Journal Article

Concrete Modular Pavement Structures with Optimized Thickness Based on Characteristics of High Performance Concrete Mixtures with Fibers and Silica Fume

Karbočius, Martynas, Mickevič, Rafal, Vaitkus, Audrius, Gražulytė, Judita, Šernas, Ovidijus

2021

Overview

Usually, C30/37 strength class concrete is used to construct concrete pavements on a rigid, semi-rigid or flexible base. Concrete with such a strength delivers essential design characteristics: flexural strength and tensile splitting strength are between 4.5–5.4 MPa and 2.8–3.7 MPa, respectively. Design characteristics can be significantly increased by densifying the concrete mixture, i.e., adding silica fume, steel or polypropylene macro fibers. As high-performance concrete characteristics are 20–60% higher than those for standard concrete (C30/37), new possibilities to reduce the thickness of concrete pavement slabs appear. The theoretical analysis of concrete pavement structures with high-performance concrete mixtures (C40/50, C45/55 and C50/60) showed that slab thickness could be reduced by 6–39% compared to a standard concrete pavement structure depending on the concrete properties and design method. From all those pavement structures, three concrete mixtures were determined as the most rational ones in terms of PCP thickness reduction and total pavement cost: (i) with 49.5 kg/m3 of steel fibers and 25.2 kg/m3 of silica fume; (ii) with 10.0 kg/m3 of polypropylene fibers (type A); (iii) with 49.5 kg/m3 of steel fibers.

• Publisher: MDPI AG,MDPI
• Subject: Asphalt pavements / Cement / Concrete construction / Concrete pavements / Concrete properties / Concrete slabs / Construction costs / Flexural strength / Load / Metal fatigue / Modular structures / Pavement construction / Polypropylene / Reinforced concrete / Rigid pavements / Silica fume / Silicon dioxide / Steel fibers / Tensile strength / Thickness