Construction and Building Materials 73 (2014) 195–204

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Construction and Building Materials

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

Acoustic properties of concrete panels with crumb rubber as a fine

aggregate replacement
Niall Holmes ⇑, Alex Browne, Christopher Montague
School of Civil & Structural Engineering, Dublin Institute of Technology, Bolton Street, Dublin 1, Ireland

h i g h l i g h t s

 Crumb rubber concrete (CRC) has been found to be effective in absorbing sound.
 It performed well as an insulator and comparable to plain concrete.
 Workability was decreased with increasing grades and proportions.
 Compressive strengths also decreased particularly for the higher rubber replacements.
 Density was lower due to higher air contents and reduced relative densities.

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

Article history: This paper presents the acoustic performance of small scale crumb rubber concrete (CRC) panels in terms
Received 30 May 2014 of the sound absorbance and insulation at low (63, 125, 250 and 500 Hz) and high (1000, 2000, 4000 and
Received in revised form 17 September 2014 5000 Hz) frequencies. Acoustic tests were conducted with differing levels of fine aggregate replacement
Accepted 25 September 2014
with crumb rubber (7.5% and 15%) with four different grades following freezing and heating. Analysis of
the workability, compressive strength and density are also presented.
The results found that CRC performed well in terms of sound absorbance particularly with higher
Keywords:
proportions (15% here) and grades of crumb rubber. As an insulator, the CRC was comparable with plain
Crumb rubber concrete
Acoustics
concrete with only marginal differences observed. Effects of freezing and heating were shown to have no
Absorption significant influence on the insulation properties. The insulation performance for all concretes was found
Reflection to improve at high frequencies.
Frequency The results demonstrate that CRC has potential as an external building cladding to absorb sound
around high-rise urban structures but requires full-scale testing on site. This approach offers an environ-
mental friendly solution to the ongoing problem of used tyres.
Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction stress [1,2]. The city of Vancouver has published a noise control
manual which outlines the issues with this challenge [3]. In it they
Noise pollution is an ongoing issue for inhabitants of urban and outline the origins of urban noise, its problematic nature (like
industrial areas but is often not adequately addressed by Building reflected sound between buildings) and what can be done to
Regulations or Planning Authorities. Dense materials like concrete reduce it, including the use of sound absorbing and damping mate-
are often used as external cladding as a means to prevent the pas- rials and vibration isolation. A study commissioned by the city
sage of sound transmission into the property by reflection. How- showed the average noise levels for residences along a busy street
ever, when sound waves strike concrete cladding panels for ranged from 67 to 70 dB over a 24-hour period.
example, they are reflected away but are not reduced in magnitude Lightweight materials such as foam or fabric are often too por-
and become problematic in enclosed spaces such as apartment ous to reflect sound which passes through and its energy converted
complexes, factories and narrow streets (Fig. 1). This can lead to to heat with a reduction in magnitude. This approach is often used
a variety of problems such as masking warning signals, increasing in cinemas and recording studios to reduce the reverberation time
the possibility of hearing loss and can be a factor in work-related of the room. While effective internally, lightweight materials are
not suitable externally so concrete is still the preferred material.
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +353 1 402 2914. Each year 2–3 billion tyres are scrapped in the US with similar
E-mail address: [email protected] (N. Holmes). quantities in Europe. It is estimated that approximately 40 million

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2014.09.107
0950-0618/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
196 N. Holmes et al. / Construction and Building Materials 73 (2014) 195–204

