RESEARCH TRENDS IN THE CELLULOSE REINFORCED FIBROUS CONCRETE IN USA

The growth in fast-track construction and repair has prompted major efforts to develop high-early-strength concrete mix compositions. Such mixtures rely on the use of relatively high cement contents and accelerator dosages to increase the rate of strength development. The measures, however, seem to compromise the long-term performance of concrete in applications such as full-depth patches as evidenced by occasional premature deterioration of such patches. The hypothesis successfully validated in this research was that traditional methods of increasing the early-age strength of concrete, involving the use of high cement and accelerator contents, increase the moisture and thermal movements of concrete. Restraint of such movements in actual field conditions, by external or internal restraining factors, generates tensile stresses which introduced microcracks and thus increase the permeability of concrete. This increase in permeability accelerates various processes of concrete deterioration, including freeze-thaw attack. Fiver reinforcement of concrete is an effective approach to the control of microcrack and crack development under tensile stresses. Fibers, however, have not been known of accelerating the process of strength gain in concrete. The recently developed specialty cellulose fibers, however, were found in this research to be highly effective in increasing the early-age strength of concrete. This provides a unique opportunity to increase the rate of strength gain in concrete without increasing moisture an thermal movements, which actually controlling the processes of microcracking and racking in concrete. Laboratory test results confirmed the desirable resistance of specialty cellulose fiber reinforced High-early-strength concrete to restrained shrinkage microcracking an cracking, and to different processes of deterioration under weathering effects.