Construction and Building Materials 184 (2018) 34–44

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Comparative study on the effect of synthetic fiber on the preparation and

durability of airport pavement concrete
Yue Chen ⇑, Guoping Cen, Yunhua Cui
Department of Airfield and Building Engineering, Air Force Engineering University, Xi’an 710038, China

h i g h l i g h t s

Four kinds of synthetic fiber reinforced concrete for airport pavement were researched in this paper.

The impermeability and the frost resistance of fiber reinforced concrete were investigated.

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to analyze the strengthening mechanism of synthetic fibers reinforced concrete.

The optimum volume of synthetic fiber in airport pavement concrete is obtained.

The Cost-benefit analysis of the fiber reinforced pavement concrete was put forward.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In order to improve the durability of airport pavement concrete, four kinds of synthetic fiber reinforced
Received 14 March 2018 concrete were researched in this paper. Modified polyester synthetic fiber concrete (MPFC),
Received in revised form 11 June 2018 Monofilament polypropylene synthetic fiber reinforced concrete (MPSFC), Reticular polypropylene syn-
Accepted 27 June 2018
thetic fiber reinforced concrete (RPFC), and Polyacrylonitrile synthetic fiber reinforced concrete (PSFC)
were prepared in this paper. Strength, impermeability and frost resistance of them were investigated.
The impermeability test was carried out by hydrostatic pressure and chloride ion penetration method,
Keywords:
while the frost resistance test was conducted by quick freezing method. The results show that the syn-
Airport pavement
Synthetic fiber
thetic fiber improves concrete flexural strength, but it has little effect on compressive strength. Under
Fiber reinforced concrete the same volume fraction (0.1%), the flexural strength of MPFC and PSFC increased by about 6% compared
Impermeability with that of ordinary concrete (PC), but the flexural strength of PSFC increased slightly, with only 1–2%.
Frost resistance Single fiber can improve concrete impermeability and frost resistance. Among them PSFC impermeability
Cost-benefit analysis is the best, which is 2.4 times of that of PC, up to P24; the frost resistance of MPFC is the best, which is 2
times of that of PC, reaching F350. Polycarboxylic synthetic water-reducer (SDJ) can improve concrete
impermeability and frost resistance greatly. It has best impermeability when mixing with polyacryloni-
trile fiber, and its frost resistance grades were all up to above F600 when mixing with the four kinds of
fibers separately. It is suggested that the optimum volume fraction is 0.10–0.14%, as the fiber content also
has certain influence on the performance of the synthetic fiber concrete. At last, the Cost-benefit analysis
of the fiber reinforced concrete was put forward, which showed that the application of fiber concrete in
the airport pavement engineering has great economic benefits and broad prospects for development.
Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction [1–3]. At present, durability failure of the general pavement con-

crete caused by cracks is the main issue in the current airport engi-
Airport Pavement Concrete, as a sheet structure exposed to neering [4].
natural environment, bears the long-term damage from the To solve the problem of the increasing load of airplane, the
surrounding and aircraft repeated load, resulting in cracks, voids high-strength concrete is used in the airport pavement. However,
and other defects. Especially in the harsh natural environment, with the increase of the load level of aircraft and the increase of
the airport pavement concrete is very vulnerable to damage, easy the daily flow of the airport, the cracking problem of the airport
to crack, with surface peeling and other durability problems pavement has gradually become the main hidden danger of the
normal use of the airport, and has become a hot research direction
at home and abroad. For the high-strength concrete, it can improve
⇑ Corresponding author.
the carrying capacity of the whole pavement, but it cannot solve
E-mail address: [email protected] (Y. Chen).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2018.06.223
0950-0618/Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Y. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 184 (2018) 34–44 35

