ORI GI NAL ARTI CLE

Mechanical and damage behaviour of mortarrubber

aggregates mixtures: experiments and simulations
M. Turki I. Ben Naceur M. Makni
J. Rouis K. Sa
Received: 10 July 2008 / Accepted: 3 November 2008 / Published online: 14 November 2008
RILEM 2008
Abstract The reuse of rubber wastes of worn tires
in aggregate form, to serve as a building material, is
appreciated to preserve environment. This study aims
to examine the mechanical behaviour of a mortar
rubber aggregates material. A multi-phase model
called 2M2C (2 Mechanisms and 2 Criteria) which
take the volume fraction substitution of rubber into
account is investigated with the help of stressstrain
curves. The proposed model is based on the locali-
zation of the stress on the phases level (rubber and
mortar, respectively) and the homogenization of the
local plastic strains. The model has also incorporated
an isotropic damage variable to describe the loss of
compressive strength. The experimental tests are well
simulated by the model. Also, the simulations provide
local informations such as damage evolution and
local plastic strains.
Keywords Mortar Rubber aggregates
Mechanical behaviour Damage
Multi-mechanism model
1 Introduction
Waste management is one of the principal axes of
sustainable development in many countries in recent
years. It counts today among the main priorities with
regards to environmental protection. The conven-
tional storage of worn tires has an adverse effect on
the environment such: re danger, rodents and
mosquitoes proliferation. Due to these problems,
several states recycle the worn tires in order to
introduce them into new products. In addition, the
rubber particles of worn tire reveal many qualities in
the mortarrubber aggregate mixtures such as exi-
bility and resistance [13].
Several studies have been interested in different
kind of waste valorization. This includes the work of
[47] who have used a lightweight aggregate concrete
as composite materials to study their mechanical
behaviour in order to combine the durability phe-
nomenon and microstructure. Kaufman et al. [8] have
demonstrated the improvement of the material duc-
tility containing Portland cement by addition of metal
bres.
Other researches have focused on the waste of
worn tires valorization by the addition of rubber
M. Turki J. Rouis
LGEMC, Ecole Nationale dIngenieurs de Sfax, BP 3038,
Sfax, Tunisia
I. B. Naceur K. Sa (&)
LGPMM, Ecole Nationale dIngenieurs de Sfax, BP 3038,
Sfax, Tunisia
e-mail: kacemsai@yahoo.fr
M. Makni
Institut Superieur des Etudes Technologiques de Sfax,
Sfax, Tunisia
Materials and Structures (2009) 42:13131324
DOI 10.1617/s11527-008-9451-1
aggregates in mortar mixture. Benazzouk et al. [2]
and Siddique et al. [9] have studied the mechanical,
acoustic, thermal, and hydral behaviours of cemen-
titious materials by incorporating rubber aggregates.
These materials are also known to be used to design
durable structure in aggressive environments.
The use of mortarrubber aggregates for special
building is a motivation to study their mechanical
behaviour. Rubberized mortar, encountered in several
civil engineering structures, would be used in area
games, subbases for highway pavements, highway
medians, sound barriers, and other transportation
structure. Turki et al. [10] have established link
between microstructure and mechanical properties in
order to improve the elastic characteristics of a
mortarrubber aggregates mixtures thanks to a self-
consistent approach. Some analytical works related to
the stressstrain distribution within a single inclusion
(individual aggregate particle) are available [1115].
A micro-mechanical modelling of a similar material
(thermoplastic polymer made of polypropylene and
rubber waste) has been proposed in the work of [16].
These authors have established constitutive equations
within a self consistent formalism. Recently, Topcu
and Saidemir [17] have used a neural network and
fuzzy logic to predict exural and compressive
strength of waste rubberized aggregates mortar type.
A non exhaustive list of studies dealing with the
properties of rubberized concretes includes the works
of [1822].
The main goal of the present paper is to provide a
model to simulate the mechanical behaviour of a
mortarrubber aggregate composite which:
takes the volume fraction substitution of rubber
aggregates into account,
accounts for the damage behaviour of the mortar
phase,
provides local information such as, the plastic
strains and stresses on the phases level.
Multi-phase model type is a good candidate to
describe this behaviour. To the authors knowledge,
the application of such a model for mortarrubber
aggregates material has not yet been attempted.
This paper is organized in the following manner:
experimental data on mortarrubber aggregates is
provided in Sect. 2. In that section, the general trends
observed on compressive tests are discussed. In
Sect. 3, the multi-mechanism model formulation
devoted to account for the material behaviour is
presented in details. Based on the experimental
results presented in Sect. 2, the identication of the
model parameters is shown in Sect. 4 followed by the
presentation of the numerical results. The local
contribution of stressstrain state at each phase level
is also commented in Sect. 4 in order to check if the
model is appropriate for the mortarrubber
aggregates.
2 Experimental procedure
2.1 Investigated mortarrubber aggregates
material
Rubber particles were introduced in the mortar
mixture by partial substitution of sand. The rubber-
free material has been taken as reference material.
The dry apparent bulk density of rubber is 1200 kg/
m
3
and the dry apparent bulk density of the sand used
in the composites is 2650 kg/m
3
: the bulk density of
sand or rubber without intergranular void is measured
using an air pycnometer. The gap-grading analysis of
rubber-aggregates and sand shows that rubber parti-
cles has 14 mm size grading (the maximum grain
size is of 3.15 mm) and that the sand has 02 mm
size grading (Fig. 1). The used hydraulic binder is an
articial Portland cement CPA CEM I 42.5 (EN 196-
1) with a bulk density of 3100 kg/m
3
. Water should
be added in different contents for each rubber
aggregates substitution at same volume. The inhibitor
factor for water of rubber aggregate (the water-to-
cement ratio W/C) is equal to 0.5 (Table 1).
2.2 Experimental tests
The static Youngs modulus (E
s
) is determined from
the stressstrain response of cylindrical samples
(50 mm 9 100 mm) in the uniaxial compression test
with rubber substitution by volume of 10%, 30% and
50% after curing for 28 days at 20C and 98% of
relative humidity. The static modulus E
s
corresponds
to the initial slope of the stressstrain curves given in
Fig. 2. The effect of adding rubber on the ultra sonic
velocity in composite is established by applying a
longitudinal ultrasonic vibration (Tester type E0641):
the ultra sonic velocity is an indicator of sound and
vibration behaviour. Each value is the average of
1314 Materials and Structures (2009) 42:13131324
three tests and can be calculated the dynamic
Youngs modulus (E
d
) determined as follows:
E
d

