Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 406–420

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

RSM-based assessment of pavement concrete mechanical properties

under joint action of corrosion, fatigue, and fiber content
Xiaoyong Long ⇑, Liangcai Cai, Wenzhe Li
Air Force Engineering University, Xi’an 710038, China

h i g h l i g h t s

RSM is used to assess the mechanical properties of pavement concrete under the joint action of corrosion, fatigue, and fiber content.

In order of significance, fatigue iterations > NSWDC > fiber content affect Sf; NSWDC > fiber content > fatigue iterations affect Sc and Pn.

The interaction between NSWDC and fatigue iterations exerts the most significant influence on Sc and Pn, while interaction among the three factors has
no significant influence on Sf.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: High-performance synthetic fiber pavement concrete (HPSFPC) samples are prepared with 0.8, 1, 1.2, and
Received 28 May 2018 1.4 kg/m3 fiber. HPSFPC corrosion resistance and fatigue performance are analyzed by comparison against
Received in revised form 19 October 2018 plain pavement concrete (PPC). The mechanical properties of pavement concrete under the joint action of
Accepted 20 November 2018
corrosion, fatigue, and fiber content are assessed by response surface methodology (RSM), Design Expert,
and Central Composite Design (CCD) software. An RSM model of flexural strength index Sf, compressive
strength index Sc, and dynamic elasticity modulus Pn is established and used to determine the influence
Keywords:
rules of fatigue iterations, number of sulfate wetting and drying cycles (NSWDC), fiber content, and their
High-performance synthetic fiber pavement
concrete
interactions on Sf, Sc, and Pn. The RSM model fits well and indeed effectively reveals the mechanical prop-
Corrosion resistance erties of pavement concrete under joint action of corrosion, fatigue, and fiber content. The significant
Fatigue performance effects on Sf are, in order, fatigue iterations > NSWDC > fiber content; the effects on Sc and Pn are
Mechanical properties NSWDC > fiber content > fatigue iterations. The interaction between fatigue iterations with NSWDC has
RSM the most significant influence on Sc and Pn, while the interaction among the three factors has no signif-
icant influence on Sf.
Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Airport transportation facilities play a crucial role in national
economic development and serve as a fundamental infrastructure
for national security [1]. In a multitude of airports in China, and
indeed across the globe, concrete is the most common pavement
building material. Airport pavement must be extremely strong
and stiff to safely support aircraft takeoffs and landings. Existing
cement concrete pavement is generally not equipped with rein-
forced rebar unless explicitly structurally necessary, so the
strength, stiffness, and bearing capacity of today’s airport runways
is determined solely by the material performance of the pavement.
In China, airport pavement built or renovated prior to 1990 has
effectually reached the end of its service life. Climatic, environmen-
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: 18509270709@163.com (X. Long).
tal, and load effects have produced varying extent of deterioration
across a multitude of airport pavement. Aging, damage, and even
destruction of pavement concrete under dynamic environmental
and usage conditions may seriously jeopardize the safety of aircraft
as they take off or land. Many researchers and developers have
attempted to improve the strength and durability of pavement
concrete [2–6]. Today, there exists a wide array of high-
performance pavement concrete to meet different needs.
High-performance synthetic fiber pavement concrete (HPSFPC)
is a relatively new, modified pavement material. Adding fiber into
the concrete base material enhances the internal structure of the
multiphase system, reduces initial cracks, and hinders the develop-
ment of later cracks. Fiber also mitigates brittleness, shrinkage, and
other similar problems inherent to concrete material while
enhancing its impermeability, frost resistance, and wear resistance
over time [7,8]. Adding the appropriate amount and type of fiber
can control cracks in airport pavement concrete to markedly