the outstanding problem of airport pavement crack. Therefore, 2. Raw materials and mix design
people began to modify the concrete constantly to improve its
comprehensive performance. In the continuous attempt, the 2.1. Raw material
researchers have found an economic and effective way of improve-
ment. Through the physical mixing of concrete and various fibers, a Cement: 42.5R ordinary Portland cement, with the density of
new type of building material with excellent comprehensive per- 3.10 g/cm3 and 80 m screen of 1.6%; the flexural strengths of 3D
formance is made, namely fiber reinforced concrete. Currently, and 28d are 5.0 MPa and 9.0 MPa; the compressive strengths of
the fibers mainly used in concrete are steel fiber, glass fiber, carbon 3D and 28d are 28.9 MPa and 52.3 MPa.
fiber and synthetic fiber, etc. In recent years, synthetic fiber has Aggregate: Limestone rubble. three graded concrete of
been more and more popular due to its excellent comprehensive 5–10 mm, 10–20 mm, 20–40 mm; Gradation proportion of 10:
properties. Compared with other fibers, synthetic fiber has been 30: 60, Density 2.70 g/cm3, Bulk density 1.69 g/cm3, Crush index
increasingly used in engineering practice, with the characteristics 3.4%; River sand: 2.78 fineness modulus, Density 2.63 g/ cm3, Level
of small density, small filament diameter, suitable price, acid and II, Bulk density 1.50 g/ cm3.
alkali resistance, easy dispersion and so on. The research and appli- The SDJ water reducer used in this paper is Synthesis of Polycar-
cation of synthetic fiber concrete began in the 60 s of last century. boxylic water-reducer. It is a kind of polymer surfactant with comb
In 70 s, it has been developed greatly. In the year of 80 s, it has structure composed of macromolecular compounds containing
been widely used in new construction and repair works [5]. In sulfonic acid groups, carboxyl groups, amino groups, and poly-
1963, Romualdi proposed the fiber spacing theory [6–9]. In 1964, oxyethylene side chains. These compounds are synthesized by
Danish Krenchel firstly applied the theory of composite materials free-radical copolymerization in aqueous solution. The appearance
to study the mechanism of fiber reinforced inorganic cementitious of SDJ is light gray powdery solid with a density of 500–600 (g/L), a
materials [10]. Shen Rongxi et al studied on the mechanism of low solids content of 98%. In addition, the pH value of 20% SDJ solution
content synthetic fiber in concrete, summarizes the characteristics at 20 °C is 7, and the chlorine ion content of SDJ is less than 0.01%.
of synthetic fiber as reinforced concrete, points out that the low Synthetic fiber: four kinds of fibers (MP, MPS, RP, PS) were
content synthetic fiber has the function of crack resistance and selected for the experimental study, of which the specific
toughening in concrete [11]. On the basis of the study of the resid- performance indicators are shown in Table 1, and the appearances
ual flexural strength of low elastic modulus fiber concrete, Zhao are shown in Figs. 1–4.
Guofan et al. Put forward the index and method to calculate the Experimental water is drinking water.
flexural capacity of the low elastic modulus fiber reinforced con-
crete members. [12]. Scholars from all over the country have done 2.2. Mix design
some research on the strength of synthetic fiber [13–15], frost
resistance [16], durability [17,18], fatigue [19–21] and so on Fibers are helpful in controlling the post-crack behavior of con-
[13–24]. However, these studies are mainly concentrated in the crete producing an apparent increase of the cracking strength,
construction and water conservancy projects, with different con- although with bigger tensile peak strain, one of which is a
clusions. There is no systematic and deep research about the influ- representative synthetic fiber with low volume and low elastic
ence of synthetic fiber on airport pavement concrete. In addition,
the issues including fiber varieties, best dosage, and construction
technology suitable for airport pavement engineering have yet to
be resolved. Consequently, it is necessary to investigate the prepa-
ration and durability of synthetic fiber concrete pavement.
In this paper, four kinds of fibers, Modified polyester synthetic
fiber (MP), Monofilament polypropylene synthetic fiber (MPS),
Reticular polypropylene synthetic fiber (RP), and Synthesis of poly-
acrylonitrile fiber reinforced concrete (PS) were selected. And
MPFC, MPSFC, RPFC and PSFC were prepared respectively based
on ordinary concrete (PC). Moreover, the effect of fiber variety
and content on the strength and durability of synthetic fiber
concrete pavement was investigated. Meanwhile, the influence of
AEWR on its durability was studied, to expand the application of
synthetic fiber concrete in airport pavement. In order to better
guide the engineering application of synthetic fiber concrete in air-
port pavement, the optimum content of synthetic fiber concrete
was given on the basis of the experimental results. At the end of
this paper, the Cost-benefit analysis of the fiber reinforced concrete
was put forward, and the comprehensive cost analysis of fiber
reinforced concrete in airport pavement is also carried out. The
increasing cost of the airport pavement and the change of the dura-
bility of concrete were compared and analyzed, and the economy
of adding fiber in the airport pavement concrete was discussed. Fig. 1. MP.

Table 1
Technical performance index of synthetic fiber.

Fiber variety Tensile strength (MPa) Elasticity modulus (GPa) Ultimate elongation (%) Density (g/cm3) Length (mm) Shape Place of Origin
MP 650–850 10–15 7–12 1.38 19 Bundle filament Beijing
MPS 400 6–9 15–25 0.91 19 Bundle filament Ningbo
RP 450–650 8–10 8–10 0.91 19 Reticular Wuhan
PS 250–440 3–8 12–20 1.18 12 Bundle filament Shenzhen
36 Y. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 184 (2018) 34–44

Fig. 4. PS.
Fig. 2. MPS.

