Fiber in Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavements (CRCP): Fid-Bau Portal

Fiber in Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavements (CRCP)

K. Folliard / D. Sutfin / R. Turner / D. P. Whitney

Continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) is a major form of highway pavement in Texas due to its increase in ride quality, minimal maintenance, and extended service life. However, CRCP may sometimes experience pavement distress that results in early failure, either due to under-design or the use of poor construction materials. Significant effort has been made to improve the performance of some of these materials (e.g. siliceous river gravel) to achieve an acceptable level of performance but has been unable to provide a practical solution. This research study investigates whether fiber reinforcement may solve some of the problems associated with siliceous river gravel, particularly spalling. The main objectives of this study were to: (1) Conduct a comprehensive literature review in order to determine the current state of the art regarding CRCP design and behavior as well as the role that fiber reinforcement may have in improving its performance; (2) Perform field investigations in order to verify constructability and workability of fibers in CRCP construction; (3) Perform frequent monitoring to evaluate the effect of fibers on crack spacing, crack width, and spalling development; (4) Perform laboratory testing that validate the effect of fibers on typical concrete paving mixes; (5) Provide TxDOT with recommendations as to possible changes in the construction and design specifications of CRCP, which could serve to reduce or prevent spalling. Because the manifestation of spalling in CRCP may sometimes take several years, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions from this two-year study.