ADVANCED MATERIAL ENGINEERING

By:
SAKER M I MOHAMED
226060103141001

MASTER STUDY PROGRAM

CIVIL ENGINEERING
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
BRAWIJAYA UNIVERSITY MALANG
2022
 Case Studies in Construction Materials
(Evaluating performance of carbon fiber-reinforced pavement with embedded sensors using destructive and non-destructive
testing)

This paper compares the performance of a bus pad made of conventional concrete and one
made of carbon fiber fiber-reinforced concrete (CFRC) in real-time. During the building
process, thermocouples, strain gauges, and wireless sensors for temperature and humidity were
placed on both pavements. Visual inspection revealed that the carbon fiber-reinforced bus pad
was devoid of cracks and showed minor carbon fiber balling on the pavement, in contrast to the
conventional concrete bus pads, which showed multiple hairlines within the first 10 days of
construction. After 28 days of construction delay, On both bus pads, non-destructive testing
(NDT) was performed, such as the Schmidt Hammer (SH), Electrical Resistivity (ER), and
Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity (UPV) tests. The electrical resistivity of CFRC bus pa bus pads was
incredibly low when compared to typical concrete bus pads, which had electrical resistivities of
30 k-cm. In comparison to the CFRC bus pad, Schmidt hammer and UPV both showed
degradation in the regular concrete bus pad. Schmidt hammer and UPV tests showed that the
CFRC bus pad was superior to the standard concrete bus pad in terms of durability.

Asphalt is typically used to build public transit roadways since it is frequently the most suitable
material. Bus stops are frequently subjected to abrupt bus braking and acceleration, and the
weight of the bus can cause the asphalt surface to wave or ripple (axle loads). As a result, the
asphalt develops fissures that frequently expand into potholes. This is typically avoided by
building concrete bus pads that can safely support the weight of buses. It has been noted that
crack width movements are often greater at the top surface of concrete pavement and that
temperature variations cause different crack width movements at different depths. Additionally,
it was asserted that fracture width movements grow larger when the longitudinal steel ratio
decreases. The concrete slab design was found to substantially impact the likelihood of
longitudinal cracking in a different study, particularly when the traffic is made up of more
tandem and tridem axles. The cracking of concrete slabs is significantly influenced by the
temperature during building and curing.

This study's main goal is to reduce cracking so the bus pad will last longer. Various types of
fibers (steel, polypropylene, glass, natural fibers, etc.) have been tested during the past 20 years
to improve the mechanical performance of concrete composites. Using the adhesion and
mechanical bonding concept, for instance, fibers can enhance the composite's mechanical
strength properties and post-crack toughness. Fibers can enhance the composite's post-crack
toughness and mechanical strength properties. When internal microcracks first appear in
concrete, the randomly oriented fibers can effectively stop their extension and spread. synthetic
fiber categories: (Polypropylene – Acrylic - Nylon - carbon – polyolefin – Polythene- Polyester –
Aramid).
Polypropylene fiber is advised for use in fiber concrete technology to enhance mixes. The
mechanical behavior of concrete is very slightly impacted by them, nevertheless, because of their
low modulus. It has been suggested that carbon fibers' high modulus can help plastic materials
resist shrinkage cracking and increase their chemical stability in harsh settings as well as their
thermal resistance and weather resistance. To the best of the authors' knowledge, only a small
number of researchers have reported on the field uses of carbon fibers, particularly in concrete
bus pads. Most studies examining carbon fibers’ effect on concrete have been limited to
laboratory tests. As a result, a detailed assessment of the behavior of pavement is necessary to
get additional insight into the development and field performance of CFRC pavements. Concrete
reinforced with carbon fibers is more expensive than regular concrete. However, a portion of the
additional cost can be justified by the longer useful life and potential reduction in steel.
choosing carbon fibers, During the first stages of this inquiry, three different fiber types with
variable lengths, properties of the materials, and sources were obtained. Initially, limited
quantities of fibers were obtained for testing lab-based mortar and concrete samples. For the
construction of the bus pad, with multiple objectives:: 1) to select the most suitable carbon fibers;
2) to select the most suitable length of carbon fibers; 3) to select the optimum dosage of carbon
fibers.
A local ready-mix concrete factory provided the concrete because it was predicted that more
than 6 cubic meters would be needed for three bus pads and various molds for lab testing of
concrete.
Six beams, six cubes, six cylinders, and two round panels for each mix of concrete were cast
and allowed to cure for 28 days in order to assess the quality of the concrete used at the site for
the building of bus pads. It should be emphasized that samples were dried out at room
temperature in order to mimic the actual circumstances found at the bus pad location. The
findings show that the reduction in workability was the main reason why the inclusion of fibers
somewhat reduced the compressive strength of concrete. According to the preliminary testing,
the reduction rate in the bus pad samples is in good agreement with the results from the
laboratory, where a fall in compressive strength of up to 16% was observed at 0.5% fiber
volume.
The results show that carbon fiber insertion has a more pronounced effect on concrete's
flexural behavior than on compressive strength. Carbon fibers' ability to hold and bridge
microcracks in flexure, which delays the onset and propagation of cracks and makes up for the
strength loss brought on by low workability, is primarily responsible for the strength
enhancement in beams.
To give the concrete time to strengthen after construction, the bus pads were blocked to
traffic for 7 days. The manufactured bus pads were routinely checked by the research team for
signs of cracking. The research team utilized a FLIR camera to track temperature variation in
several areas once the bus pad was opened to traffic and did visual monitoring twice daily. This
was carried out to locate potential fracture initiation points and monitor the emergence of cracks
or any other deterioration symptoms on the bus pad surface. However, there were no cracks
found in the BCF-S bus pad. On the other hand, 7 days after casting, both BN-1 and BN-2S
began to show very minor hairline fractures. Due to the combined stress and curling effects,
which caused the first fractures to start in the middle of the slab, the midspan had the most
deflection.