Table 2
Concrete reference mix ratio.

Material consumption per m3 cement water sand medium small

of concrete (kg) stone stone
320 147 545 863 575

basis of Wu Zhongwei’s high performance concrete mix ratio and

the research of Ma Guojing and Wang Shuotai et al. [22,23]. The
design of the synthetic fiber high performance pavement concrete
was carried out by the method of absolute dense volume, com-
bined with the design specification and experience of the mixture
ratio, which obtained the reference concrete mix ratio is 1 m3, and
cement, water, sand, boulders and pebbles of the concrete were
320 kg, 147 kg, 545 kg, 863 kg and 575 kg (see Table 2).

2.3. Mixing technology

In the preparation of fiber reinforced concrete, mixing process is

a very complicated process. The purpose of mixing is not only to
achieve the uniform mixing of the concrete material, but also to
Fig. 3. RP. consider the problem of the uniform dispersion and minimum
damage of the fiber in the cement matrix. In order to give full play
modulus [21]. The performance of this fiber concrete is mainly to the role of fiber, strict requirements are made for its dispersion,
determined by the reference concrete. The core idea of preparing that is, all fibers are required in the presence of filament state,
high performance pavement concrete with low content of syn- without cluster, and are distributed uniformly in the concrete sys-
thetic fiber is to use synthetic fiber as an additive to improve the tem at macro level. Double horizontal shaft forced mixer should be
performance of concrete. Therefore, the design method of mix pro- used in this test, to ensure the uniformity and quality of fiber con-
portion should not only take into account the design method of crete mixture. Dry mixed mortar method is adopted in the mixing
mix proportion of ordinary pavement concrete, but also the influ- procedure: Sand + cement + fiber (30 s) + water (30 s) + gravel
ence of synthetic fiber on workability of concrete. Because the air- (120 s).
craft has the characteristics of large load and fast speed, there is a
significant difference between airport pavement concrete and ordi- 3. Strength characteristics analysis of synthetic fiber concrete
nary road concrete. Among them, the airport pavement has stron-
ger endurance and higher durability. At the same time, the area of The tests for the concrete flexural and compressive strength
the airport pavement is large, so it is more affected by the low tem- were conducted according to the hmechanical properties of
perature climate and rainfall seepage. The above factors eventually ordinary concrete methodsi [24]. The flexural specimen is
lead to a certain degree of difference between the mix of airport 150 mm * 150 mm * 600 mm in size, and the compressive strength
pavement concrete and ordinary building concrete. On the premise was determined by the end of the flexural specimen, a test-piece in
of meeting the strength standard, the concrete mix proportion suit- the size of 150 mm * 150 mm * 150 mm. Four kinds of fibers (MP,
able for airport pavement is selected [25–27]. In this paper, on the MPS, RP, PS) were selected to prepare MPFC, MPSFC, RPCF and PSFC
 Y. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 184 (2018) 34–44 37

with a fixed volume of 0.1%. Moreover, the effect of fiber variety (1) Effect of Fiber variety on strength
was investigated, compared with PC without fiber. In the case that
MP fiber with different volume (0.06%, 0.08%, 0.10%, 0.12%, 0.14%, It can be seen from Fig. 5, different fiber varieties have certain
0.16%, 0.18%, 020%), the effect of fiber content on the strength of impact on concrete flexural strength. The addition of fiber can
concrete was studied. improve concrete flexural strength to some extent, and its
The compressive strength of concrete is one of the basic increased range is related to fiber performance itself. Under the
mechanical indexes of concrete, and it is also the main factor deter- same fiber volume ratio (0.1%), the flexural strength of MPFC and
mining the bearing capacity of airport pavement. Airport pavement PSFC increased by around 6%, compared with that of PC, while the
is an important carrier for carrying the plane’s running and flexural strength of MPSFC and RPFC increased by only 1–2%. The
landing. For the concrete of the airport pavement, its strength is effect of Fiber variety on the compressive strength is similar to that
a necessary factor to ensure the normal use of the aircraft. The on flexural strength, and the compressive strength of them are all
pavement can be put into use only after the compressive strength lower than that of PC, with the reduction of under 4%. Among them
reaches the requirements of the standard [24]. Therefore, the influ- MPFC and PSFC decrease slightly, in contrast with MPSFC. It can be
ence of the fiber incorporation on the compressive strength of the seen from the Fig. 5 that after adding MP, MPS, RP and PS fibers, the
concrete is worth exploring. If a certain kind of fiber can greatly compressive strength of concrete decreases by 0.19Mpa, 1.91Mpa,
improve the durability and impermeability of concrete, but the 0.92Mpa and 0.58Mpa, respectively. Compared with the original
compressive strength of the concrete is greatly reduced so that it compressive strength of ordinary concrete, it accounted for
cannot meet the requirements of use, then the concrete mixed 0.364%, 3.66%, 1.763% and 1.112% respectively. It can be seen that
with this fiber is not applicable to the airport pavement. We must the incorporation of fibers has little effect on the compressive
test durability and impermeability under the premise of ensuring strength of concrete under static conditions. According to the
the strength of concrete specimens. On this basis, the compressive relevant specifications and the studies of previous scholars
strength of concrete specimens before and after adding fiber is [28–30], the strength of concrete is in conformity with the require-
tested, and Strength test results are shown in Figs. 5 and 6. ments. The flexural strength is a design index for airport pavement.