tyres are discarded per year in the UK [4]. Ireland produces over Impact sounds (footsteps, closing doors, falling objects, etc.)
35,000 tonnes of waste tyres which are banned from many landfill vibrate through walls and floors and lead to airborne noise in adja-
sites and may not be burned [5]. With decreasing disposal options cent rooms [17]. Noise and sound are often interchanged but are
and increasing production, the volume of used tyres is becoming a quite different with the former being subjective and dependant
major waste management issue. Stockpiled tyres lead to many on the receptor. This concept of subjectivity is what many design-
health, environmental and economic risks through air, water and ers must take into account when considering noise in a structure,
soil pollution, littering the landscape and represent a serious fire particularly in urban settings. As it is difficult to reduce the volume
hazards as once set alight they emit harmful chemicals [4,5]. or production of sound in these environments, noise mitigation
The use of crumb rubber concrete (CRC) produced from different measures are often put in place to reduce the level of annoyance.
sizes including fine (1–6 mm) and course (6–19 mm), of broken Insulation, reflection or isolation methods along with dense barri-
down waste tyres to replace a portion of natural aggregates in con- ers are better able to reflect sound energy where lighter materials
crete mixes has been the subject of much research [4,6–13]. How- can absorb noise and contain it.
ever, the literature shows that the use of CRC is impractical in The acoustic properties of concrete are defined as its ability to
many structural applications due to significant reductions in reduce the transmission of sound through it. The density of stan-
strength [10,13–15]. Despite the limited mechanical properties of dard concrete mixes can, in relatively small thicknesses, provide
CRC, there is a market for non-structural concrete products with sufficient mass to reflect sound. Previous research [18–20] has
medium to low strength requirements. Sound absorbing substances defined concrete as a good insulator which, due to its high density,
and barriers are frequently used as a way to mitigate ambient noise can reflect up to 99% of sound energy [21]. However, plain concrete
and make use of a recyclable waste product. CRC is a durable com- is a poor sound absorber which can lead to echoes within enclosed
posite material capable of absorbing and reflecting sound [16] and spaces.
if used on the exterior of a structure can shield the occupants from
ambient street noise. High rise apartment occupiers for example are 2.1. CRC acoustic properties
often overlooking busy streets with high noise levels, often uncom-
fortably high, passing into dwelling spaces. The level of sound absorption is expressed as the absorption
This paper investigates the potential of CRC to improve the coefficient. An extremely dense material, which reflects 100% of
acoustic performance of small scale slabs. These findings have sound away, has an absorption coefficient of 0. Typical absorption
the potential to be incorporated into larger exterior building coefficients for common construction materials are shown in
cladding systems (in the form of exterior panels as an absorbent Table 1.
material) to decrease noise transmission in urban or built up Previous work has shown [22] that absorption coefficients for
environments. materials containing crumb rubber range from 0.3 to 0.7 which
categorises it as a good absorber. Combining it with concrete has
the potential of increasing the absorption qualities while reducing
2. Concrete acoustic properties the level of reflected sound. Previous work in this area
[19,20,22,23] found sound absorption is improved with the inclu-
Sound is a form of energy which travels through solids, liquids sion of crumb rubber.
or gasses in longitudinal waves by vibrating particles oscillating in Crumb rubber as a sound absorber for highways has been used
a body. These waves expand outwards with the intensity distrib- in many parts of Arizona by incorporating it into bituminous mixes
uted over a larger area as it dissipates. The greater the particles to reduce the noise produced by vehicular traffic. It is reported that
vibrate within the medium, the more energy passes through it. over 80% of all asphalt in the state contains rubber asphalt
There are two types of audible sounds; airborne and impact. Air- accounting for roughly 12 million end-of-life tyres [24]. Research
borne sounds (speech, loudspeakers, musical instruments, etc.) [25] has shown that the sound absorption qualities of asphalt are
cause waves to travel through the air but not solids. However, they significantly improved over time with the inclusion of crumb rub-
produce vibrations within the structure which cause particles in ber in lightweight pavements due to greater energy absorption
the air on the opposite side to vibrate allowing them to be heard. despite the well published reductions in compressive and tensile
strength. This is supported by other work [26–28] who found the
levels of vibration damping were 230% greater in CRC with a 15%
Reflected sound
replacement of fine aggregate compared to standard concrete.
Building Building
Crumb rubber has also been added into concrete blocks produc-
ing a lighter, more flexible and durable absorbing material with a
20% fine aggregate substitute [29]. Investigations into the perfor-
mance of CRC in different environments found that the use of air
entraining admixtures increases the durability against freeze thaw
action [30–33]. A study into the compressive behaviour of CRC sub-
jected to excessive heat [15] (25–600 °C) demonstrated a signifi-
cant improvement in energy absorption particularly with smaller
grades of rubber and lower fine aggregate replacements. Unlike
regular aggregates such as sand & gravel, crumb rubber is highly

Table 1
Average absorption coefficients for common construction materials.

