Fracture Mechanism of Fibre Reinforced Concrete Pavement Based on a RILEM Design Approach

Abstract

Using fibre-reinforced concrete pavement (FRCP) offers excellent performance in terms of enhancing the concrete’s physical properties. The most popular fibres used in creating concrete for pavements are steel, polypropylene, and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibres, though these come in a variety of geometries (lengths, shapes, sizes, and thickness). This paper utilises steel and PVA fibres at different low volume fractions to examine the improvement mechanism of FRC. The volume fractions of fibre (Vf) used were 0.04, 0.12, and 0.2 % and 0.3, 0.4, and 0.6% for PVA and steel hooked end fibres, respectively. There are many theoretical methods available for determining the effect of fibre inclusion on the load-carrying capacity of concrete pavements. One of these methods is analysing the stress-strain diagram (σ-ε method) according to RILEM TC-162-TDF. This paper used the (σ-ε) method to evaluate these types of fibre, showing that the stress-strain diagram, residual flexural tensile strength, and toughness are improved by adding both types of fibre. The improvement in fracture mechanisms enhances the ability of FRCP to bear stresses and moments, helping to avoid premature failure in the pavement. PVA FRC showed better performance than steel FRC in terms of supporting the external bending moment capacity, however, which reduces the thickness of the concrete required.