Influence of polyolefin fibers on the strength and deformability properties of road pavement concrete

Influence of the type and quantity of polyolefin fibers on the strength properties (compression strength, tensile strength in bending, strength in uniaxial tension), the deformation properties (elastic modulus, Poisson's coefficient) and the abrasion resistance of cement concrete with water-to-cement ratio within 0.31–0.55 were stated in the paper. The ways of fibers introduction into fresh concrete were investigated. It was shown that the fibers introduction method and procedure of mixing are the ways to improve the fibers uniform distribution in fresh concrete. The increase of the bending tensile strength and the uniaxial tensile strength of concrete with fibers reinforcement in comparison with the reference concrete was observed with the water-to-cement ratio decrease. The increase of uniaxial tensile strength at age of 28 days for concrete with macrofibers in amount of 4.5 kg/m³ was 23% and 29%; for macrofibers in quantity of 3 kg/m³ was 19% and 26% with water-cement ratio equal to 0.49 and 0.31, respectively. The maximum reduction of abrasion in the range of 7.5%–10% was observed in concrete with water-to-cement ratio within 0.44–0.55 for all investigated types of fibers. The influence of fibers on the concrete abrasion with lower W/C ratio was negligible. The results can contribute to the rational use of modified polyolefin fibers in road pavement concrete.