Material Sound absorption co-efficient

Concrete 0.02–0.06
Sound source Unpainted blockwork 0.02–0.05
Hardwood 0.3
Fig. 1. Reflections of sound waves in an enclosed narrow street.
 N. Holmes et al. / Construction and Building Materials 73 (2014) 195–204 197

elastic and has the ability to temporarily deform under pressure they offer to the structure from the elements, the high quality
and loading [7,24] with ductility increases as much as 90% and cor- appearance and ease of placement. CRC cladding panels could also
responding enhanced energy dissipation. be used as an alternative to protect structures with the added
Increased volumes of rubber result in reduced CRC densities. As advantage of reducing the overall weight. Fig. 2 shows how the
material acoustic properties are largely dependent on its density, acoustic performance of a high-rise building could be improved
lighter ones (such as CRC with high levels of crumb rubber) will by the application of exterior CRC panels particularly around balco-
absorb more sound. This in turn will reduce the concretes ability nies which also reduces the level of reflected noise. Similar propos-
to reflect sound energy [21–23]. CRC panels have the potential be als have been shown in [3].
used on office buildings as exterior cladding or on the perimeter
of balconies due to its lightweight and energy absorbing qualities. 3. Experimental programme
The degree of compaction of CRC also influences sound absorption
[23] as larger grades will absorb more when sufficiently compacted 3.1. Mix proportions
in concrete as a larger surface area of the rubber will be exposed.
The concrete cast for this study included one control mix incorporating only
Concrete cladding panels are widespread due to the protection CEM I cement and a number of other mixes containing dust, 1–3 mm, 2–6 mm
and 10–19 mm crumb rubber grades from a local supplier, Fig. 3, with fine aggre-
Reduced noise rebounded gate replacement levels of 7.5% and 15%. A summary of the concrete cast is reported
off structure in Table 2. All of the mixes had a fixed water to cement (w/c) ratio of 0.47 and a
cementitious material content of 475 kg/m3. Following a number of trial mixes,
the final proportions were determined so that a slump between 50 and 100 mm
(S1 class slump) [34] could be achieved. The mix proportions are summarised in
Table 3.

3.2. Materials

CEM I cement complying with BS EN 197-1, Cement: Composition, Specifica-

Noise source tions and Conformity Criteria for Common Cements [35] was used as the cementi-
tious material. Both the fine and coarse aggregates were obtained from local sources
in Ireland. The fine aggregate used was medium graded sand and the coarse aggre-
gate was crushed limestone with a maximum size of 20 mm. Before mixing, the
water absorption of the aggregates was determined and the water added to the con-
crete was adjusted accordingly to cater for this.
CRC cladding
system
3.3. Preparation of samples

The concrete was manufactured using a pan mixer. For each mix in Table 1, 9
panels (245  245  100 mm) and 6 cubes (100  100  100 mm) were cast to
Fig. 2. Example applications of a CRC cladding system on high rise structures to determine the acoustic performance and compressive strength (at 7 and 28 days)
limit the transmission of sound into inhabitants (taken from [3]). respectively. Each mix had a volume of 0.078 m3 including 20% for wastage.