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2018.11.157
0950-0618/Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 X. Long et al. / Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 406–420
enhance its strength and durability, and thus its safety and econ-
omy [9–11].
Many previous researchers have explored the influence of vari-
ous factors on the strength and durability of pavement concrete.
Several independent factors affect the strength and durability of
pavement concrete. Sulfate material is a complex and severely cor-
rosive medium which affects the durability of road concrete. How-
ever, the sulphate corrosion of concrete is seldom affected solely
by sulfate concentration. In a salt-enriched environment, the dete-
rioration of pavement structures is mainly caused by sulfate ero-
sion in addition to the load borne by the concrete. Studies on the
damage deterioration of concrete under the combined action of
load and sulfate corrosion, to this effect, are significant in terms
of engineering practice [12].
Cohen and Mather [13] studied the mechanism of sulfate
attacks on portland cement concrete to establish standard models
for performance and service life prediction. Jin et al. [14] investi-
gated damage to concrete containing different amounts of fly ash
under sulfate and chloride attacks and determined the correspond-
ing mechanism via modern microscopic analysis. Tan et al. [15]
studied the effects of polyethylene fiber and polypropylene crude
synthetic fiber contents on concrete by sulfate dry-wet cycle corro-
sion and long-term immersion corrosion tests. Guo et al. [16] ran
accelerated corroding experiments on ordinary and modified (fly
ash, polypropylene fiber, and mixed) concrete samples immersed
in two groups of high-concentration corrosive solutions. Liang
et al. [17] carried out accelerated corrosion tests on similar ordi-
nary concrete and modified concrete samples in two groups of
high-concentration corrosion solutions. The corrosion resistance
of concrete has been proven to be markedly improved, up to 5–
25%, after adding fly ash and polypropylene fiber. Oh [18] deter-
mined the fatigue lives of concrete at various given stress levels.
Arora and Singh [19–21] studied the bending fatigue properties
of 100% coarse aggregate recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) beams,
and assessed the flexural fatigue performance of 100% recycled
coarse aggregate (RCA) concrete as per its mean and design fatigue
life. Xiao et al. [22] investigated the fatigue behavior of RAC with a
100% RCA replacement percentage under uniaxial compression.
Concrete corrosion resistance performance research typically
centers on corrosion mechanisms, corrosion effects, and anticorro-
sion measures. Concrete fatigue performance researchers usually
focus on material fatigue deterioration laws, fatigue equations,
and prediction models. However, few researchers have investi-
gated the mechanical properties of pavement concrete after corro-
sion and fatigue damage. Further, the extant research on fiber-
reinforced concrete properties mainly involves steel fiber concrete
[23,24]; there has been little research on high-performance syn-
thetic fiber and even less research on the interaction of fiber con-
tent and other factors on concrete performance, to date.
Previous scholars have explored the influence of single factors
on the strength and durability of pavement concrete, but few have
assessed multi-factor interactions such as those present within the
airport environment, wherein the runway is subject to composite
damage caused by the superposition of various destructive factors.
Airport runways in the saline lake and soil areas on China’s coast,
as an example, are corroded by not only sulfates but also by alter-
nating takeoff and landing loads. Fiber content can improve the
internal mechanical properties of concrete, as discussed above;
fatigue, corrosion, freeze-thaw cycles, and other external factors
also affect the mechanical properties of pavement concrete. The
multiple aspects of corrosion and fatigue merit further research
from an engineering perspective, as do the multi-effects of internal
and external factors in regards to concrete mechanical properties.
Our research team investigated the coupling influence of freezing
and fatigue in a previous study. In the present study, we selected
corrosion and fatigue as external factors.
407
Response surface methodology (RSM), which combines mathe-
matics and statistics, not only reflects the influence of various test
variables on indexes but also the influence of interactions among
variables via 3D images. Its feasibility in evaluating the mechanical
properties of concrete has been well-established [25,26]. We chose
RSM to study the pavement concrete mechanical properties under
joint action of corrosion, fatigue, and fiber content in this study.
This study was conducted to assess, under the actual working
conditions of airport pavement, the corrosion resistance and fati-
gue performance of HPSFPC by comparison against plain pavement
concrete (PPC). RSM, Design Expert, and Central Composite Design
(CCD) software were applied to study the mechanical properties of
pavement concrete under the joint action of internal factors (fiber
content) and external factors (corrosion and fatigue). We estab-
lished an RSM model of flexural strength index, compressive
strength index, and dynamic elasticity modulus and used it to
determine the influence rules of fatigue iterations, number of sul-
fate wetting and drying cycles (NSWDC), fiber content, and their
interactions. We hope that the results presented below will pro-
vide a practical theoretical basis and technical support for actual
engineering applications in the future.
2. Test materials and methods
2.1. Raw materials and test mix proportions
The cement we used to prepare specimens was P.O. 42.5 plain
Portland cement with a density of 3.10 g/cm3, fineness of 1.6%, 3-
day and 28-day flexural strength of 5.17 MPa and 8.18 MPa, and
3-day and 28-day compressive strength of 22.9 MPa and
46.8 MPa, respectively. The fine aggregate we used is natural river
sand with a continuous gradation, fineness modulus of 2.73, appar-
ent density of 2.63 g/cm3, bulk density of 1.50 g/cm3, and clay con-
tent of 0.5%. We also used limestone gravel (10% 5–10 mm, 30%
10–20 mm, 60% 20–40 mm) with an apparent density of 2.76 g/
cm3, bulk density of 1.69 g/cm3, and crush index of 8.9% as a natu-
ral coarse aggregate. The chemical composition of our tap water is
shown in Table 1.
The fiber we use is a synthetic fiber whose main chemical is
polyacrylonitrile. Fibers showed a single filamentous form. The
main technical indexes of the high-performance synthetic fiber
are shown in Table 2.
We used a total of five different mix proportions in this test:
PPC and four samples of HPSFPC, X08, X10, X12, and X14 (where
X** indicates HPSFPC with fiber content of ** kg/m3). Our PPC mix
proportion design is representative of most of China’s airport pave-
ment concrete, so we used it as a blank control group for compar-
ison with HPSFPC. We sought, essentially, to determine whether
the properties of HPSFPC are superior to that of PPC. The mix pro-
portion, workability, and strength of PPC are listed in Table 3. The
mix proportions of HPSFPC can be obtained by adding the corre-
sponding fibers based on the PPC mix proportion.
Table 1
Chemical composition of tap water.
Item Content Limit value
pH 7.3 6.5–8.5
Fe (mg/L) <0.05 0.3 mg/L
Mn (mg/L) <0.05 0.1 mg/L
Zn (mg/L) <0.1 1.0 mg/L
Cu (mg/L) <0.2 1.0 mg/L
Total hardness (mg/L) 50 450 mg/L
Chloride (mg/L) 12 250 mg/L
Sulfate (mg/L) 3.08 250 mg/L
Oxygen consumption (mg/L) 0.54 3 mg/L (in special cases < 5 mg/L)
408 X. Long et al. / Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 406–420

Table 2 test was loaded as a 10-Hz frequency sine wave after the equip-
Technical index of high-performance synthetic fiber. ment was stable. We recorded the number of loading cycles when
Item Value the specimen was damaged as ‘‘fatigue life” (N). The minimum load
Length (mm) 5–20 was 10% of the maximum load, that is, the characteristic value of
Diameter (mm) 0.3–0.5 the fatigue cycle was 0.1; this value can be calculated as follows:
Length to diameter ratio 10–66.7
Proportion 0.9–1.31 q ¼ Pmin =Pmax ð1Þ
Modulus of elasticity (GPa) 6.1
Elongation at break (%) 3.1 where Pmin is the minimum load, kN; Pmax is the maximum load, kN.
Tensile strength (MPa) 760 The stress level S of HPSFPC the bending fatigue test was 0.60,
Water absorbability (%) 0.7 0.65, 0.70, 0.75, and 0.80 (five total, from small to large). We con-
Melting point (°C) 257
ducted bending fatigue tests on five specimens at each level of
stress. S values were calculated as follows:

Table 3 S ¼ r=f ð2Þ

Mix proportions, workability, and strength of PPC.
Item Value
Cement (kg/m3) 330
Water (kg/m3) 148.5
Fine aggregate (kg/m3) 595
Coarse aggregate (kg/m3) 1389
Water-binder ratio 0.45
SP (%) 0.3
Vb (s) 14
7d Flexural strength (MPa) 5.27
28d Flexural strength (MPa) 5.55
2.2. Specimen preparation and test method
Specimens were prepared according to Standard for test
method of mechanical properties on ordinary concrete (GB/T
50081-2002) [27] and Standard for test methods of long-term per-
formance and durability of ordinary concrete (GB/T 50082-2009)
[28]. The specimens were made from steel molds placed for 1 d
at 20 °C room temperature, then numbered and demolded. We
cured them in a standard curing room (temperature 20 ± 1 °C, rel-
ative humidity 95%) and used them immediately upon reaching the
designated test age.
The bending fatigue test specimens are 150 mm  150 mm 
600 mm in size with a 90 d curing period. We prepared 28 concrete
specimens for each mix proportion and 140 specimens total for all
bending fatigue tests. Each bending fatigue test consisted of two
parts: a static load test for determining the ultimate flexural load
and a three-point bending fatigue test. Three specimens were
selected from each group to determine the ultimate load of each
mix proportion. The flexural strength of five mix proportions were
obtained by static load tests: P-6.87 MPa, X08-7.44 MPa, X10-
7.85 MPa, X12-8.13 MPa, and X14-7.26 MPa. The flexural strength
of PPC was found to be less than that of HPSFPC after 90 d, The sta-
tic load test results showed that high-performance synthetic fiber
benefits the late strength performance of pavement concrete.
Three-point fatigue tests over a span of 450 mm were con-
ducted with the other parameters shown in Table 4. A load of 5
kN was added to each trabecular specimen first, then the fatigue
where S is the stress level; r is the bending stress calculated by
actual fatigue load, MPa; f t is the average flexural strength of con-
crete, MPa.
The size of each corrosion test specimen was 100 mm 
100 mm  400 mm. We used 5% Na2SO4 solution with correspond-
ing sulfate ion content of 35,000 mg/L. The ratio of the strength
after a set NSWDC and fatigue iterations, and 28-d strength under
the standard conditions, was defined as ‘‘corrosion resistance coef-
ficient strength” (Kf refers to the corrosion resistance coefficient of
the compressive strength; Kz refers to the corrosion resistance
coefficient of the flexural strength; Pn refers to the dynamic elastic-
ity modulus) as a measure of changes in mechanical properties.
We tested the compressive strength, flexural strength, and rel-
ative dynamic modulus of each specimen every 15 dry and wet
cycles. The test was stopped when: (1) the corrosion resistance
coefficient of the compressive strength reached 75%; (2) the
NSWDC reached 150; or (3) the number of dry and wet cycles
reached the design standard. For each mix proportion, one set of
control specimens and one set of test specimens were prepared
for every 15 cycles with three test pieces each.
We next conducted a coupling test based on the single-factor
test results. The specified amount of sulfate corrosion tests and
fatigue tests were carried out on pavement concrete samples of
varying fiber content; after reaching the design value, we then
tested the compressive strength, flexural strength, and relative
dynamic modulus, respectively.
3. Single factor test results
3.1. Bending fatigue test results
Table 5 shows the bending fatigue test results.
We analyzed the test results in Table 5 by regression; the fati-
gue equation, correlation coefficient, and calculated fatigue limit
are shown in Table 6. We found that when Smax  0.5301 (PPC),
Smax  0.5331 (X08), Smax  0.5343 (X10), Smax  0.5325 (X12),
Smax  0.5330 (X14), the average fatigue life N of the test speci-
mens can reach 2 million cycles.

Table 4
Fatigue bending test loading parameters.

Type PPC X08 X10 X12 X14

Ultimate load 51.5 kN 55.8 kN 58.9 kN 61.0 kN 54.45 kN
Stress level Pmax/kN Pmin/kN Pmax/kN Pmin/kN Pmax/kN Pmin/kN Pmax/kN Pmin/kN Pmax/kN Pmin/kN
0.8 41.2 4.12 44.6 4.46 47.1 4.71 48.8 4.88 43.6 4.36
0.75 38.6 3.86 41.6 4.16 44.2 4.42 45.8 4.58 41 4.1
0.7 36 3.6 39 3.9 41.2 4.12 42.7 4.27 38.1 3.81
0.65 33.5 3.35 36.3 3.63 38.3 3.83 39.7 3.97 35.4 3.54
0.6 31 3.1 33.5 3.35 35.3 3.53 36.6 3.66 32.7 3.27
Loading frequency 10 Hz
 X. Long et al. / Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 406–420 409

Table 5 Table 7
Bending fatigue test regression analysis. Sulfate corrosion test results.

