Properties of Fibre Concrete for Industrial Pavements – Synthetic Macro Fibres

The ASCP forum on Industrial Pavements provided valuable information on design, detailing, materials and construction issues related to industrial pavements. It also highlighted several differing opinions and challenges to existing practices. This presentation by Ryan Pearce covers:

• Issues discussed; traditional methods of drying shrinkage crack control, different types of fibre in use, selecting the right type of fibre, performance testing of synthetic macro fibre reinforced concrete, codes and standards, carbon emissions of reinforcing materials, applications of synthetic macro fibres.
• The properties of (Grace) STRUX 90/40 synthetic macro fibre are presented
• Flexural beam test results for flexural stress and deflection for a particular fibre dosage are presented.
• Under similar testing 40mm synthetic fibres showed higher toughness than 60mm steel fibres
• Results of large scale field testing in Illinois USA to compare with laboratory testing are presented.
• Load/deflection plots for plain concrete, mesh reinforced concrete and synthetic macro fibre concrete are presented.
• In the absence of an Australian Standard, two UK documents and a European Code are discussed.
• Using different methods, the carbon footprint of these fibres shows an estimated conservative reduction compared with steel mesh reinforcement.
• Examples of usage are presented; internal warehouse floor, external storage yard, council footpath, external truck parkin area, composite suspended steel deck flooring.