1 m1 2m
1 m
qC
L
2
1
where q and m denotes the dry bulk density and the
Poissons ratio, respectively. q, expressed in (kg/m
3
),
is given by the ratio (M/V). M and V denotes the mass
and the apparent volume of the specimen, respec-
tively. C
L
, expressed in (m/s), is the velocity of the
ultra-sonic wave calculated by: C
L
= DL/Dt. DL is
the distance between two sensors xed on the
specimen and Dt is the elongation duration.
The Poissons ratio of cementitious materials is
usually assumed to be in the range of 0.20.3. The
dynamic Youngs modulus is then delimited by two
bounds:
0:74 qC
L
2
\E
d
\0:9 qC
L
2
2
The average value of dynamic modulus is almost
equal to 0.82 qC
L
2
. The upper and the lower dynamic
modulus are shown together with the average
dynamic modulus and the static modulus in Table 2
and in Fig. 3. The same decrease is noted between the
static and the dynamic modulus. The scatter among
E
s
and E
d
can be attributed to the unknown Poissons
ratio (for the dynamic modulus) and the small linear
domain (for the static modulus).
The stressstrain curves of cementitious mate-
rial containing rubber aggregates are shown in
Fig. 2. The reference material reveals an impor-
tant elastic phase. Progressively, when the rate of
substitution of rubber increases, a larger plastic
phase takes progressively place and reduces the
brittleness of the material. The addition of rubber
aggregates allows large deformation before failure
[2326].
The variation of the dry bulk density, the velocity,
the different Youngs modulus with the rubber
substitution percentage are shown in Table 2. Fur-
thermore, the global volume of the void spaces
around rubber aggregates may affect the overall
Youngs modulus of mortarrubber aggregates mix-
tures. The progressive reduction of the static and the
dynamic Youngs modulus, when the percentage of
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0.01 0.1 1 10
%

