Longitudinal shear resistance of composite slabs containing crumb rubber in concrete toppings

• Static testing of composite slabs.
• Assessment of the longitudinal shear strength due to the addition of crumb rubber concrete (CRC) in composite slabs.
• Analysis of the stiffness and flexural strength.
• Performance of the slabs in mid-span deflection and end-slip.

This paper investigates the behaviour and longitudinal shear capacity of metal deck composite slabs with the inclusion of crumb rubber in the concrete toppings.The ability of the slabs to act compositely is governed by the shear interaction between the concrete topping and the profiled steel deck. Results here show that crumb rubber concrete (CRC) improve the overall shear bond capacity between the steel deck and topping following an experimental study on full scale loading tests in accordance with Eurocode 4.The results confirm that composite slabs incorporating crumb rubber had no effect on the longitudinal shear resistance with similar failure loads and behaviours to plain concrete. It also demonstrates a practical use for recycled tyres in the form of crumb rubber which are an environmental problem.