FRCC (Fiber reinforced Roller Compacted Concrete) is an innovated roller-compacted concrete process in which high performance steel fiber is added to control the cracking of the concrete and establish bending reinforcement. This process is a manner of obtaining joint-free continuous concrete roadways. The investigations into roadways in service demonstrate that the FRCC crack opening is less than 1 mm and that the load transfer is 100% between crack edges. To achieve this result, the contribution of steel fibers is optimized by the use of concrete manufactured with low water content. A principle of functional separation is applied between the various courses of the roadway: o an FRCC concrete base course, controlling the cracking, anti-rutting with high mechanical strength, guaranteeing the long life of the pavement under heavy traffic and avoiding deformations; o a surface course of asphalt mix, designed to make the most of the quality of this material in terms of evenness, texture, running noise reduction. The FRCC process applies to the construction or strengthening of roadways; it makes for significant gains in roadway thickness and therefore saves on aggregates. An economic investigation in Europe and China shows that the FRCC process is more than competitive for traffic exceeding 500 heavy goods vehicles per day and per direction, compared to traditional rigid, semi-rigid and flexible techniques (including high modulus asphalt). The innovation process put underway with the FRCC technology in China can be applied to other emerging countries which, like China: o have a high demand for new roadways for heavy goods vehicles, o are short of aggregates in some regions, o have to import bitumen to carry through their motorway program, o but in parallel, have good quality cement available. For the covering abstract see ITRD E135448.
Samenvatting