Flexural strengths and fibre efficiency of steel-fibre-reinforced, roller-compacted, polymer modified concrete

A new material suitable for the structural repair of concrete pavements has been developed at Coventry University exhibiting high flexural, shear and bond strengths and high resistance to reflection cracking, demonstrating also unique placeability and compactability properties. This article deals with the standard equivalent flexural strengths evaluated using the identical fibre bridging concept and the size effect. Correlation of flexural strengths for beams of different sizes was achieved and the efficiency of fibre in the mix was scrutinised. It was concluded that the efficiency was much higher in the new steel-fibre reinforced, roller compacted, polymer modified concrete (SFR-RC-PMC) mix than in conventional concrete. The high efficiency revealed by the fibre bridging law is mainly attributed to a lower water to cement ratio. It was also found that the fibre aspect ratio influences significantly the flexural performance of the new material. The very high flexural strength extracted from the SFR-RC-PMC, compared to conventional steel-fibre reinforced concrete is very favourable to worn concrete pavement rehabilitation. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.