Roller compacted concrete pavements reinforced with steel and polypropylene fibers

Abstract

In this paper, the effects of both pozzolans and (steel and poly-propylene) fibers on the mechanical properties of roller compacted concrete are studied. Specimens for the experiments were made using a soil-based approach; thus, the Kango`s vibration hammer was used for compaction. The tests in the first stage were carried out to determine the optimal moisture requirements for mix designs using cubic mm specimens. In the tests of the second stage, the mechanical behaviors of the main specimens made using the optimal moisture obtained in the previous stage were evaluated using 28, 90, and 210 day cubic specimens. The mechanical properties of RCC pavements were evaluated using a soil-based compaction method and the optimum moisture content obtained from the pertaining experiments, and by adding different percentages of Iranian pozzolans as well as different amounts of steel fibers, each one accompanied by 0.1% of poly-propylene fibers. Using pozzolans, maximum increase in compressive strength was observed to occur between 28 and 90 days of age, rupture modulus was found to decrease, but toughness indices did not change considerably. The influence of steel fibers on compressive strength was often more significant than that of PP fibers, but neither steel nor PP fibers did contribute to increase in the rupture modulus independently. Also, the toughness indices increased when steel fibers were used.