Effect of Fibre Content on Compressive Strength of Wheat Straw Reinforced Concrete for Pavement Applications

Many studies have been carried out on natural fiber reinforced concrete for the different civil engineering applications. Wheat Straw Reinforced Concrete (WSRC) is recently studied for pavement applications which resulted in improved toughness. This will ultimately help in reducing the micro-shrinkage and fatigue cracking in rigid pavements. The overall aim of the research program is to improve the rigid pavement construction techniques by using locally available natural fibres. In this work, compressive strength of WSRC is investigated experimentally by varying fiber contents i.e. 1%, 2% and 3%, by mass of wet concrete. The properties of WSRC are compared with that of Plain Concrete (PC). The compressive behavior, strength, energies absorbed and toughness indices of PC and WSRC are determined and discussed. It is observed that, under the compressive loading, the fragments of PC specimen are chipped off while in WSRC specimen only cracks are formed. It is concluded that compressive toughness index of WSRC is 71% more than that of PC. Based on the conclusions made, WSRC shows favorable results, therefore, future recommendations are to focus on optimization and durability of WSRC. (paper)