(a) Flexural strength (b) Compressive strength

Fig. 5. Effect of Fiber Varieties on concrete strength.

(a) Flexural strength (b) Compressive strength

Fig. 6. Effect of fiber content on the strength of concrete.
38 Y. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 184 (2018) 34–44

Furthermore, it is beneficial to the pavement performance that as concrete permeability tester. Starting from 0.1 MPa, the hydraulic
flexural strength improves and compressive strength reduces pressure was increased by 0.1 MPa every 8 h. If there were 3 spec-
accordingly, thus lowering the compression ratio and the concrete imens showing top seepage in the test pieces, the pressure value
brittleness. Therefore, it is more favorable for pavement perfor- would be recorded at once, and the test would be terminated. Chlo-
mance to add the fiber in the dry pavement concrete. ride ion penetration test was carried out by fast test method of
ASTM C1202-05 [32]. On the day before the test, the specimen,
(2) Effect of fiber content on strength with sealing side, was taken out from the curing chamber, and vac-
uum was pumped as required. The test specimen treated in accor-
As can be seen from Fig. 6, when the fiber volume fraction is less dance with the specified method was placed in test box, both ends
than 1.4%, the concrete flexural strength increases as fiber content of which were injected NaCl and NaOH solutions. Then, the wire
increases, at the maximum by 9% compared with that of PC. Accord- was connected, power plugged and digital voltmeter opened. The
ing to the theory of fiber reinforcement, the main reason is that the output voltage is controlled by 60 V, and the test data is read by
increase of fiber content will lead to the larger number of fiber per the ammeter.
unit volume and the increase of fiber spacing. But it must be based
on the premise of concrete compaction. Too much fiber content (1) Study on the influence of Fiber Variety on concrete
(>1.4%), will cause the difficulty in forming concrete, and the diffi- impermeability
culty of concrete compaction within the prescribed vibration time,
which makes the strength decreased in turn. The compressive Four kinds of fibers (MP, MPS, RP, PS) were selected to prepare
strength is also in such a situation, only with small change. The dif- two sets of MPFC, MPSFC, RPCF and PSFC with a fixed volume of
ference between the highest point and the lowest point of the Fig. 6 0.1%. Two groups of PC were formed simultaneously to precede
(b) is only 2.2Mpa, accounting for only 4.21% of the original com- impermeability test, and the average was taken as shown in Fig. 7.
pressive strength. Considering the system error and the difference Fig. 7(b) indicates: anti-chloride ion permeability test of fiber
in the internal uniformity of the specimen, the overall effect of concrete is much higher than that of PC. Relative to the PC, MPFC
the fiber content on the compressive strength of concrete is very power drops down to 66%; MPSFC decreases to 68%; RPFC
small. Conversely, the incorporation of fibers can sometimes even decreases to 71%; PSFC declines to 59%, which shows the best
reduce the compressive strength of concrete. When the amount of impermeability. Fig. 7(a) presents the impermeability of fiber con-
fiber is too high, they will be twisted into clusters in the mixing pro- crete is higher than that of ordinary concrete significantly. PSFC
cess, resulting in local strength weakening. Under the action of impermeability level reaches P24, 2.4 times of PC’s; MPFC and
pressure load, the concrete matrix first cracks, and gradually forms MPSFC impermeability grades are also more than P20. Relatively,
through cracks, resulting in specimen failure. But in this paper, Dry RPFC has a low penetration resistance, with the grade of P14 only.
mixed mortar method is adopted to ensure the homogeneous mix- The results show that the permeability of PSFC and MPFC is better
ing of matrix and fiber. As the compressive strength receives little than that of MPSFC and RPFC.
effect from the content, easy to be interfered by test error, it is
not obvious than flexural strength in regularity. (2) Effect of fiber content on concrete impermeability