Type Level of stress NSWDC Type

0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 PPC X08 X10 X12 X14
PPC 137,588 10,252 4924 1872 255 15 Kf 102.8 103.3 105.7 104.4 100.1
142,921 11,947 5387 2533 347 Kz 103.1 103.6 104.8 105.2 103.8
163,297 22,819 6043 2884 418 Pn 100.5 103.2 102.9 103.4 102.1
165,889 27,553 8107 3053 533 30 Kf 87.3 102.5 101.2 105.8 97.69
189,021 31,134 9156 4779 891 Kz 91.8 102.8 103.3 104.6 101.3
Pn 95.2 104.8 105.3 106.6 100.8
X08 188,053 15,532 5429 1872 78
45 Kf 81.2 97.4 97.1 102.2 89.2
192,371 13,234 7342 2533 356
Kz 86.8 99.7 100.3 103.2 94.6
225,356 25,321 10,134 2884 609
Pn 85.7 100.6 101.4 103.1 91.3
251,329 27,929 11,253 3053 891
60 Kf 73.6 88.9 91.2 100.5 83.8
265,321 33,198 15,691 4779 1017
Kz 78.5 94.2 96.8 102.4 88.2
X10 193,432 20,023 6463 3235 446 Pn 64.1 94.5 95.3 102.7 87.2
234,214 23,414 9527 4523 591 75 Kf – 76.5 83.7 97.85 77.5
252,346 26,434 11,345 4936 942 Kz – 82.7 89.9 100.6 80.7
273,492 30,132 14,314 5834 1259 Pn – 83.8 87.9 98.6 79.1
274,532 33,590 16,634 7715 1337 90 Kf – 66 77.9 89.2 71.3
X12 213,242 29364 7712 4105 62 Kz – 71.9 82.4 92.4 73.2
235,442 30,057 9796 4539 663 Pn – 72.2 81.3 90.6 74.8
265,456 34,305 10,076 5507 1104
288,297 35,577 15,201 6972 1430
299,015 39,145 17,009 8381 1527
not necessarily lead to better corrosion resistance. The environ-
X14 179,101 16,630 5533, 3301 256 mental and usage factors of the pavement must be properly taken
190,023 18,742 6194 3609 477
into account.
200,011 20,905 8105 4162 506
231,465 23,974 10,663 4799 775
241,974 26,459 12,258 5137 968 4. RSM model establishment

4.1. Response surface model selection

We found that the fatigue life of HPSFPC is higher than that of
PPC under five different stress levels, and that increase in fatigue According to the model we built in Design Expert software and
life was greater at higher stress levels. This suggests that the incor- considering all the first, second, and interaction terms, we wrote
poration of high-performance synthetic fibers is very beneficial to the following two response surface equations:
the fatigue life of pavement concrete. This may be attributable to
the formation of a 3D overlapping structure under the action of X
k X
k X
k
Y ¼ b0 þ bi X i þ bii X2i þ bij X i X j þ eðX i ; X i  ; X i Þ ð3Þ
alternating load on the inner portions of the concrete, which not
i¼1 i¼1 ihj
only reduces the defects in the material and improves its
microstructure, but also improves its toughness and minimizes where Y is the response (or target function); X i is an independent
elastoplastic deformation [29,30]. Among the five pavement types, variable; bi , bii , bij are the regression coefficients of the first degree,
the fatigue limit of X12 was the largest; the fatigue limit of X14 second degree, and cross degree, respectively; k is the amount of
was even smaller than that of X08. In other words, higher fiber influence factors; and e is the error (comprised mostly of test error
content does not necessarily lead to higher fatigue performance. and regression error).
The environmental and usage conditions of the pavement must
be properly accounted for to mix the right amount of fiber which
4.2. Response
effectively improves fatigue performance.
We defined the flexural strength index Sf and compressive
strength index Sc to characterize the extent of damage to the con-
3.2. Sulfate corrosion test results
crete after a certain number of wetting and drying cycles and a cer-
tain number of fatigue load cycles (also referred to below as
Table 7 shows the sulfate corrosion test results.
‘‘fatigue iterations”):
As shown in Table 7, the Kf, Kz, and Pn of HPSFPC are greater than
those of PPC. The fiber added to the pavement concrete affects its Sf ¼ f ij =f  100 ð4Þ
corrosion resistance. Among the five pavement types, the corrosion
resistance of X12 is the best; the corrosion resistance of X14 is where Sf is the flexural strength index; f ij is the flexural strength of
even worse than that of X10. Again: higher fiber content does pavement concrete after i numbers of sulfate wetting and drying

Table 6
Regression analysis of bending fatigue test.

Type Double logarithmic fatigue equation R2 Smax Fatigue limit (kN) Theoretical fatigue life under varying stress level
0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8
PPC lgS = 0.0388–0.0499lgN 0.9298 0.5301 27.3 167,271 33,635 7617 1911 524
X08 lgS = 0.0488–0.0511lgN 0.9442 0.5331 29.7 197,903 41,322 9690 2512 710
X10 lgS = 0.0567–0.0522lgN 0.9454 0.5343 31.5 216,862 46,800 11,316 3018 876
X12 lgS = 0.0697–0.0545lgN 0.9579 0.5325 32.5 223,624 51,485 13,217 3727 1140
X14 lgS = 0.0424–0.0501lgN 0.9440 0.5330 29 188,116 38,069 8673 2188 603
410 X. Long et al. / Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 406–420

cycles and j fatigue cycles, MPa; f is the flexural strength of stan- Table 9
dard concrete pavement curing at same age as the test specimens, CCD test design and results.

