Mechanical Properties and Freezing and Thawing Durability of Polypropylene Fiber-Reinforced Shotcrete Incorporating Silica Fume and High Volumes of Fly Ash

Abstract

Abstract This paper describes the materials used, mixture proportions, mixing and shotcreting operation, and properties of the fresh and hardened polypropylene fiber-reinforced shotcrete incorporating silica fume and high volumes of fly ash. The polypropylene fiber-reinforced high-volume fly ash shotcrete produced had satisfactory workability, mechanical properties, and resistance to freezing and thawing cycling. The shotcrete containing silica fume had negligible rebound compared with that without silica fume. The incorporation of fly ash and silica fume improved the workability of the fresh shotcrete, and this resulted in lower operating pressure for the shotcreting. The use of polypropylene fibers up to 0.5% by the volume of the shotcrete did not affect significantly the compressive strength, and the shotcrete incorporating both fly ash and silica fume bonded well to the base concrete. The fiber-reinforced shotcrete showed satisfactory performance after 300 cycles of freezing and thawing with a durability factor >80 even though the air contents were relatively low, and the spacing factor L¯ was relatively high.