Influence of Steel Fiber Characteristics on Mechanical Behavior of Roller-Compacted Concrete Pavement

Abstract

Samples of roller-compacted concrete pavement (RCCP) were crafted using hooked-end steel fibers to explore the impact of the fiber aspect ratio (AR) and fiber volume fraction on the Vebe time (VBT), mechanical properties, and postpeak behavior of the RCCP. This study utilized hooked-end steel fibers with aspect ratios of 92, 70, and 50, across volume fractions of 0.25%, 0.5%, and 0.75%. Using the response surface methodology (RSM), the obtained results were analyzed and optimized. The study presented RSM models for VBT, compressive strength, flexural strength, and splitting tensile strength. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) highlighted the significance of these models. The study found that increasing both the fiber AR and content resulted in higher performance across the models examined. Notably, the fiber content had a more significant impact on the responses compared to the fiber AR. The mixture containing fibers with an AR of 92 and a content of 0.75% demonstrated the most favorable performance in mechanical responses, as well as in load deflection and toughness. Through RSM optimization, this specific mixture was identified as achieving maximized responses, considering the constraint of VBT (between 30 and 40 s).