MPa. Also: Test serial Test design Test results

number
A B C Flexural Compressive Dynamic
Sc ¼ cij =c  100 ð5Þ strength strength elasticity
index Sf index Sc modulus Pn (%)
where Sc is the compressive strength index; cij is the compressive 1 15 1 0.8 0.79 0.92 88.5
strength of pavement concrete after i sulfate wetting and drying 2 45 1 0.8 0.71 0.79 63
cycles and j fatigue cycles, MPa; c is the compressive strength of 3 15 5 0.8 0.65 0.91 85
4 45 5 0.8 0.56 0.8 63.5
standard concrete pavement cured at the same age as test speci- 5 15 1 1.2 0.84 0.94 91.5
mens, MPa. We choose the flexural strength index Sf , compressive 6 45 1 1.2 0.76 0.83 65
strength index Sc , and the relative dynamic modulus P n as response 7 15 5 1.2 0.71 0.93 87.9
values. 8 45 5 1.2 0.64 0.84 65.5
9 15 3 1.0 0.76 0.95 88.7
10 45 3 1.0 0.69 0.83 71.2
11 30 1 1.0 0.79 0.88 73.9
4.3. Factors and levels 12 30 5 1.0 0.63 0.92 71.4
13 30 3 0.8 0.7 0.89 77
The NSWDC (A), fatigue iterations (B) and fiber content (C) were 14 30 3 1.2 0.76 0.91 79.6
selected as influencing factors for three-factor-three-level tests 15 30 3 1.0 0.72 0.9 80
16 30 3 1.0 0.73 0.91 77.9
[31]. The damage to the concrete caused by fatigue loads is limited 17 30 3 1.0 0.7 0.89 75.4
when the stress level is small less than 0.5), which results in rela- 18 30 3 1.0 0.76 0.93 78
tively long testing time and fatigue life. At higher stress levels, the 19 30 3 1.0 0.66 0.92 74.5
fatigue life test results are more discrete and the test error is
higher. We chose a stress level of 0.6 per the previous single-
factor (bending fatigue) test results.
5. RSM model verification
Considering the influence of sulfate corrosion on the fatigue
performance of pavement concrete, and the influence of different
The flexural strength index Sf, compressive strength index Sc,
sizes and ages of specimens, the fatigue load selected for testing
and dynamic elasticity modulus Pn were plugged into Design
must be less than the theoretical fatigue life of pavement concrete;
Expert software to run a secondary multiple regression for the data
we chose 10,000, 30,000, and 50,000 as fatigue iterations. Per our
shown in Table 9 according to Formula (3). We also conducted an
sulfate corrosion test results, we chose 15, 30, and 45 as the num-
optimization to improve the fitting results. Quadratic polynomial
bers of wetting and drying cycles to test. According to the single-
models of Sf, Sc, and Pn with NSWDC, fatigue iterations, and fiber
factor test results, we subjected X08, X10, and X12 to RSM tests.
content were obtained as discussed below.
The test factors and levels are shown in Table 8.

5.1. Flexural strength index Sf

4.4. Coupling test design and results
We investigated the mechanical properties of pavement con-
crete with different fiber contents under the coupling influence
of sulfate corrosion and fatigue. NSWDC and fatigue iterations
were considered the external factors that affect concrete perfor-
mance while fiber content was considered as an internal factor.
The coupling between internal and external factors on pavement
concrete is the core content of this paper. We used CCD to
design the test response surface shown in Table 9. A total of
19 groups of tests were carried out with two sets of samples
(three pieces in each set) in each group; 114 samples were
tested in total.
We conducted tests according to the above descriptions of cor-
rosion and fatigue methods and the factors and levels listed in
Table 9. We first measured the initial strength and dynamic mod-
ulus, then conducted the sulfate corrosion test, then the fatigue
test. The test was terminated once the specified design conditions
were reached. The corresponding flexural strength, compressive
strength, and dynamic elasticity modulus were measured as also
listed in Table 9.
The quadratic polynomial model of Sf is:
Sf ¼ 0:71  0:039A  0:070B þ 0:030C ð6Þ
Variance analysis for this model and significance tests of the regres-
sion coefficients are shown in Tables 10 and 11.
Tables 10 and 11 show remarkable differences with an adjusted
R2 = 0.8902, indicating that the model can explain response value
changes of 89.02% and that 10.98% of the total variance cannot
be explained by this model. The multiple correlation coefficient
is 0.9435, indicating that the fitting degree of the model is favor-
able and the test error is small.
Fig. 1 is a residual normal distribution diagram of Sf. All data fall
basically into a straight line. Fig. 2 shows the distribution residual
diagram and forecast values (Residuals vs. Predictions) of Sf, where
the data are irregularly distributed. Fig. 3 shows the distribution of
forecast and actual values (Predictions vs. Actual Values) of Pn,
again, with the data falling into a straight line. Figs. 1–3 altogether
suggest that Model (6) is accurate and can be used to well describe
the relationship between Sf and the three factors while also provid-
ing highly accurate predictions.

5.2. Compressive strength index Sc

Table 8
RSM factor levels.
The quadratic polynomial model of Sc is:
Factor Code Code levels
Sc ¼ 0:91  0:056A þ 0:004B þ 0:014C þ 0:005AB
1 0 1 ð7Þ
þ0:005AC  0:020A2  0:01B2  0:01C 2
NSWDC A 15 30 45
Fatigue iterations (104) B 1 3 5 Variance analysis for this model and significance tests of the regres-
Fiber content C 0.8 1.0 1.2
sion coefficients are shown in Tables 12 and 13.
 X. Long et al. / Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 406–420 411

Table 10
Analysis of variance.

Quadratic sum Freedom Mean square F value P value

Model 0.073 3 0.024 50.61 <0.0001 Significant
Residual error 7.232E003 15 4.821E004
Lack of fit 1.712E003 11 1.556E004 0.11 0.9981 Not significant
Pure error 5.520E003 4 1.380E003
Sum 0.080 18

Table 11
Significance of regression coefficients.

Regression coefficient Standard deviation Lower confidence limit of 95% Upper confidence limit of 95% P value
A 0.039 5.037E003 0.70 0.72 <0.0001
B 0.070 6.944E003 0.085 0.055 < 0.0001
C 0.030 6.944E003 0.015 0.045 0.0006

Fig. 1. Residual distribution.

Fig. 3. Predictions vs. actual values.

Tables 12 and 13 show remarkable differences with an adjusted

R2 = 0.9165, indicating that the model can explain response value
changes of 91.65% and that 8.35% of the total variance cannot be
explained by this model. The multiple correlation coefficient is
0.9573, indicating that the fitting degree of the model is favorable
and the test error is small.
Fig. 4 is a residual normal distribution diagram of Sc, where all
data basically fall into a straight line. Fig. 5 shows the distribution
residual diagram and forecast values (Residuals vs. Predictions) of
Sc, where data are irregularly distributed. Fig. 6 shows the distribu-
tion of forecast and actual values (Predictions vs. Actual Values) of
Pn, again, with the data falling into a straight line. Figs. 4–6 alto-
gether suggest that Model (7) is accurate and can be used to well
describe the relationship between Sc and the three factors, as well
as to provide highly accurate predictions.