4. Study on durability of synthetic fiber concrete In the case of MP, the volume fraction of fiber addition is 0.10%,
0.16% and 0.20%. Two groups of impermeability specimen were
4.1. Study on impermeability formed in each of them, and the results were averaged as shown
in Fig. 8.
Concrete durability failure is closely related to water, so imper- As can be seen from Fig. 8, anti-chloride ion permeability test
meability is an important index to evaluate the durability. In this and hydrostatic pressure test show that the impermeability of fiber
paper, the durability of synthetic fiber has been analyzed by meth- concrete does not increase with the increase of fiber content. When
ods of hydrostatic pressure and chloride ion penetration. the fiber content was 0.10%, the impermeability was the best. Too
Hydrostatic pressure test was conducted as per hlong-term much fiber is easy to agglomerate in the concrete, which provides a
performance and durability of PC methodi [31], with HP-40 type channel for water penetration, resulting in poor impermeability.

(a) Hydrostatic pressure test (b) Anti-chloride ion permeability test

Fig. 7. Effect of Fiber Variety on concrete impermeability.
 Y. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 184 (2018) 34–44 39

(a) Hydrostatic pressure test (b) Anti-chloride ion permeability test

Fig. 8. Effect of fiber content on concrete impermeability.

The results indicate that there appears significant agglomeration as introduced in concrete blocks the way of liquid penetration into
the content of polyester fiber is greater than 0.14%. Consequently, concrete, which improves concrete permeability significantly.
the amount should not exceed 0.14%.
4.2. Study on frost resistance
(3) Study on the influence of AEWR and fiber composite on con-
crete impermeability Frost resistance is the performance of concrete in the state of
saturated water withstanding multiple freeze-thaw cycles without
In cold areas, AEWR is a necessity to meet the requirement of damage. In cold region, the main reason for concrete deterioration
concrete frost resistance. In this paper, concrete impermeability is the freeze-thaw cycle damage of concrete pavement. In addition,
was investigated with AEWR and fiber composite admixture. frost resistance can indirectly reflect the ability of concrete to resist
AEWR addition was SDJ, with the content of 1.5% cement. In this environmental water immersion and ice pressure. Therefore, frost
paper, the mixing ratio of reference concrete is adjusted by mixing resistance is one of the important indexes to measure concrete
air entraining agent, and SPC is prepared by using SDJ when the durability. The data in this paper are measured by our frost resis-
water cement ratio is reduced to 0.40. Three kinds of fibers, MP, tance test and are objective and scientific. In this paper, we choose
MPS and PS were chosen to prepare Poly, SBFC, SNFC and SNFC. the basic mechanical properties and physical parameters of con-
Two groups of concrete specimen were formed in each of them crete to measure the changes of concrete specimens after freeze-
to conduct impermeability test. The results were averaged as thaw cycles. At present, there is no definite numerical index for
shown in Fig. 9. the direct evaluation of concrete frost resistance in the world, so
It can be observed from Fig. 9: the addition of SDJ can greatly it is impossible to measure the frost resistance of concrete with a
improve concrete impermeability. Anti-chloride ion permeability single parameter. The internal change of concrete is a complicated
of SPC、SBFC、SNFC、SSFC increases by 67.4%, 68.5%, 65.8%, process under the conditions of freezing thawing at low tempera-
70.3% respectively, compared with PC. Hydrostatic pressure test ture. It is very difficult to quantify the frost resistance of the con-
makes clear that, with the introduction of SDJ, the water cement crete at the airport pavement, combining the external actual
ratio is reduced under the premise of ensuring the working perfor- situation of the concrete of the airport pavement. In this paper,
mance of concrete. Meanwhile, the small uniform bubbles which the weight loss and relative dynamic modulus are chosen to

(a) Hydrostatic pressure test (b) Anti-chloride ion permeability test

Fig. 9. Effect of SDJ on concrete impermeability.
40 Y. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 184 (2018) 34–44

