In-depth assessment of Crumb Rubber Concrete (CRC) prepared by water-soaking treatment method for rigid pavements

• Crumb Rubber Concrete (CRC) evaluated based on the Australian standards.
• Applying water-soaking treatment on CRC pavements was investigated.
• Fresh and hardened characteristics of rubberised-concrete were evaluated.
• Water-soaking treatment significantly enhanced mechanical properties of CRC.
• An equation for estimating strength of CRC was introduced.

This paper investigates effects of applying an innovative method of rubber treatment, named water-soaking, on fresh and hardened properties of rubberised concrete. Unlike the current methods of introducing rubber into concrete mixtures, which are conducted in a dry process, this research trialled introducing of rubber particles into the mixture in a wet process. Conducting the required sets of fresh and hardened concrete tests, mixtures with a variety of rubber content and water–cement ratios were evaluated. In order to measure the effectiveness of the introduced method, properties of concrete prepared by water soaking-method were compared with concrete containing untreated rubber. It was observed that applying the proposed method resulted in improvement of fresh and hardened properties. It resulted in more uniform distribution of rubber particles in concrete matrix, less entrapped air in concrete mixture and 22% higher compressive strength for rubberised concrete.