Effect of Fiber Reinforcement and Early-Age Elastic Properties on Fatigue in PCC Pavements

Transportation agencies and state departments of transportation are facing increased traffic volumes and more congested work schedules in Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) construction and rehabilitation projects. Consequently, the decision for early opening traffic (EOT) becomes a major concern for pavement engineers seeking to limit roadway closure times and without compromising the structural integrity of the newly paved PCC sections. Additionally, this engineering challenge is amplified in high traffic zones and during cold weathering conditions. Current roadway specifications stipulate conservative reference compressive and flexural concrete strengths at the stage EOT. These rigorous strength figures are equivalent to closure times that can reach up to 28 days when strength monitoring or measurement is not achievable. In this context, early-age crack initiation in plain concrete applications such as PCC pavements consequently leads to uncontrolled structural failure and durability performance issues such as spalling, internal crack growth, and major slab breaks. This issue motivates the need to optimize EOT regulations in order to ensure long-term pavement serviceability and to decrease rehabilitation expenses throughout pavement service life. Accordingly, a thorough experimental program was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of strength monitoring techniques and to describe the fatigue performance of plain and fiber-reinforced PCC pavement prototypes under early-age loading and harsh environmental conditions.