5.3. Dynamic elasticity modulus Pn

The quadratic polynomial model of Pn is:

Pn ¼ 77:22  11:34A  0:86B þ 1:25C þ 1:01AB  0:24AC
ð8Þ
0:012BC þ 2:66A2  4:64B2 þ 1:01C 2
Fig. 2. Residuals vs. predictions.
412 X. Long et al. / Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 406–420

Table 12
Analysis of variance.

Quadratic sum Freedom Mean square F value P value

Model 0.039 9 4.384E003 22.94 <0.001 Significant
Residual error 1.720E004 9 1.911E004
Lack of fit 7.200E004 5 1.440E004 0.58 0.7218 Not significant
Pure error 1.000E003 4 2.500E004
Sum 0.041 18

Table 13
Significance of regression coefficients.

Regression coefficient Standard deviation Lower confidence limit of 95% Upper confidence limit of 95% P value
A 0.056 4.372E003 0.066 0.046 < 0.0001
B 0.004 4.372E003 5.889E003 0.014 0.3841
C 0.014 4.372E003 4.111E003 0.024 0.0108
AB 0.005 4.888E003 6.057E003 0.016 0.3330
AC 0.005 4.888E003 6.057E003 0.016 0.3330
BC 0.000 4.888E003 0.011 0.011 1.0000
A2 0.020 8.363E003 0.039 1.081E003 0.0405
B2 0.01 8.363E003 0.029 8.919E003 0.2624
C2 0.01 8.363E003 0.029 8.919E003 0.2624

Fig. 4. Residual distribution. Fig. 5. Residuals vs. predictions.

Variance analysis for this model and significance tests of the regres-
sion coefficients are shown in Tables 14 and 15.
Tables 14 and 15 show remarkable differences with an adjusted
R2 = 0.9482, indicating that the model can explain response value
changes of 94.82% and that 5.18% of the total variance cannot be
explained by this model. The multiple correlation coefficient is
0.9738, indicating that the fitting degree of the model is favorable
and the test error is small.
Fig. 7 is a residual normal distribution diagram of Pn; its data
basically fall into a straight line. Fig. 8 shows the distribution resid-
ual diagram and forecast values (Residuals vs. Predictions) of Pn,
where data are irregularly distributed. Fig. 9 shows the distribution
of forecast and actual values (Predictions vs. Actual Values) of Pn,
again, with the data falling into a straight line. Figs. 7–9 altogether
suggest that Model (8) is accurate and can be used to well describe
the relationship between Pn and the three factors while providing
accurate predictions.
6. Analysis and discussion of test results
6.1. Influences of various factors and their interaction on Sf
Figs. 10–12 show contour and 3D surface charts for the effects
of NSWDC, fatigue iterations, fiber content, and their interactions
on Sf according to Formula (6).
Fig. 10 shows that the influence of fatigue iterations on Sf is sig-
nificantly greater than that on NSWDC, because the trend of the 3D
surface chart of the former is more steep and the contour line of
the former is more dense. Similarly, Fig. 11 shows that the influ-
ence of NSWDC on Sf is significantly greater than that on fiber con-
tent; Fig. 12 shows that the influence of fatigue iterations on Sf is
significantly greater than that on fiber content. The rank of three
factors’ significance on Sf is fatigue iterations > NSWDC > fiber con-
tent. The results indicate that external factors (corrosion and fati-
gue) more severely affect flexural strength than the internal
 X. Long et al. / Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 406–420 413

Fig. 6. Predictions vs. actual values.

Fig. 7. Residual distribution.

Table 14
Analysis of variance.

Quadratic Freedom Mean F value P value

sum square
Model 1379.40 9 153.27 37.59 <0.0001 Significant
Residual error 36.70 9 4.08
Lack of fit 17.21 5 3.44 0.71 0.6496 Not significant
Pure error 19.49 4 4.87
Sum 1416.10 18

Table 15
Significance of regression coefficients.

Regression Standard Lower Upper P value

coefficient deviation confidence confidence
limit of 95% limit of 95%
A 11.34 0.64 12.78 9.90 <0.0001
B 0.86 0.64 2.30 0.58 0.2110
C 1.25 0.64 0.19 2.69 0.0820
AB 1.01 0.71 0.60 2.63 0.1898
AC 0.24 0.71 1.85 1.38 0.7470
BC 0.012 0.71 1.63 1.60 0.9864
A2 2.66 1.22 0.10 5.43 0.0572
B2 4.64 1.22 7.40 1.87 0.0042
C2 1.01 1.22 1.75 3.78 0.4285
Fig. 8. Residuals vs. predictions.