P
a
s
s
i
n
g
Sieve size (mm)
Sand
Rubber aggregates
Fig. 1 Gap-grading
analysis of sand and rubber
aggregates
Table 1 Mass composition of prismatic specimen
(40 mm 9 40 mm 9 160 mm)
Substitution
percentage
Cement
(kg/m
3
)
Sand
(kg/m
3
)
Water
(kg/m
3
)
Rubber
aggregates
(kg/m
3
)
0 1,350 0
10 450 1,215 225 61.13
30 945 183.40
50 675 305.66
Materials and Structures (2009) 42:13131324 1315
substitution of sand with the rubber aggregates rises,
is shown in Fig. 3.
3 Mechanical modelling of the material behaviour
The following notations are adopted for the descrip-
tion of the constitutive equations of the material
behaviour:
x denotes a single scalar,
x

denotes a second order rank tensor,

x

denotes a fourth order rank tensor,

_ x is the derivative of x with respect to the time,
x

: y

denotes the tensor product contracted over

one indices of x

and y

.
The proposed model belongs to a large class of
models known as multi-mechanism model type.
These models are intermediate between:
the so-called unied models in which all the
deformation sources are considered together and
only their mean effect is taken into account
through a single inelastic strain,
the micro-mechanical models in which physical
ingredients are represented to describe local
information.
The multi-mechanism model type was initiated by
Cailletaud and Sa [27] and improved later by Sa and
Cailletaud [28]. These authors have named their
models respectively 2M1C (2 Mechanisms and 1
Criterion) and 2M2C (2 Mechanisms and 2 Criteria).
These models are especially intended to describe the
behaviour of multi-phase materials [29, 30]. Since
mortarrubber aggregates consist of mortar phase and
rubber phase, the 2M1C and 2M2C are good
candidates to describe their behaviour as a composite
material. The purpose of this paper is to modelize the
mechanical behaviour of the mortarrubber aggre-
gates composite taking into account the inuence of
the rubber volume fraction in mortar phase.
The 2M2C model is selected in this work to
preserve the opportunity to separate the two different
behaviours in the constitutive equations. The model is
developed in the thermodynamic frame of non-
associated plasticity with the Continuum Damage
Mechanics (CMD) theory. This framework allows to
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
A
x
i
a
l

s
t
r
e
s
s

(
M
P
a
)
Axial deformation (mm/m)
Reference mortar
10 %
30 %
50 %
Fig. 2 Experimental
stressstrain curves for
different rubber aggregates
substitution
Table 2 Static and dynamic elastic Youngs modulus values
of mortarrubber aggregates for different rubber substitution
Substitution percentage 0% 10% 30% 50%
E
s
(MPa) 22,500 9,000 4,500 2,100
E
d
(MPa) 28,001 24,303 12,182 9,116
q (kg/m
3
) 2,086 2,010 1,746 1,651
C
L
(m/s) 4,046 3,840 2,917 2,595
1316 Materials and Structures (2009) 42:13131324
take into account observations and experimental
results and avoid behaviour incompatibilities. Under
the assumption of innitesimal elasto-plasticity, the
total strain can be decomposed into an elastic part and
a plastic part:
e

e
e

p
3
The plastic strain e

p
is considered here as the volume
average of the plastic strain of the rubber phase e

r
and the plastic strain of the mortar phase e

m
.
e

p
z e

r
1 z e

m
4
where z denotes the volume fraction of the rubber
phase in the composite. It is well known that
rubber is an elastic material at small strains. From
a physical point of view it is abstract to treat
rubber particles as having plastic deformation.
However Chaboche [31] has demonstrated that it
is possible to establish a link between different
theories (for instance viscoplasticity and viscoelas-
ticity). This author has made possible bridges
between the two kind of theories. In our paper,
the viscoplasticity of the rubber phase is just an
artice. Moreover, the viscoplastic behaviour of
the second mechanism is not the intrinsic behaviour
of the rubber phase. It is a behaviour obtain within
the composite. The interaction between elasticity
and plasticity is neglected, so that the free energy
can be split into two parts: the elastic free energy
qw
e
and the plastic free energy qw
p
. On the other
hand, the CDM theory supposes that the crack
initiation is preceded by a progressive internal
deterioration of the material (i.e. micro cracks,
micro defects) which induce a loss of compressive
strength. The isotropic damage evolution is quan-
tied by means of a macroscopic scalar variable D
varying between 0 and 1 [32].
The inuence of damage is introduced into the
linear elasticity behaviour:
qw
e