(a) Dust (<1mm) (b) 1-3mm

(c) 2-6mm (d) 10-19mm

Fig. 3. Different crumb rubber sizes used.
198 N. Holmes et al. / Construction and Building Materials 73 (2014) 195–204

Table 2 3.4.2. Compressive strength

Summary of concrete cast. The compressive strength was determined by crushing three 100 mm cubes at 7
and 28 days for each mix in accordance with BS EN 12390-3 for testing hardened
Mix No. of Crumb rubber Fine aggregate replacement concrete [37].
ID panels grade levels
1A 9 Dust 7.5 3.4.3. Sound absorption
1B 9 15 The sound absorption coefficients were measured using the random incidence
1C 9 1–3 mm 7.5 method where the reverberation time of a room was recorded with and without
1D 9 15 the samples present. As the conditions within the room remain constant any differ-
ence in sound absorption is directly related to the sample being present and can be
1E 9 2–6 mm 7.5 calculated. The reverberation times here were calculated based on the average time
1F 9 15 from 10 tests with (T1, s) and without (T2, s) the sample. The room volume, (V, m3)
1G 9 10–19 mm 7.5 and surface area (A, m2) of the sample were also measured.
1H 9 15 The test was conducted by creating a sharp sound in the hard-surfaced room
(Fig. 5) which was recorded by the speakers on an Apple laptop using the free to
2A 9 None 0 download AudacityÒ acoustic software with time taken for the sound intensity to
dissipate by 60 dB measured. The hard-surfaced laboratory was adjacent to an
After mixing, the concrete was poured in 50 mm thick layers, into the moulds anechoic (non-echoing) chamber (Fig. 5) which is completely insulated. The anec-
with each layer vibrated on a vibrating table for a time until no more air bubbles hoic chambers walls and ceiling are covered with sound absorbent material
were visible on the surface. Curing of the concrete was provided by placing a poly- (Fig. 6) designed to absorb and scatter noise.
thene sheet over the specimens for 24 h to trap moisture that evaporates from the To calculate the random incidence absorption coefficient (a) of the concrete
surface. Following demoulding, the samples were placed in water in a curing tank at panels, the Sabine equation (Eq. (1)) was used, where c is the speed of sound in
20 (±1)°C until they were tested. Fig. 4 shows the stainless steel moulds (a) before air (343 m/s). Sabine acoustics makes the following assumptions:
and (b) after casting.
 sound in the room is diffuse;
 the sound energy intensity is constant throughout;
3.4. Tests carried out  sound absorption is spread equally over the surfaces of the room;
 the dimensions of the room are similar and square shaped.
3.4.1. Workability
The workability (i.e. consistence) of the concrete was measured immediately  
55:3V 1 1
after its manufacture in terms of slump in accordance with BS EN 12350-2 for test- a¼  ð1Þ
cSA T 2 T 1
ing fresh concrete [36].

Table 3
Mix proportions.

Mix ID Mass of Ingredients (kg/m3)

Water CEM I FA CA Dust 1–3 mm 2–6 mm 10–19 mm
10 mm 20 mm
1A 225.6 475 527.3 555 555 42.7 – – –
1B 225.6 475 484.5 555 555 85.5 – – –
1C 225.6 475 527.3 555 555 – 42.7 0 –
1D 225.6 475 484.5 555 555 – 85.5 0 –
1E 225.6 475 527.3 555 555 – – 42.7 –
1F 225.6 475 484.5 555 555 – – 85.5 –
1G 225.6 475 527.3 555 555 – – – 42.7
1H 225.6 475 484.5 555 555 – – – 85.5
2A 225.6 475 570 555 555 – – – –

FA – Fine aggregate, CA – Course Aggregate.

Fig. 4. Preparation of the mould and concrete before (a) and after (b) casting.
 N. Holmes et al. / Construction and Building Materials 73 (2014) 195–204 199

Anechoic Chamber Hard surfaced (echoing) room

3400 mm 245x245x500 mm long tunnel

2770 mm 3530 mm

Fig. 5. Plan of acoustic laboratory.

Fig. 6. Anechoic chamber.

Fig. 7. Sound insulation apparatus.