measure the frost resistance of concrete. Among them, mass loss is tance grade is F125, while the grades of MPFC, MPSFC, RPCF and
a macroscopic index to measure the appearance and overall state PSFC are F350, F300, F175, F325. In addition to the relatively low
of concrete specimen. When the mass loss is too large, the overall frost resistance of RPCF, The rest of them all show good perfor-
damage of concrete will increase, and the mechanical properties mance, with frost resistance grades reaching more than F300.
will inevitably decrease significantly. On the other hand, the rela-
tive elastic modulus is an important index to measure the internal (2) Effect of fiber content on concrete frost resistance
pore and crack state of concrete. When the porosity increases, the
relative modulus of elasticity decreases greatly, and the two has a In order to study the effect of fiber content on the frost resis-
corresponding linear relationship. At the same time, the perfor- tance of pavement concrete, the MP with good frost resistance
mance of the selected indexes and tests is determined according and sensitivity on frost resistance was selected in this study. The
to the relevant standards [31], which is objective and scientific. concrete with the fiber volume content of 0.10% (MP-0.10), 0.12%
This experiment was carried out as per Quick freezing method (MP-0.12), 0.15% (MP-0.15) and 0.20% (MP-0.20) were prepared
from hthe long-term performance and durability test method of ordi- for the test. The results are shown in Table 4.
nary concretei [31]. TDR type concrete quick freezing thawing As can be seen from Table 4, the concrete frost resistance grade
machine and DT-2 type digital dynamic elasticity tester were used of the polyester fiber volume fraction with 0.10%, 0.12%, 0.15%,
in this test. The specimen adopted prisms of 100 mm * 100 mm * 0.20% reaches F325, F350, F275, F275. Therefore, the fiber content
400 mm, in each group of three pieces. Before the test, the speci- is not the bigger the better, but there exists a reasonable threshold.
mens were immersed in water at 20 °C ± 3°C. And the specimens When the dosage is greater than the critical value, the fiber disper-
were tested for 25 times of freeze-thaw cycles to calculate the sion in the concrete becomes worse, which is easy to agglomerate,
mass loss and dynamic elastic modulus. Then, the test-piece was and it will affect concrete frost resistance instead.
reloaded into the box for further experiment. Moreover, the exper-
iment should be terminated as the following conditions arise: (1) (3) Study on frost resistance of concrete mixed with SDJ and
the relative dynamic elastic modulus drops to 60% of the initial fiber content
value; (2) the mass loss rate is up to 5%; (3) the number of freezing
and thawing cycles In order to investigate the effect of SDJ and fiber composite on
concrete frost resistance, four kinds of fiber concrete, SPC, SBFC,
(1) Study on the effect of different fiber on concrete frost SNFC and SSFC were also prepared. Two groups of concrete speci-
resistance men were formed in each of them for frost resistance experiment.
The results are shown in Table 5.
In order to investigate the effect of different fiber on concrete Table 5 shows that SDJ has good mixture effect with the four
frost resistance, four kinds of fibers (MP, MPS, RP, PS) were selected kinds of fibers, and a decisive role in concrete frost resistance, whose
to prepare MPFC, MPSFC, RPCF and PSFC, with a fixed volume of grades of the fibers all reach more than F600. The dynamic elasticity
0.12% for frost resistance tests. The results are shown in Table 3. modulus of the four concrete after 300 freeze-thaw cycles is 91.3%,
As can be observed from Table 3, the incorporation of fiber 88.1%, 93.5%, and 96.8%, respectively. The concrete exists surface
greatly improved the frost resistance of concrete. PC frost resis- shedding, but no exposed aggregate, which shows preferable

Table 3
Test results of concrete frost resistance with different fiber varieties.

Specimen Quality initial Dynamic elasticity Frequency Relative dynamic Mass Frequency Relative dynamic Mass Frost resistance
number value initial value elasticity loss elasticity loss grade
PC 10.25 54.65 125 63 0.78 150 57.3 3.61 F125
MPFC 10.12 59.57 350 64 0.3 375 56.2 1.09 F350
MPSFC 10.18 51.72 300 68.2 4.91 325 51.7 5.7 F300
RPFC 10.16 52.3 175 60.1 1.87 200 50.2 5.02 F175
PSFC 10.14 51.07 325 66 0.3 350 59 0.3 F325

Table 4
Frost resistance test results of polyester fiber concrete with different volume.

Specimen Quality initial Dynamic elasticity Frequency Relative dynamic mass Frequency Relative dynamic Mass Frost resistance
number value initial value elasticity loss elasticity loss grade
PC 10.25 54.65 125 63 0.78 150 57.3 3.61 F125
MP-0.10 10.1 50.85 325 61 0.79 350 55 1.39 F325
MP-0.12 10.12 59.57 350 64 0.3 375 56.2 1.09 F350
MP-0.15 10.31 54.78 275 65 0.39 300 50.5 0.58 F275
MP-0.20 10.18 54.21 275 61 0.29 300 46.5 0.98 F275

Table 5
Frost resistance test results of SDJ and fiber composite concrete.

