Flexural behavior of glass fiber-reinforced recycled aggregate concrete and its impact on the cost and carbon footprint of concrete pavement

Abstract

In this study, an effort is presented, towards the appraisal of the economic and environmental performance of concrete pavement with the glass fiber (GF) reinforced concrete with and without concrete waste aggregates (CWA). The performance of pavement with plain and fiber-reinforced concretes was compared based on the results of economic and environmental analysis. Firstly, this study evaluated the important mechanical properties (flexural strength, elastic modulus, and residual strength) of the concrete mixes incorporating different quantities of CWA (as 0%, 30%, 50% and 100% replacement of natural coarse aggregate) and GF (as 0%, 0.25%, 0.5% and 1% volume fraction). Then, the mechanical properties were used to design the thickness of jointed plain concrete pavement (JPCP) for different concrete mixes under similar design loading conditions. Finally, using the cost and carbon emissions of each mix per cubic meter; the cost of pavement (CP) and carbon emissions of pavement (EP) per square meter were evaluated. The results of flexural testing revealed that CWA concretes with a small percentage of GF (i.e. 0.25%) can yield better flexural strength, toughness, and residual strength than conventional plain concrete. CP and EP analysis showed the remarkable economic and environmental benefits of fiber-reinforced concrete application in JPCP. At any level of CWA, 0.25%GF addition into concrete yielded concrete pavement with a 20% lower cost and carbon-footprint than that produced with the conventional plain concrete. The CWA level can be maximized into concrete pavement with the GF addition, otherwise plain CWA concrete yields cost and carbon footprint similar to that of the conventional concrete.