3.4.4. Sound insulation to normal laboratory conditions (15 ± 5 °C) to assess the acoustic performance of
The sound insulation of the CRC was measured by recording the level sound CRC in these conditions as its improved durability in these environments has been
intensity (dB) through the various concrete panels located in a duct between two previously reported [32,38].
rooms (Fig. 5) using a range of low (63, 125, 250 and 500 Hz) and high (1000,
2000, 4000 and 5000 Hz) frequencies using a Type 4224 Bru } el and Kjaer sound
source. A sound of 65 dB was generated in the hard-surfaced room which was 4. Results and discussion
recorded in the anechoic chamber after it passed through the concrete sample.
The samples were placed into the duct (Fig. 7(a)) and surrounded by a dense putty
to reduce the transmission of sound around the sides of the sample (Fig. 7(b)) and 4.1. Workability
the above measurement repeated. The measured sound intensity (dB) after it
passed through the sample was recorded using a Bru } el and Kjaer Type 2250 light The slump values are reported in Fig. 8 which shows a decrease
microphone on a 1 m high tripod (Fig. 7(c)) to assess its insulation properties. in workability with increasing crumb rubber grades and propor-
The above was repeated ten times for each panel and the results averaged.
Three samples from each crumb rubber grade were tested before and after sim-
tions. This is most likely due to the reduced ‘flowability’ of the lar-
ulated adverse weathering conditions by heating in an oven at 75 °C for 24 h. Three ger particles which has been seen in previous work [30–33] which
more were tested following freezing for 24 h at 15 °C with the remainder subject recommend using a higher w/c ratio for greater volumes of rubber
200 N. Holmes et al. / Construction and Building Materials 73 (2014) 195–204

in the mix. Decreases in slump from 125 to 25 mm were reported increasing the crumb rubber content in concrete resulted in
[30] when the crumb rubber content increased from 0 to 120 kg/ decreased workability due to reduced inter-particle friction
m3. A similar trend can be seen here with an approximate drop between the rubber and other mix constituents which also lowered
of 50% observed when compared to the control. Increases in the unit weight of the plastic mix.
slumps where also found [31] when smaller grades of rubber Fig. 8 also shows a noticeable drop in slump for mix 1E (7.5%
crumb was used as a fine aggregate replacement up to a maximum fine aggregate replacement, 2–6 mm crumb rubber). It is believed
value of 15%. However, it has also been shown [39,40] that this is due to the incorrect water content added to this particular
mix which also had an effect on the compressive strength.

4.2. Compressive strength

The compressive strength results are presented in Fig. 9. As

shown (and as expected), there is a decrease in the strengths of
all CRC samples. Also, for every grade size shown, the compressive
strength is less in the 15% fine aggregate replacement levels than in
the lower. Similar strength reductions were observed with the
same fine aggregate replacement by crumb rubber [41]. While
the compression strength of the control exceeds the characteristic
strength (35 N/mm2), the CRC did perform well with the majority
of the mixes meeting or exceeding the design requirement at
28 days. It has been shown [40–43] that significant reductions in
compressive strength can be avoided when the crumb rubber
replacement level does not exceed 20% of the total aggregate con-
tent and minimised below 15%.
Fig. 8. Slump values.
It can be seen that the strength of mix 1E (7.5% fine aggregate
replacement, 2–6 mm crumb rubber) was significantly higher than
the others. This is believed to be due to two reasons. Firstly, as dis-
cussed above and seen in Fig. 8, the water content for this mix was
incorrect and lower than required. Secondly, upon further investi-
gation, it was discovered that the crumb rubber in these cubes
were not evenly distributed during mixing, as a consequence of
the inadequate water content. Fig. 10 demonstrates this uneven
distribution compared with another cube with adequate dispersal.
Rubber particles in concrete can migrate to the centre of test sam-
ples after vibration which can lead to non-uniform distribution
with higher failure stress levels. As crumb rubber particles are
hydrophobic, one might expect them to coagulate and flock
together. This issue was not observed in any of the other cubes
following crushing and may have been caused by inadequate com-
paction during vibration leading to the rubber particles not distrib-
Fig. 9. Compressive strength results.
uting properly.

