Investigating high tenacity polypropylene fiber reinforced engineered cementitious composites as pavement overlay materials

Pavement rehabilitation is a subject that has continuously worried transport authorities. Many old pavements in service are approaching the end of their design service lives. Others are in dire need of major repair in order to continue serving. Portland cement concrete overlays have been used as a rehabilitation technique for both existing concrete and hot-mix asphalt pavements. Although concrete overlay may provide a reasonable performance when well designed and constructed, the major limitation on the service life of this type of overlay is the occurrence of reflective cracks. None of the current techniques can totally eliminate this problem. However, data suggests that engineered cementitious composites may advantageously replace hot mix asphalt and concrete, resulting in a thin, durable and cost-effective overlay. This paper focuses on the examination of engineered cementitious composites reinforced with high tenacity polypropylene fibers as a pavement overlay material, via an experimental investigation combined to a finite element analysis.