factor (fiber content), which suggests that the prevention of fatigue
damage and sulfate corrosion is as important as the concrete mate-
rial. Fatigue iterations have been shown to markedly affect flexural
strength [32,33], which is consistent with our results. The angle of
the concrete internal damage mechanism is responsible for these
effects. As concrete forms, primary cracks inevitably occur due to
bubbles, voids, and impurities in the raw materials. Under fatigue,
micro-cracks and voids in the primary cracks and weak parts of the
interface continuously develop which further affect the flexural
strength of the concrete. Fatigue also increases the stress concen-
tration on the concrete surface. When the concentrated stress
exceeds the bearing range, cracks occur along the fatigue and flex-
ural strength directions. In short: fatigue has a significant impact
on the flexural strength of concrete [34].
The shape of contours reflect the effects of various interactions:
an oval represents a significant interaction between two factors, a
circle the contrary. The interaction among the three factors to Sf is
not significant, as the contour lines are almost parallel straight
lines. Our experimental and numerical test results support these
conclusions. We also found that fatigue iterations have the most
significant effect on the flexural strength of pavement concrete
among the factors we tested. Airports with heavy loads should
be designed carefully for flexural strength to avoid overloading
or other conditions which cause fatigue damage to their pavement.
414 X. Long et al. / Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 406–420
Fig. 9. Predictions vs. actual values.
Fiber content has a certain effect on the flexural strength of pave-
ment concrete, though fatigue iterations and NSWDC appear to
exert a more obvious impact. The capacity of pavement concrete
in new or rebuilt airports may be designed with the appropriate
amount and type of fiber addition to improve flexural strength
for prolonged service life.
We also found that the influence of test conditions on the flex-
ural strength of pavement concrete is greater than the properties of
the material itself. Environmental and load factors have a certain
influence on concrete flexural strength even when the material
itself performs well within the actual working environment. The
internal and external factors that affect the performance of the
pavement must be fully considered at the design stage.
Fig. 10. Influence of A, B, and their interactions on Sf.
6.2. Influences of various factors and their interaction on Sc
Figs. 13–15 show contour and 3D surface charts for the influ-
ence of NSWDC, fatigue iterations, fiber content, and their interac-
tions on Sc according to Formula (7).
Fig. 13 shows that the influence of NSWDC on Sc is significantly
greater than that on fatigue iterations, where the trend of the 3D
surface chart of the former is more steep and the contour line of
the former is more dense. Similarly, Fig. 14 shows that the influ-
ence of NSWDC on Sc is significantly greater than that on fiber con-
tent. Fig. 15 shows that the influence of fiber content on Sc is
significantly greater than that on fatigue iterations. The rank of
three factors’s significance for Sc is NSWDC > fiber content > fatigue
iterations.
Sulfate corrosion has been previously shown to significantly
affect compressive strength [35,36], which is consistent with our
results. The angle of the concrete internal damage mechanism is
responsible for this. Sulfate ions in the corrosive solution enter
the concrete through primary pore cracks and react with hydration
products to form expansive crystals. As the chemical reaction pro-
gresses, the crystal volume expands to continuously produce more
cracks and voids. Sulphate causes omni-directional uniform corro-
sion on the concrete, which makes primary cracks and voids
develop in all directions. The compressive strength of concrete is
affected by these cracks, so sulfate corrosion has significant influ-
ence on the compressive strength. As a brittle material, concrete
can be toughened by adding fiber; its compressive strength is clo-
sely related to its compactness, which fiber addition can also
enhance.
The shape of contour charts AB and AC are similar in Figs. 13
and 14. Also, the absolute values of AB and AC are equal according
to the regression model (Eq. (7)). In other words, the influence of
AB and AC on Sc of pavement concrete is the same. Fig. 15 shows
that the contour chart of BC is almost circular, indicating that the
interaction between B and C on Sc is not obvious. The rank of influ-
ence of the three interactions on Sc is AB  AC > BC. The interaction
between NSWDC, fatigue iterations, and fiber content has a more
significant influence on Sc than Sf, because the distortion of the
3D surface of the former is steeper and more distinct. The fatigue
 X. Long et al. / Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 406–420 415

Fig. 11. Influence of A, C, and their interactions on Sf.

Fig. 12. Influence of B, C, and their interactions on Sf.

load causes crack initiation, propagation, and penetration in the
concrete, which makes sulfate ions more easily penetrate into
the material and accelerates the sulfate-driven corrosion [37].
We found that NSWDC has the most significant effect on the
compressive strength of pavement concrete among the factors
we tested. Airports in saline-enriched areas should be designed
carefully for compressive strength to prevent sulfate attacks or
other elements responsible for corrosion to their pavement. Fiber
content has a certain effect on the compressive strength of pave-
ment concrete, though NSWDC has a more obvious influence. The
capacity of pavement concrete in new or rebuilt airports also
may be designed, as mentioned above, for the appropriate amount
and type of fiber to improve compressive strength and prolong ser-
vice life. The influence of test conditions (corrosion) on concrete
compressive strength is greater than the properties of the material
itself. Environmental and corrosion factors still affect the compres-
sive strength of the concrete even when the material itself per-
forms well within the actual working environment. The internal
and external factors which affect concrete performance must be
fully considered at the design stage.
6.3. Influences of various factors and their interaction on Pn
Figs. 16–18 show contour and 3D surface charts for the influ-
ence of NSWDC, fatigue iterations, fiber content, and their interac-
tions on Pn according to Formula (8).
Fig. 16 shows that the influence of NSWDC on Pn is significantly
greater than that on fatigue iterations, where the trend of the 3D
surface chart of the former is more steep and the contour line of
the former is more dense. Similarly, Fig. 17 shows that the influ-
416 X. Long et al. / Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 406–420

Fig. 13. Influence of A, B, and their interactions on Sc.

Fig. 14. Influence of A, C, and their interactions on Sc.

ence of NSWDC on Pn is significantly greater than that on fiber con-
tent. Fig. 18 shows that the influence of fiber content on Pn is sig-
nificantly greater than that on fatigue iterations. The rank of three
factors’s significance for Pn is NSWDC > fiber content > fatigue
iterations.
Again, sulfate corrosion has previously been shown to markedly
affect dynamic elasticity modulus [35,36], which is consistent with
our results and once more attributable to the angle of the concrete
internal damage mechanism. Sulfate corrosion on concrete makes
primary cracks and voids develop in all directions, which affects
the compactness of the concrete. The dynamic elasticity modulus
reflects the density of the concrete, so sulfate corrosion has signif-
icant effect on dynamic elasticity modulus. The addition of fiber
can improve the degree of confinement in the material to a certain
extent, which in turn may markedly affect the dynamic elastic
modulus.
According to the curves in the contour chart, AB (Fig. 16) has
large curvature and elliptical shape. The contour chart of the AC
in Fig. 17 is gentle, i.e., the interaction between BC does not pro-
duce significant effects. The rank of influence of the three interac-
tions on Pn is AB > AC > BC. The fatigue load causes crack initiation,
propagation, and penetration in the concrete, which allows sulfate
ions to more easily penetrate the material and accelerates the
sulfate-driven corrosion [37].
Pn reflects the density of the concrete in the pavement. As
shown in Figs. 16–18, external factors (fatigue iterations and
NSWDC) have greater influence on Pn of pavement concrete than
internal factors (fiber content). Different cracking factors (external
 X. Long et al. / Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 406–420 417

Fig. 15. Influence of B, C, and their interactions on Sc.