Fig. 10. 2–6 mm CRC with 7.5% fine aggregate replacement levels showing (a) poor and (b) good distribution.
 N. Holmes et al. / Construction and Building Materials 73 (2014) 195–204 201

4.3. Density demonstrates that both volume and grading of rubber affect the
CRC’s acoustic absorbance properties.
As shown in Fig. 11, there is a decrease in density of the CRC The absorption co-efficient’s for the panels following freezing
samples compared with the control. This is due to the lower rela- and heating are shown in Fig. 13. As may be seen, the general
tive density of CRC than plain concrete with natural aggregates trends shown in Fig. 12 are repeated demonstrating that irrespec-
which has been previously observed [7,9,13,24,29] particularly tive of the environments, CRC maintains it absorption qualities.
when fine aggregates were replaced. CRC also has higher air con- The results also indicate a slightly reduced absorption for the fro-
tents than plain concrete [25,44] which is confirmed here by the zen than heated concretes which may be due to a thin ice layer
increased density of the 7.5% fine aggregate replacement CRC’s forming at the surface which limits the sound absorbing capability
for every crumb rubber grade used. This reduced weight is desir- of the concrete. However, this has a minor effect and compared
able in a number of architectural applications including facades, with the control sample, the absorption quality remains high.
precast elements and in concrete toppings on metal decks [43,46]. Investigations of the sound absorption properties of CRC panels
with fine aggregate replacement levels of 10%, 20% and 30% with

4.4. Sound absorption

The sound absorption co-efficient’s for the different CRC and

plain concrete samples in the laboratory environment are shown
in Fig. 12. The absorption coefficient of the CRC ranges from
0.013 to 0.2 compared with 0.018 in the plain concrete which is
similar to previous work in this area [7]. The results indicate that
the level of absorption is greater for those concretes with higher
volumes and larger grades of rubber. For instance, the 7.5% replace-
ment of fine aggregate by dust yielded an absorption co-efficient of
0.013 compared to 0.018 from the control. However, as the size
and volume of particles increase, the opposite is true as the larger
surface area and heavier graded rubber is capable of absorbing
more sound. For instance, there is an absorption coefficient
increase of 623%, 107%, 33% and 21% between the 7.5% and 15%
replacement levels for the dust, 1–3 mm, 2–6 mm and 10–19 mm Fig. 13. Sound absorption co-efficients for CRC and plain concrete following heating
crumb rubber particles respectively. This increased absorption and cooling.

Fig. 14. Sound absorption coefficient of crumb rubber concrete panel [41].
Fig. 11. Density values.

Fig. 15. Sound insulating results with low frequencies (63, 125, 250 and 500 Hz) in
Fig. 12. Sound absorption co-efficients for CRC and plain concrete. laboratory conditions.
202 N. Holmes et al. / Construction and Building Materials 73 (2014) 195–204

surprising, therefore, that their insulating properties are poorer,

albeit marginally.
The higher frequencies (Fig. 16) have shown improved sound
insulation properties for all concretes tested. As with the lower fre-
quencies, the plain concrete is shown to be marginally better as an
insulation material than CRC with an average of 5 dB improvement
in sound retention for the 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz frequencies.
However, the results are very similar at 8000 Hz.
The results indicate that while CRC has slightly reduced sound
insulation properties than plain concrete, in combination with
the improved absorptions seen in Figs. 12 and 13, it can be effective
in reducing noise in urban settings. It can also be seen that despite
the higher densities in the heavier graded CRC, its sound reflective
properties are similar to the lighter samples.
Fig. 16. Sound insulating results with high frequencies (1000, 2000, 4000 and
8000 Hz) in laboratory conditions.
Figs. 17 and 18 shows the insulation properties of the samples
subjected to low and high sound frequencies respectively following

Fig. 18. Sound insulating results with high frequencies following freezing.
Fig. 17. Sound insulating results with low frequencies following freezing.

low (125, 250 and 500 Hz) and high (1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz)
frequencies [41] was found to have superior sound absorption
properties than plain concrete particularly within the higher fre-
quency range. The results from this study are shown in Fig. 14 with
the three grades of crumb rubber used namely No. 6 (passing ASTM
sieve No. 6), No. 26 (passing ASTM sieve No. 26) and a combination
of both, No. 6 + 26. The results demonstrate an improvement in
absorbance with increasing frequency.
Density of a material is often considered to be the important
factor that governs the sound absorption behaviour of the material.
Previous studies showed an increase in sound absorption with
higher frequencies and density. The addition of crumb rubber has
been found [41,44] to have a minor reduction in void content
which is believed to be due to the impervious nature of crumb rub- Fig. 19. Sound insulating results from low frequency following heating.
ber which lowers the concretes porosity.

