Influence of polypropylene fibers reinforcement on the mechanical properties of roller compacted concrete used in airports with partial replacement of cement by cement kiln dust

Abstract

This study presents the influence of polypropylene fiber (PPF) reinforcement on the mechanical properties of roller compacted concrete (RCC) in which the cementitious materials (CMs) were partially replaced with cement kiln dust (CKD). Characteristics of RCC with partial replacement of CMs with CKD, reinforced with different PPF contents (0.04, 0.1, 0.5, 1, and 2.5%) were studied. The results clarified that the inclusion of PPF could affect the mechanical properties and cracking behaviour of RCC. It was shown that reinforcing RCC with 0.04%, and 0.1% PPF enhanced the flexural and compressive strength of RCC beside that the mode of tensile failure of RCC had been changed from brittle to ductile failure with successive cracking pattern. The research results indicated that a substantial increase (more than 57%) in flexural strength of RCC was attained by using 0.1% PPF to reinforce RCC with 5% or 10% of CMs replaced with CKD. These findings is of great important in utilizing RCC reinforced with PPF (PPFRRCC) in airports pavements. However, it was noticed that using more than 0.1% content of PPF affected adversely the mechanical properties of RCC. The present research proved that using specified content of PPF could improve the mechanical properties of PPFRRCC to fulfil the requirement airport aprons concrete pavements beside the beneficial impact on reducing the contamination of the environment.