Specimen Quality initial Dynamic elasticity Frequency Relative dynamic mass Frequency Relative dynamic Mass Frost resistance
number value initial value elasticity loss elasticity loss grade
PC 10.25 54.65 125 63 0.78 150 57.3 3.61 F125
SPC 9.6 42.52 300 91.3 1.15 600 83.28 3.44 >F600
SBFC 9.45 40.08 300 88.1 0.32 600 73.5 2.65 >F600
SNFC 9.58 42.56 300 93.5 0.84 600 84.4 3.34 >F600
SSFC 9.56 42.34 300 96.8 0.31 600 80.87 1.99 >F600
 Y. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 184 (2018) 34–44 41

performance. The relative dynamic elastic modulus of concrete was

measured after freeze-thaw cycles for 600 times. As a result, four
types of concrete specimens are beginning to appear a large area
of apparent dregs, and exposed aggregate (see Figs. 10–13). How-
ever, the relative dynamic elastic modulus of concrete is still above

Fig. 13. SSFC.

80%. It shows that the addition of SDJ can improve concrete frost
resistance. The performance of monofilament polypropylene fiber
concrete is greatly improved after SDJ mixture, which also confirms
that SDJ has a decisive effect on concrete frost resistance.

Fig. 10. SPC.

5. Mechanism analysis and optimum content

5.1. Fiber reinforced mechanism analysis

The results indicate that the strength and durability of fiber

reinforced concrete are greatly improved after the synthetic fiber
is added into the concrete matrix. In order to study the modifica-
tion mechanism of synthetic fiber to concrete matrix, in this paper,
with the case of PC and MPFC, scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
was used to analyze the distribution of fibers in the transition zone
of concrete and the interfacial structure of fiber cement paste. The
results are shown in Figs. 14 and 15.
Through the comparative analysis of Figs. 14 and 15, it is found
that after adding MP, the micro cracks in the concrete transition
zone improves significantly, and the transition zone becomes den-
ser. After adding a proper amount of synthetic fiber into the con-
crete matrix, it has three dimensional disorderly distributions in
concrete. Also, it has different degrees and types of orientation,
and it is fully bonded with the concrete, which increases the bind-
ing force of the concrete, thus reducing the formation of large gaps
Fig. 11. SBFC.
and cracks in the process of concrete forming and reducing the pro-
duction of concrete. As a result, the water seepage is reduced.
When the concrete is influenced by external force, the synthetic
fiber can prevent the development of cracks so as to boost the flex-
ural strength of concrete. In addition, due to the restraint force of
the fiber into the concrete component more closely, the generation
of micro seepage can be reduced effectively, so as to improve the
impermeability of concrete. Under the condition of freezing and
thawing, the concrete exerts large expansion pressure, which
makes the concrete crack and the original crack expand. Due to
the random distribution of the fine fibers overlap, synthetic fiber
incorporated in the concrete blocks the internal air overflow during
concrete mixing and molding, which increases concrete air con-
tent, thus relieving the hydrostatic pressure and osmotic pressure
during the low temperature cycle; for another, micro fiber
improves concrete early internal defects, reduces the size of the
primary fracture, increases concrete ultimate tensile strain, and
boosts concrete tensile fracture behavior; In addition, due to the
small diameter of synthetic fiber, the weight of a large number of
fibers and small fiber spacing, it has obvious crack resistance effect.
Fig. 12. SNFC. Consequently, the energy loss in the process of freeze-thaw
42 Y. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 184 (2018) 34–44

Fig. 14. PC SEM transition region.

Fig. 15. MPFC SEM transition region.

damage is increased, and the frost heaving cracking of concrete is of concrete internal quality, and increases the difficulty of surfac-
restrained effectively, which improves the durability of concrete ing. In order to improve concrete strength, it was necessary to
under low temperature environment. add water reducer or increase cement amount to improve concrete
function, making concrete easy to form dense to enhance the
5.2. Determination of optimum fiber content effect. In such way, the concrete cost increased further. Therefore,
it was suggested that the optimum volume of synthetic fiber in air-
In this experiment, it was found that with the increase of fiber port pavement concrete was 0.10–0.14%, polyester fiber 1.38–1.93
content, the dispersion of synthetic fiber in concrete became poor. kg/m3, polypropylene fiber 0.91–1.27 kg/m3, polyacrylonitrile fiber
When the fiber content reached a certain value, the fibers in the 1.18–1.65 kg/m3.
concrete mix appeared bundle, concretely, modified polyester
(1.6 kg), monofilament polypropylene (1.5 kg), mesh polypropy- 5.3. Cost-benefit analysis
lene (1.6 kg), polyacrylonitrile (1.8 kg). Besides, the fiber had some
influence on the concrete surface: the monofilament polypropy- We think that cost-benefit analysis plays an important in the
lene concrete surface appeared bleeding, mesh polypropylene design and the construction of airport pavement. It will directly
concrete surface roughness, with outcrop, might cause difficulties determine the cost and the benefit of the entire pavement project.
on the following construction procedure like surfacing, galling; For the same content volume of concrete pavement and fiber
modified polyester arise alkaline phenomenon slightly; polyacry- reinforced concrete pavement construction costs, construction
lonitrile fiber concrete had the best surface, without bleeding and costs also increase with the increase of fiber incorporation. Assum-
outcrop. ing that the cost per square meter of ordinary concrete pavement is
The contribution to the strength and durability, the influence of C, the same thickness of fiber concrete pavement is:
dispersion and apparent state and economic factors should be
C 1 ¼ C þ V 1  Af
taken into account in the fiber optimum content. A small amount
(less than 0.06%) had insignificant impact on concrete strength. where C1 stands for construction cost per unit area after adding
But excessive amount (>0.14%) made loss of concrete fluidity, fiber; V1 represents fiber incorporation; Af represents the unit price
which makes concrete difficult to shape, dense, resulting in of fiber.
decreased strength on the one hand. On the other hand, poor fiber We can see from the formula that the cost of construction
dispersion with bundle reduced the utilization of fiber, the impact merely increases the cost of fiber because the construction tech-
 Y. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 184 (2018) 34–44 43

