati, A.P. Shashikala, Flexural fatigue behavior of self-
compacting rubberized concrete, Constr. Build. Mater. 44 (2013) 7–14.
[17] JGJ/T283-2012 Technical specification for application of self-compacting
concrete, Beijing, China Construction Industry Publications, 2012.
[18] ASTM C 33, Standard Specification for Concrete Aggregates, American Society
for Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken, PA, 2004.
[19] GB/T 50081-2002, Standard for test method of mechanical properties on
ordinary concrete, Beijing, China construction Industry Publications, 2002.
[20] N.N. Hilal, Hardened properties of self-compacting concrete with different
crumb rubber size and content, Int. J. Sustain. Built. Environ. 6 (2017) 191–206.
[21] F. Liu, W. Zheng, L. Li, et al., Mechanical and fatigue performance of rubber
concrete, Constr. Build. Mater. 47 (2013) 711–719.
[22] A. Medeiros, X. Zhang, G. Ruiz, et al., Effect of the loading frequency on the
compressive fatigue behavior of plain and fiber reinforced concrete, Int. J.
Fatigue 70 (2015) 342–350.
[23] B. Zhang, D.V. Phillips, K. Wu, Effects of loading frequency and stress reversal
on fatigue life of plain concrete, Mag. Concr. Res. 48 (1996) 361–375.
[24] L. Saucedo, C.Y. Rena, A. Medeiros, et al., A probabilistic fatigue model based on
the initial distribution to consider frequency effect in plain and fiber
reinforced concrete, Int. J. Fatigue 48 (2013) 308–318.
[25] M.E. Awad, Strength and deformation characteristics of plain concrete
subjected to high repeated and sustained loads, University of Illinois
Engineering Experiment Station. College of Engineering. University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign, 1971.
[26] H. Thun, U. Ohlsson, L. Elfgren, A deformation criterion for fatigue of concrete
in tension, Struct. Concr. 12 (2011) 187–197.
[27] J.O. Holmen, Fatigue of concrete by constant and variable amplitude loading,
ACI Spec. Publ. 75 (1979) 71–110.
[28] M.T. Do, O. Chaallal, P.C. Aïtcin, Fatigue behavior of high-performance
concrete, J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 5 (1993) 96–111.
[29] S. Inoue, T. Kuroda, S. Takai, et al., Fatigue characteristics of concrete and
concrete member using low quality aggregates, J. Soc. Mater. Sci. Jpn. 61
(2012) 825–830.
[30] S.P. Singh, S.K. Kaushik, Flexural fatigue life distributions and failure
probability of steel fibrous concrete, ACI Mater. J. 97 (2000) 658–667.