Work

Experimental Investigation on Flexural Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Beams with Externally Applied Liquid Rubber

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: This paper presents a technique for enhancing the cracking resistance of reinforced concrete (RC) beams through the external application of liquid rubber. To evaluate the influence of this coating on flexural performance, four-point bending tests were conducted on seven RC beams, comprising six coated beams and one uncoated control beam. The effects of coating position (beam soffit, beam sides, or both) and number of coating layers (3 or 6) on the flexural response were investigated. The results indicate that the external application of liquid rubber improves the cracking load and ductility of the RC beams to some extent, and the degree of improvement is related to the number of coating layers. Moreover, the application of liquid rubber to the tensile zone of the RC beams can moderately restrain tensile deformation of the concrete. When the coating was applied only to the beam soffit, the concrete strain at the soffit was lower than that in the tensile zone on the beam sides, resulting in a non-linear distribution of tensile strain along the section height within the pure bending region.

Source: Materials

DOI: 10.3390/ma19173796

Authors: Qi Ouyang, Xian Liang, Lvkang Lan, Weizhu Zhu, Xianxiang Zhou

Institution: Quzhou University

Language: English

Topic: Structural Behavior of Reinforced Concrete

Subfield: Building and Construction

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,137

Funder: Quzhou Municipal Science and Technology Bureau