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Procedia Engineering 14 (2011) 28152822

The Twelfth East Asia-Pacific Conference on Structural Engineering and Construction

A Study on the Shrinkage Control of Fiber Reinforced

Concrete Pavement
S. Y. CHOI*, J. S. PARK, W. T. JUNG
Structure Engineering & Bridges Research Division, Korea Institute of Construction Technology (KICT), South Korea

Abstract
Cement concrete pavement provides durable service life and remarkable applicability for heavy traffic. Its purchase
being easier than asphalt, cement concrete pavement offers excellent advantages in terms of durability and economic
efficiency. However, adequate repair of this pavement is harder than asphalt concrete in case of degradation or
damage. Cracking in the concrete pavement is the major cause of such disadvantages and the demand of repair on
road sites is growing every day. This emphasizes the urgency to secure technologies for the control of early and longterm cracking. Accordingly, this study evaluates the drying and autogenous shrinkage strains regard to fiber
reinforcement in order to reduce cracking of the concrete pavement mix so as to control the damage of the pavement
by means of fiber reinforcement. The results show that the drying shrinkage strain can be significantly reduced to
about 1/4 through the admixing of 0.2% volume ratio of NY fiber compared to the non-reinforced plain concrete, and
that the hybrid fiber reinforcement mix H-N1-ST1 can realize remarkable reduction of the autogenous shrinkage.

2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection

Keywords: Fiber Reinforced Concrete, Macro Fiber, shrinkage, Pavement, Hybrid

* Corresponding author and Presenter

Email: kinopio81@kict.re.kr

18777058 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2011.07.354

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1. Introduction
Two techniques are generally used for road pavement: the asphalt concrete pavement that is ductile
pavement and the cement concrete pavement that is rigid pavement. Cement concrete asphalt offers longterm service life and excellent applicability for heavy traffic. Its purchase being easier than asphalt, this
pavement technique presents remarkable cost-effectiveness and durability. However, adequate repair of
the cement concrete pavement is more difficult than the asphalt pavement in case of degradation or
damage and demands works with a larger scale (Yang 2000; Um 2000).
The typical causes of cracks in concrete pavement are the hydration cracking at early hydration state
of concrete, the plastic shrinkage cracking, the environmental cracking caused by thermal changes at the
top of the pavement, the drying shrinkage cracking according to the hardening of concrete, and the
cracking caused by the long-term process of alkali-silica reaction. The Korean research community has
and is developing various solutions for the control of cracks.
The fundamental cause of the occurrence of cracks in concrete pavement is the poor resistance of the
concrete pavement to bending, tension and cracking. Fiber reinforcement is a representative method for
supplementing the bending tensile performance of concrete. To date, research on fiber reinforcement has
been steadily conducted. The recent trend of research on fiber reinforcement focuses on studies dedicated
to the plastic shrinkage cracking of fiber reinforced concrete with hybrid type of fibers and the tensile
strength performance of steel fiber reinforced concrete (Won 2004; Kim 2005).
Research devoted to fiber reinforcement focuses mainly on the evaluation of the change of the
mechanical performances according to the content and type of fibers in ordinary concrete and high
strength concrete. However, poor interest is given to the fiber reinforcement effect with respect to the mix
proportions of concrete. Especially, the quasi-absence of thorough study on the fiber reinforcement effect
on concrete pavement of which the mix proportion is limited to a specific weight and is prescribed to
adopt coarse aggregates with granulometry different to that of concrete pavement is noteworthy.
Accordingly, this study intends to evaluate the drying shrinkage and autogenous shrinkage strains
with respect to the fiber reinforcement in order to reduce cracking of the concrete pavement mix. Fiber
reinforced concrete specimens are fabricated with the type and content of fiber chosen as test variable to
select the type and quantity of fiber effective for shrinkage control. To that goal, the shrinkage strain of
concrete is measured. Three types of macro fibers with length longer than 30 mm and small aspect ratio
together with micro nylon fibers with length of 12 mm and aspect ratio larger than 1000 are selected for
the tests. Both reinforcement with a single type of fiber and hybrid reinforcement involving micro and
macro fibers were executed, and the fiber volume ratio was set to 0.2 to 0.3% of the concrete pavement
mix. Using the so-fabricated specimens, the change of the length caused by drying shrinkage and
autogenous shrinkage of concrete is analyzed comparatively.
2. Test
2.1. Test planning and test variables
The detailed mix proportions of the concrete pavement in this study are listed in Table 1. Fig. 1
describes the designation of the variables, and Table 2 presents the test variables and their explanation.
Table 3 arranges the experimental setup.
In the tests on fresh concrete, the slump was measured in compliance with KS F 2402, the air content was
measured according to the specifications of KS F 2421, and the change of length by drying shrinkage and
autogenous shrinkage was measured in compliance with the stipulations of KS F 2424 and KS F 2586.

