Multi-Physics Analysis for Rubber-Cement Applications in Building and Architectural Fields: A Preliminary Analysis

Marco Valente, Matteo Sambucci, Abbas Sibai and Ettore Musacchi
Additional contact information
Matteo Sambucci: Department of Chemical and Material Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, 00184 Rome, Italy
Abbas Sibai: Department of Chemical and Material Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, 00184 Rome, Italy
Ettore Musacchi: European Tyre Recycling Association (ETRA), 1040 Brussels, Belgium

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 15, 1-21

Abstract: Generally, in most countries, there are no strict regulations regarding tire disposal. Hence, tires end up thrown in seas and lands as well as being burnt, harming the living beings, and are therefore considered a very dangerous pollution source for the environment. Over the past few years, several researchers have worked on incorporating shredded/powdered rubber tires into cement-based material. This strategy shows a dual functionality: Economic–environmental benefits and technological functionalization of the building material. Rubber-modified cement materials show interesting engineering and architectural properties due to the physical-chemical nature of the tire rubber aggregates. However, the abovementioned performances are affected by type, size, and content of polymer particles used in the cement-based mixtures production. Whereas an increase in the rubber content in the cement mix will negatively affect the mechanical properties of the material as a decrease in its compression strength. This aspect is crucial for the use of the material in building applications, where proper structural integrity must be guaranteed. In this context, the development of innovative manufacturing technologies and the use of multi-physics simulation software represent useful approaches for the study of shapes and geometries designed to maximize the technological properties of the material. After an overview on the performances of 3D printable rubber-cement mixtures developed in our research laboratory, a preliminary experimental Finite Element Method (FEM) analysis will be described. The modeling work aims to highlight how the topology optimization allows maximizing of the physical-mechanical performances of a standard rubber-cement component for building-architectural applications.

Keywords: tire crumb rubber; rubber-cement mortars; additive manufacturing; FEM-based mechanical analysis; structural optimization; design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/15/5993/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/15/5993/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:15:p:5993-:d:389847

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().