1
2
1 D e

e
: K

: e

e
5
where K

is the fourth-order tensor of Hooks

elasticity. The proposed model aims to consider the
individual behaviour of each phase. The list of
variables is reported in Table 3. In the plastic free
energy qw
p
, it is supposed that the state of coupling
between hardening variables is restricted to the
kinematickinematic coupling through the coefcient
C
rm
, which is known to produce the most interesting
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
0 10 20 30 40 50
Y
o
u
n
g

s

M
o
d
u
l
u
s

(
G
P
a
)
Rubber aggregates substitution (%)
Static Youngs modulus
Upper dynamic Youngs modulus
Average dynamic Youngs modulus
Lower dynamic Youngs modulus
Fig. 3 Elastic Youngs
modulus curves of mortar
rubber aggregates for
different rubber substitution
Materials and Structures (2009) 42:13131324 1317
mechanical effect [27]. On the other hand, only the
mortar phase is affected by the damage. So that:
qw
p

1
3
C
rr
a

r
: a

1
3
C
rm
a

r
: a

1
3
C
mm
a

m
: a

1
2
Q
r
r
r

1
2
1 DQ
m
r
m

2
6
where the material parameters C
rr
, C
mm
and C
rm
characterize the kinematic hardening whereas Q
m
and
Q
r
are isotropic material parameters. The overall
stress tensor and the two local stresses simply write:
r

q
ow
o e

m
q
ow
o e

m
1 z r

r
q
ow
o e

r
z r

_
7
This multiplicative transition rule (too drastic for
the local stress modication) to compute the local
stresses may be changed by a localization rule
inspired from the self consistent formalism:
r

m
r

m
_ _
r

r
r

r
_ _
_
_
_
8
where A is an accommodation material parameter.
The local strains in Eq. 8 may be replaced by
phenomenological variables to better capture the
plastic accommodation:
r

m
r

A b

m
_ _
r

r
r

A b

r
_ _
b

zb

r
1 z b

m
_

_
9
The rubber phase (soft phase) exhibits a plastic
deformation

r
higher than the average deformation

p
. Thus, the stress level r

r
supported by the rubber
phase will be less pronounced than the macroscopic
stress r

. Inversely, the mortar phase (hard phase) will

be subjected to a higher stress level r

m
comparing to
r

. Indeed, the plastic deformation

m
is less than the
average deformation

p
. The evolution laws of these
variables are generated by two plastic potentials F
r
and F
m
, using the generalized normally rule:
F
m
f
m

3D
m
4C
mm
1 D
X

m
: X

b
m
2Q
m
1 D
R
m

1
1 D
b
A
c 1
Y
A
_ _
c1
F
r
f
r

3D
r
4C
rr
X

r
: X

b
r
2Q
r
R
r

2
_

_
10
The formulation of these two plastic potentials is
obtained thanks to the multi-mechanism approach
[28] for the hardening and the CDM theory for the
damage [32]. Each local stress ( r

r
and r

m
respec-
tively) is involved in a different yield function (f
r
and
f
m
respectively), dening two different criteria:
f
m
Jr

m
X

m
R
m
R
m
0
f
r
Jr

r
X

r
R
r
R
r
0
_
11
where R
0
m
and R
0
r
are the size of the initial elastic
domains. R
m
and R
r
describe their evolution. X

m
and
X

r
denotes respectively the center of the elastic
domain of the mortar phase and the rubber phase.
Jr

represents a distance associated with the

von Mises invariant in the stress space:
Jr

3
2
S

: S

_
12
where S

and X

denotes respectively the deviators

associated with r

and X

.
Table 3 List of the variables for the proposed model
State variables Associated forces
Observable
variables
Internal
variables

(total strain) r

Overall stress

r
r

r
Inelastic stress

m
r

m
Inelastic stress
a

r
X

r
Kinematic hardening
a

m
X

m
Kinematic hardening
Q
r
R
r
Isotropic hardening
Q
m
R
m
Isotropic hardening
D Y Damage variable
1318 Materials and Structures (2009) 42:13131324
The evolution of the state variables is then given
by the following expressions:
_
k
m
and
_
k
r
are the plastic multipliers obtained thanks
to the consistency conditions. n

m
and n

r
are the
normal tensor to the two elastic domains.
The evolution of the kinematic variables a

and the
accommodation variable b

is obtained as the result of

the competition between a linear term ( _ e

m
or _ e

r
) and
a fading memory term depending on the actual value
of X

:
_ a

m

_
k
m
oF
m
oX

m
_

3D
m
2C
mm
X

m
_
k
m
_ a

r

_
k
r
oF
r
oX

r
_

3D
r
2C
rr
X

r
_
k
r
_
b

m
_

m
d
m
b

m
_
k
m
_
b

r
_

r
d
r
b

b
r
_
k
r
_

_
14
For the isotropic hardening variables, non linearities
are also given as fading memory terms:
_
r
m