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Table 1: Mixture proportions of concrete

Volume mixing
(/m3)

Type

W/C
(%)

S/a
(%)

AE/C
(%)

SP/C
(%)

W
(kg/m3)

Max. coarse
aggregate size
(mm)

Pavement

42.3

39

0.02

0.28

150

32

113

270

422

Table 2: Parameter and fiber volume fraction

Fiber dosage (%)

Specimen

Mixture

Plain

Pavement concrete

Nylon

PP

PVA

ST
-

S-N2-00

0.2

S-00-PP2

0.2

0.2

S-00-PV2

Single fiber

0.2

H-N1-PP1

S-00-ST2

0.1

0.1

H-N1-PV1

0.1

0.1

H-N1-ST1

0.1

0.1
-

H-N13-PP07

0.133

0.066

H-N07-PV13

0.066

0.133

H-N07-ST13

0.066

0.133

H-N2-PP1

0.2

0.1

H-N1-PV2

0.1

0.2

H-N1-ST2

0.1

0.2

Figure 1: Specimen description

Table 3: Experimental plan
Factors

Experiments

Levels
Fresh
concrete

Slump
Air content
Consistency (Vebe test)

Hardened
concrete

Drying Shrinkage length variation (1, 7, 14, 28, 56 days)

Autogenous Shrinkage length variation (1,2,3......28 days)

2.2. Materials and test methods

Table 4: Physical properties of Ordinary Portland Cement

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Density
(g/cm3)

Blaine
(cm2/g)

Soundness
(%)

3.15

3 165

0.18

Setting time (min)

Ini.
Fin.
235

Compressive strength (MPa)

3 days
7 days
28 days

320

20.4

29.4

38.7

Table 5: Physical properties of aggregates

Density (g/cm3)
2.65
2.50
2.71
2.70

Type
River sand
Crushed sand
Coarse agg. 20 mm
Coarse agg. 32 mm

Fineness modules
2.86
2.62
7.01
6.88

Absorption ratio (%)

2.63
1.42
1.18
0.58

Table 6: Physical properties of fiber

Property

NY
3

PP

PVA

ST
7.86

Density (g/cm )

1.16

0.91

1.30

Aspect ratio

1000

75~100

45

65

Length (mm)

12

30

30

35

Diameter (mm)

0.012

0.3~0.4

0.66

0.54

Tensile strength (MPa)

896

250~1000

900~1600

1200

Modulus of elasticity (GPa)

3.9~4.9

3~30

23~41

200

2.3. Test Results

2.3.1. Variation of length by drying shrinkage

kGzGsG}
T]
OXW P

100

P lain
S -N Y2-00
S -00-P P2
S -00-P V2
S -00-S T 2

0
-100
-200
-300
-400
-500
-600

14

21

28

35

42

49

56

h O k P
Figure 2: Drying shrinkage of fiber reinforced concrete

Fig. 2 plots the variation of length by drying shrinkage with respect to the age per single fiber type.
First, plain specimen experiences a strain of about 400u106 at 56 days, while concrete reinforced with a

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single type of fiber shows a change of length smaller than plain at all levels. Especially, the micro NY
fiber reinforcement provides the most remarkable shrinkage control effect with a very small strain below
100u106. Among the macro fibers, S-00-PV2 offers the most effective performance with a drying
shrinkage ratio of 200u106.

kGzGsG}
T]
OXW P

100

Plain
H-N1-PV1
H-N07-PV13
H-N1-PV2
H-N1-ST1
H-N07-ST13
H-N1-ST2
H-N1-PP1
H-N13-PP07
H-N2-PP1

0
-100
-200
-300
-400
-500
-600

14

21

28

35

42

49

56

h Ok P

Figure 3: Drying shrinkage of hybrid fiber reinforced concrete

-600

kGzGsG}
T]
OXW P

56 Day
-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

Plain

H-N1-PT1

H-N1-PV1

H-N1-ST1

H-N13-PT07 H-N07-PV13 H-N07-ST13

H-N2-PT1

H-N1-PV2

H-N1-ST2

mG

Figure 4: Variation of drying shrinkage strain of hybrid fiber reinforced concrete at 56 days

Fig. 3 plots the variation of length by drying shrinkage with respect to the age per hybrid fiber type.
The variation of length is reduced by more than 2 times at all reinforcement levels compared to the nonreinforced plain specimen when hybrid fiber reinforcement is adopted. Mix H-N1-ST1 shows the smallest
strain. As shown in Fig. 4, the effect of the variation of the fiber content by 0.2~0.3 is practically nonexistent. Compared to the results for the 0.2% volume reinforcement ratio by NY fiber, the mix H-N2PP1 with hybrid reinforcement by NY fiber at 0.2% and macro fiber at 0.1% exhibits much larger drying