4.5. Sound insulation

The results from the low and high frequencies sound insulating
tests using the laboratory based slabs are shown in Figs. 15 and 16
respectively. For the lower frequencies, the results indicate similar
sound insulation properties with the control sample particularly at
63 and 125 Hz where the level of sound retained both is approxi-
mately 15 and 11 dB respectively. However, the control sample
appears to be a slightly better insulator that the CRC at the higher
frequencies (250 and 500 Hz) with a 3–4 dB improvement
throughout due to the longer wavelengths allowing it to penetrate
a larger surface area. Previous research [41,44,45] has shown that
higher density materials have improved insulation properties with
the lower densities for all CRC’s than the control (Fig. 11). It is not Fig. 20. Sound insulating results from high frequency following heating.
 N. Holmes et al. / Construction and Building Materials 73 (2014) 195–204 203

Fig. 21. Minor surface cracking observed on the 10–19 mm CRC samples following heating.

freezing to 15 °C. The results demonstrate no noticeable differ- absorbance, the results demonstrate CRC can be effective
ence with the laboratory-based findings. One would expect a dif- in reducing noise in urban settings. A minor decrease in
ference in results due to the creation of ice in the pore space the insulation performance of CRC in the elevated tempera-
which would accelerate the transmission of sound. Additional ture was observed on the largest rubber grade (10–19 mm)
putty was required around the concrete to fill the gaps in the tun- due to some minor cracking on the surface.
nel due to a minor reduction in volume due to freezing. (3) The workability of the concrete was decreased as the crumb
Similarly with the frozen samples, Figs. 19 and 20 show little rubber grade and proportion increased and reduced the
difference between the concrete insulation properties following ‘flowability’. As expected, the compressive strength of the
heating to 75 °C. When concrete is heated it is subject to thermal CRC was decreased for every grade and particularly for the
expansion while its weight remains constant so its density per unit higher replacement levels. However, the majority of the
volume decreases with a corresponding increase in sound penetra- CRC did exceed the characteristic strength and previous
tion per unit area. There is a minor decrease in insulation capacity work has shown that compressive strengths can be main-
for the 10–19 mm rubber grades which may have been due to tained provided the replacement level does not exceed
some minor surface cracking observed in the concrete, as shown 20%. Uneven distribution of the crumb rubber in one sample
in Fig. 21. was found to be due to an inadequate water content and
Previous work into the freezing and thawing of CRC [32,47] vibration.
found with an increases in tyre rubber, the freezing and thawing (4) The density of the CRC was found to be lower than the plain
durability decreased. The authors concluded that although CRC concrete. This is due to the higher air contents and reduced
had higher air contents, the large-size and non-uniform distribu- relative densities of the crumb rubber than natural aggre-
tion of trapped air voids might be a possible reason for their lack gates, particular when fine aggregates have been replaced.
of improvement over plain concrete especially for higher propor-
tions. The results here demonstrate that standard plain concrete
perform better as an insulator in all environments albeit margin-
Acknowledgements
ally with no significant difference with the CRC throughout.
The authors wish to acknowledge the Funding provided by
5. Conclusions Enterprises Ireland’s Innovation Partnership programme which
provided the financial support for this work. The authors also
On the basis of the various investigations carried out to assess thank the technical support and the facilities of the School of Civil
the acoustic performance of small scale CRC panels the following & Structural Engineering in DIT Bolton Street and gratefully
conclusions have been drawn: acknowledge Crumb Rubber Ireland Ltd.

(1) CRC has been found to be more effective than plain concrete
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