nology has not changed. The comprehensive cost analysis of fiber included. The results show that synthetic fiber can improve the
reinforced concrete in airport pavement is also carried out in this flexural strength, but has little effect on compressive strength.
paper. Through analysis, we can see that the comprehensive cost Under the same volume fraction (0.1%), the flexural strength of
of pavement life includes material cost, construction and manage- MPFC and PSFC increased by about 6% compared with that of ordi-
ment cost and maintenance management cost [33,34]. Compared nary concrete (PC), but the flexural strength of PSFC increased
with the face of concrete, the changes in construction procedures slightly, with only 1–2%. Fiber volume fraction reaches the maxi-
and technical requirements are very small, so there will not be a mum as it is 0.14%. The incorporation of fiber into concrete can
large increase in cost, and the cost of the increase is mainly concen- improve concrete impermeability and frost resistance to some
trated on the material price of the fiber itself. Fiber reinforced con- extent. PSFC impermeability is the best, which is 2.4 times of that
crete pavement has better performance. During the design life of PC, up to P24; the frost resistance of MPFC is the best, which is 2
period, maintenance and management cost per unit time will times of that of PC, reaching F350. SDJ addition can greatly improve
decrease significantly. In addition, as the durability of concrete concrete impermeability and frost resistance. It has best perme-
has been improved, the cost of repairing airport pavement will also ability when mixing with PS, and its frost resistance grades were
be reduced by [35] at a later stage. Therefore, although the cost of all up to above F600 when mixing with the four kinds of fibers sep-
the fiber concrete pavement is higher than that of the ordinary arately. The contribution to the strength and durability, the influ-
concrete pavement, the comprehensive life cost of the whole life ence of dispersion and apparent state and economic factors are
is generally lower than that of the ordinary concrete. It can extend taken into account in the fiber optimum content, which finally
the service life by 1–2 times. According to market research, the determines the optimum volume of synthetic fiber concrete for air-
price of each 1000 kg MP, MPS, RP and PS fiber is $12300, port pavement is 0.10–0.14%. Through the Cost-benefit analysis,
$13400, $12460 and $14200 respectively. According to the con- this paper found that under the condition of an increase of 2% of
struction practice of airport pavement, the thickness of pavement the construction cost, the concrete of the airport pavement can
slab is usually 30 cm. It is recommended that the best volume of get 1.6 to 2 times the frost resistance and impermeability, which
synthetic fiber in airport pavement concrete is 0.10–0.14%. Under shows that adding fibers in the airport pavement concrete has a
these conditions, the increase in the cost per square meter road good economy.
surface project is about $3.13–3.61. Corresponding to the cost of
the road panel per square meter of about $276, the construction
cost has increased by only 1.14–1.31%. In the corresponding paper, Acknowledgements
the dynamic elastic modulus of four types of concrete after 300
times freeze–thaw cycle is 91.3%, 88.1%, 93.5% and 96.8%, respec- We gratefully acknowledge financial support from Projects of
tively, under the combination of water reducing agent and fiber. Civil aviation Special Funds for Scientific Research of China
At the same time, the chloride ion penetration resistance increased (MHDR20140216).
by 67.4%, 68.5%, 65.8% and 70.3% respectively than that of PC. This
shows that if the fiber reinforced concrete with the optimum
Conflict of interest
dosage is obtained, the cost of airport pavement construction will
be increased to about 102% of the original cost. However, this has
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regard-
greatly improved the frost resistance and impermeability of the
ing the publication of this paper.
concrete pavement, and the improvement ranges from 1.6 times
to 2 times the original material. It can be seen that adding fiber
in the concrete to improve durability is a good economic measure References
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