Fig. 16. Influence of A, B, and their interactions on Pn.

factors) in the actual environment may degrade the concrete
mechanical properties beyond any performance improvement
due to modification (internal factors). It is crucial to properly
account for usage conditions, in addition to the qualities of the
material itself, in designing airport pavement concrete for the
utmost strength and durability.
6.4. Economic and efficiency analysis
Economic and efficiency analysis plays an important role in the
design and the construction of airport pavement. Such analysis
directly reflects the cost and benefit of an entire pavement project
[38,39]. Here, we use the properties to cost ratio PCR to evaluate
the ratio of benefit to cost of the PPC and HPSFPC (Eq. (9)). The
results are listed in Table 16.
PCR ¼ P=C ð9Þ
where P is the mechanical properties of the PPC and HPSFPC (fati-
gue iterations, Sf, Sc, and Pn are evaluation indexes of concrete
mechanical properties); C is the cost per cubic meter of the PPC
and HPSFPC. A higher PCR indicates better benefit to cost ratio,
i.e., better concrete.
As shown in Table 16, for the same content volume of PPC and
HPSFPC, construction costs increase with fiber incorporation. Per-
formance indices of fatigue iterations, Sf, Sc, and Pn are highest in
X12 among the five kinds of concrete. The PCR of X12 is the largest
418 X. Long et al. / Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 406–420

Fig. 17. Influence of A, C, and their interactions on Pn.

Fig. 18. Influence of B, C, and their interactions on Pn.

Table 16
Economic and efficiency analysis of PPC and HPSFPC.

Concrete type PPC X08 X10 X12 X14

C (Yuan/m3) 330 341.2 344 346.8 349.6
P Fatigue iterations 159743.2 224,486 245603.2 260290.4 208514.8
Sf 94.43 102.03 101.3 104.13 95.66
Sc 93.9 102.8 102.8 104.33 99.9
Pn 93.8 102.77 103.2 104.37 98.07
PCR Fatigue iterations 484.07 657.93 713.96 750.55 595.44
Sf 0.286 0.299 0.294 0.3 0.274
Sc 0.285 0.301 0.299 0.301 0.286
Pn 0.284 0.301 0.3 0.301 0.281
 X. Long et al. / Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 406–420
overall, which indicates that X12 is the superior concrete mix
among all the samples we tested.
7. Conclusion
In this study, RSM models were used to analyze the mechanical
properties of pavement concrete under the joint action of corro-
sion, fatigue, and fiber content. Our conclusions can be summa-
rized as follows.
(1) Single-factor test results manifest that proper fiber content
can improve the fatigue resistance and corrosion resistance
of pavement concrete.
(2) The relationships among NSWDC, fatigue iterations, fiber
content, and their joint action were assigned to flexural
strength, compressive strength, and relative dynamic modu-
lus indices of pavement concrete via RSM as follows:
Sf ¼ 0:71  0:039A  0:070B þ 0:030C
Sc ¼ 0:91  0:056A þ 0:004B þ 0:014C þ 0:005AB
þ0:005AC  0:020A2  0:01B2  0:01C 2
Pn ¼ 77:22  11:34A  0:86B þ 1:25C þ 1:01AB  0:24AC
0:012BC þ 2:66A2  4:64B2 þ 1:01C 2
The models are well fitted, indicating that they accurately
reveal relevant properties of pavement concrete under the interac-
tion of varying fatigue, corrosion, and fiber content conditions.
(3) The rank of three factors’ significance for Sf is fatigue itera-
tions > NSWDC > fiber content, and the interaction among
the three factors to Sf is not significant. The rank of three fac-
tors’ significance for Sc and Pn is NSWDC > fiber con-
tent > fatigue iterations. The rank of influence of the three
interactions on Sc is AB  AC > BC. The rank of influence of
the three interactions on Pn is AB > AC > BC.
(4) The results presented here not only reflect the mechanical
performance of pavement concrete in practical use, but also
may provide workable guidance for future concrete designs.
Single-factor test results indicate that proper fiber content
can improve the fatigue resistance and corrosion resistance
of pavement concrete. Experimental results also reveal the
influence of fatigue and corrosion on different mechanical
properties. The Sf of pavement concrete is more sensitive
to fatigue load, and Sc and the Pn is more sensitive to NSWDC
than other factors. The mechanical properties of concrete
can be improved effectively by adding the proper amount
of fiber. Even under the combined action of fatigue and cor-
rosion, the mechanical properties of HPSFPC are better than
those of PPC.
(5) We also found that different cracking factors (external fac-
tors) in the actual environment can cause the degradation
of HPSFPC mechanical properties to exceed any performance
improvement caused by modification (internal factors).
Therefore, in the course of airport pavement engineering, it
is possible to improve the mechanical properties of pave-
ment concrete as per two distinct aspects: mixing in the
appropriate amount of fiber to improve the mechanical
properties of the concrete, and targeting cracking factors
such as fatigue and corrosion in the environment. Pavement
maintenance regimens should be strengthened to prevent
overloading and sulfate corrosion.
(6) In this study, we preliminarily determined pavement con-
crete mechanical properties under the joint action of corro-
sion, fatigue, and fiber content according to the results of
419
sulfate corrosion tests, bending fatigue tests, and coupling
tests based on RSM. However, the structure and properties
of pavement concrete are markedly influenced by the raw
materials and material components, so the model and con-
clusion yet merit revision and additional test data support.
In addtion, there are a host of factors affecting pavement
concrete performance; experimentation and material
science alone do not provide fully comprehensive results.
Further research is warranted across materials, structural
engineering, and mechanics perspectives.
Conflict of interest
There is no conflict of interest.
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