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S.Y. CHOI et al. / Procedia Engineering 14 (2011) 28152822

shrinkage, which reveals that synergy of both micro and macro fibers did not apply in the reduction of the
drying shrinkage. For a small fiber content of about 0.2~0.3%, NY fiber provides the most remarkable
shrinkage reduction effect.
2.3.2. Variation of length by autogenous shrinkage

hGzGsG}
OXWT ]P

40

Plain
S-NY2-00
S-00-PP2
S-00-PV2
S-00-ST2

20
0
-20
-40
-60
-80
-100
-120
-140
-160

14

21

28

hOkP

Figure 5: Autogenous shrinkage of fiber reinforced concrete

hGzGsG}
T]
OXW P

40

Plain
H-N1-PV1
H-N07-PV13
H-N1-PV2
H-N1-ST1
H-N07-ST13
H-N1-ST2
H-N1-PP1
H-N13-PP07
H-N2-PP1

20
0
-20
-40
-60
-80
-100
-120
-140
-160

14

21

28

h Ok P

Figure 6: Autogenous shrinkage of hybrid fiber reinforced concrete

Fig. 5 plots the variation of length by autogenous shrinkage with respect to the age per single fiber type. The
plain mix experiences an autogenous shrinkage strain of about 100u106 at 28 days. For the fiber reinforced
mixes, specimen S-N2-00 tends to show large autogenous shrinkage at early age but, at later age, the

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autogenous shrinkage becomes nearly identical to that of plain and S-00-PP2. Specimen S-N2-00, which
developed the most remarkable performance during the evaluation of the drying shrinkage, provides
performance similar to plain in the evaluation of the autogenous shrinkage. This means that the
improvement of the performance brought by NY fiber reinforcement cannot be developed for the
autogenous shrinkage. The most effective mix in reducing the autogenous shrinkage is S-00-PV2, which
reveals the largest autogenous reducing effect of PVA fiber.

hGzGsG}
T]
OXW P

-140

28 Day

-120
-100
-80
-60
-40
-20
0

Plain

H-N1-PT1

H-N1-PV1

H-N1-ST1

H-N13-PT07 H-N07-PV13 H-N07-ST13

H-N2-PT1

H-N1-PV2

H-N1-ST2

mG

Figure 7: Variation of autogenous shrinkage strain of hybrid fiber reinforced concrete at 28 days

Fig. 6 plots the variation of length by autogenous shrinkage with respect to the age per hybrid fiber type.
The plain mix shows an autogenous shrinkage strain of about 100u106. The variation of the shrinkage is
sensitive to the change of the fibers. Specimen H-N2-PP1 presents the largest autogenous shrinkage of
approximately 130u106 while mixes H-N1-ST1 and H-N-PP1 shows the smallest shrinkage strains with
value of about 70u106. Fig. 7 compares the autogenous shrinkage at 28 days. The mix proportions with
fiber content of 0.2% shows shrinkage reducing effect generally equivalent or superior to the mixes with
fiber content of 0.3%. The most remarkable fiber ratio is 1:1.
3. Conclusions
This study analyzed comparatively the shrinkage performance of concrete pavement according to fiber
reinforcement. It was seen that mix S-N2-00 with single fiber reinforcement provides the largest
reduction of the drying shrinkage while mix H-N1-ST1 with hybrid fiber reinforcement developed the
smallest shrinkage. The most remarkable performance for the autogenous shrinkage was provided by
specimen S-00-PV2 with single fiber reinforcement and mixes H-N1-ST1 and H-N1-PP1 with hybrid
fiber reinforcement.
References
[1]

Yang SC, Park GH, Kwon SM(2000). Construction Trends of Korea Concrete Pavement. Korean Society of Road Engineers,
Vol. 2, No. 3, pp.11-23.

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[2]

UM JY(2000). Methodology for Constraining Asphalt Concrete Oerlay Against Reflection Cracking, Research Paper, Korea

[3]

Won JP, Hwang KS, Park CG, Park HG(2004). Evaluation of Crack Control and Permeability of Hydrophilic PVA Fiber

[4]

Kim MH, Kim JH, Kim YR, Kim YD(2005). An Experimental Study on the Mechanical Properties of HPFRCCs Reinforced

[5]

Sivakumar A, Manu Santhanam(2007). A quantitative study on the plastic shrinkage cracking in high strength hybrid fibre

[6]

Olivito RS, Zuccarello FA(2010). An experimental study on the tensile strength of steel fiber reinforced concrete. Cement &

[7]

Li VV and Stang H(1997). Interface property characterization and strengthening mechanisms in fiber reinforced cement

Expressway Corporation.
Reinforced Cement Composite. Journal of Korea Concrete Institute, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 391-396.
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