_
k
m
oF
m
oR
m

_
k
m
1

1 D
p b
m
Q
m
_ _
_
r
r

_
k
r
oF
r
oR
r

_
k
r
1 b
r
Q
r

_
15
Finally the isotropic ductile evolution is dened by
the damage [32] rate given by:
_
D
_
k
m
oF
m
oY

_
k
m
Y
A
_ _
c
1
1 D
b
16
Table 4 summarizes the constitutive equations of the
proposed model in both 3D and 1D case. The 2M2C
model is implemented into the FE code Zebulon [33]
using a hmethod solved by an implicit Newton
scheme for the local integration.
4 Results and discussions
In the previous section, Eqs. 315 display some
material coefcients that have to be determined. The
identication of these parameters is performed with
the help of Zset FE code [34] provided with an
optimizer routine [33]. The Youngs modulus E is
supposed to be known and equivalent to E
s
(see
Sect. 2). From the compressive tests (Fig. 2), the
apparent Youngs modulus are checked by calculat-
ing the initial slope of the stressstrain curve.
The parameters used for the simulations of the
numerical results (Table 5) are found by best t to the
experimental compressive tests as given in Fig. 4.
These parameters are unique for all the rubber phase
level except the initial size of the elastic domain R
0
and Youngs modulus E. Good agreement is encoun-
tered by both simulations and experimental curve for
the whole range of the rubber phase. Figure 5 shows
the evolution of the simulated damage variable D
with deformation. It can be seen that, for a xed
strain level, the damage decreases when the percent-
age of rubber substitution increase. As a matter of
fact, brittleness is reduced by the addition of rubber
particles. This result is conrmed by the photographs
of each specimen (0%, 10%, 30%, 50%) after
compressive tests.
On the other hand, the plastic strain is more
pronounced (as expected) for the soft rubber phase
than for the hard mortar phase (Fig. 6). This
difference is more important for the low rubber
substitution.
For higher percentage of rubber, the two plastic
strains become closer thanks to the coupling param-
eter C
rm
. Note that these two different behaviours are
depicted when the two phases interact in the aggre-
gates (they are not their intrinsic behaviours).
It is to be mentioned that this number of param-
eters is rather great if the purpose is just to simulate
the uniaxial stressstrain curves. In this work, it is
assumed that all parameters are activated even if
actually no relevant tests have been carried out in
order to address individually each coefcient. Some
of these parameters may be set to zero which is not
performed here. Additional experiments such as
_ e

m

_
k
m
of
m
or

m

_
k
m
n

m
with n

3
2

1 D
p
S
m
X
m
J r

m
X

_ e

r

_
k
r
of
r
or

r

_
k
r
n

r
with n

3
2
S
r
X
r
Jr

r
X

_
13
Materials and Structures (2009) 42:13131324 1319
Table 4 Summary of the constitutive equations of the proposed model
3D constitutive equations 1D constitutive equations
e

