Affiliations: Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 26506-6106, USA | Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 26506-6103, USA
Abstract: The use of latex modified concrete deck overlay systems has become a common practice not only for repairing old bridge overlays but also as a wearing and protective surface of many new bridges in the USA. However, cracks due to diverse reasons have often been observed in old and new bridges, so that reduction or even complete elimination of cracks is the subject of continuous research. One way of reducing or eliminating cracks is by reinforcing the overlay material with short length, randomly oriented carbon fibres. This paper shows the results of the development of latex modified concrete reinforced with short carbon fibres. Two fibre lengths were introduced to typical latex modified concrete mix in order to evaluate different mechanical properties used as indicators of the performance improvement. Results show that the resulting material tends to be less stiff than plain latex modified concrete, so that for the same load level, carbon fibre latex modified concrete is able to support more tensile strain without cracking. This paper presents the material characterization of the developed carbon fibre reinforced latex modified concrete, and this material will undergo field testing under the combined effect of environmental conditions as well as traffic loading to assess its field performance.