p
z e

m
1 z e

p
= z
m
? (1-z)
r
r

1 D K

: e

P
_ _
r = (1-D)E(-
p
)
r

m
r

A b

m
_ _
r
m
= r ? A(b-b
m
)
r

r
r

A b

r
_ _
r
r
= r ? A(b-b
r
)
b

zb

r
1 zb

m
b = zb
r
? (1-z)b
m
X

2
3
C
mm
1 D a

m
C
mr
a

r
_ _
X
m
= C
mm
(1-D)a
1
? C
mr
a
r
X

2
3
C
mr
a

m
C
rr
a

r
_ _
X
r
= C
mr
a
m
? C
rr
a
r
R
m
= Q
1
(1-D)r
m
R
r
= Q
2
r
r
Y
1
2
e

p
: K

: e

p

1
3
C
mm
a

m
: a

1
2
Q
m
r
m

2
Y
1
2
E
p

1
2
C
mm
a
m2

1
2
Q
m
r
m

2
f
m

J r

m
X

m
R
m

1 D
_ R
m
0
f
m

jr
m
X
m
j R
m

1 D
_ R
m
0
f
r
Jr

r
X

r
R
r
R
r
0
f
r
jr
r
X
r
j R
r
R
r
0
_ e

_
k
m
n

m
_
m
signr
m
X
m

_
k
m
_ e

_
k
r
n

r
_
r
signr
r
X
r

_
k
r
_ a

m
_ e

3D
m
2C
mm
X

m
_
k
m
_ a
m
_
m

D
m
C
mm
X
m _
k
m
_ a

r
_ e

3D
r
2C
rr
X

r
_
k
r
_ a
r
_
r

D
r
C
rr
X
r _
k
r
_
b

m
_ e

m
d
m
b

m
_
k
m _
b
m
_
m
d
m
b
m
_
k
m
_
b

r
_ e

r
d
r
b

r
_
k
r _
b
r
_
r
d
r
b
r
_
k
r
_
r
m

_
k
m
1

1 D
p b
m
Q
m
_ _
_
r
r

_
k
r
1 b
r
Q
r

_
D
_
k
m
Y
A
_ _
c
1
1 D
b
1320 Materials and Structures (2009) 42:13131324
loading unloading tests (under study) are then needed
to provide more consistent parameter set. Readers can
refer, for instance, to the ratchetting tests (necessary
to activate kinematic hardening parameters) in
Fig. 12 of the work of [2]. Moreover, the model
being developed in a three dimensional framework,
multi directional tests can be used to x some
material parameters.
0
5
10
15
20
25
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
A
x
i
a
l

s
t
r
e
s
s

(
M
P
a
)
Axial deformation (%)
Reference mortar
10 %
30 %
50 %
Fig. 4 Experimental
(symbols) and modelling
results (dashed lines) of
stressstrain curves for
different rubber aggregates
substitution
Table 5 Identied parameters of the proposed model
Parameters Values Units
Elasticity z 0 0.1 0.3 0.5
E 22,500 9,000 4,500 2,100 MPa
m 0.3
Mortar
phase
k
m
90 MPa s
n
m
2
R
0
m
11.0 3.5 2.4 1.1 MPa
Q
m
31.4 MPa
b
m
20.3
C
mm
1800 MPa
D
m
37
Rubber
phase
k
r
90 MPa s
n
r
2
Table 5 continued
Parameters Values Units
R
0
r
14 5.5 3.1 1.3 MPa
Q
r
21.4 MPa
b
r
16.9
C
rr
1400 MPa
D
r
51
Interaction A 25 MPa
C
mr
800 MPa
d
m
5
d
r
7
Damage B 0.0045
c 5.8
b 0.005
Materials and Structures (2009) 42:13131324 1321
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
P
l
a
s
t
i
c

s
t
r
a
i
n

(
%
)
Time (s)
Rubber phase
Mortar phase
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
P
l
a
s
t
i
c

s
t
r
a
i
n

(
%
)
Time (s)
Rubber phase
Mortar phase
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
P
l
a
s
t
i
c

s
t
r
a
i
n

(
%
)
Time (s)
Rubber phase
Mortar phase
(a) (b)
(c)
Fig. 6 Evolution of the
plastic strain for the mortar
and rubber phases. a 10% of
rubber. b 30% of rubber.
c 50% of rubber
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
D
a
m
a
g
e
Axial deformation (%)
Reference mortar 10 % 30 %
50 %
Fig. 5 Evolution of the
damage in compressive
tests
1322 Materials and Structures (2009) 42:13131324
5 Conclusion
The purpose of this paper is to test the capabilities of
a multi-mechanism model to represent the mechan-
ical behaviour of the mortarrubber aggregate
composites with different percentage of rubber par-
ticles (0%, 10%, 30% and 50%). The comparison
between experimental data and simulated results
shows good accordance. The local contributions of
the plastic strain at each level are then correctly
estimated. This model is implemented in the FE code
Zebulon. The constitutive equations of the model can
be used to analyze inelastic behaviour of structures
made of mortarrubber aggregates in multi-direc-
tional framework. The next step of this work is to
validate the model for a successive loading-unloading
cycles tests with different percentage of substitution.
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