Using carbon fiber composites for reinforcing pervious concrete

- Cured carbon fiber composite material (CCFCM) pieces were mechanically refined and processed to certain shape and size fraction for incorporation in pervious concrete (PC).
- CCFCM incorporation resulted in improved workability as evident in lower and more consistent porosity of the reinforced PC (rPC), compared to the control (plain PC).
- Incorporation of CCFCM yielded in improved mechanical properties of PC.

Pervious concrete (PC) pavement applications are growing in popularity due to the environmental and stormwater management benefits that PC can offer. However, relatively low mechanical properties and durability of PC, comparing to conventional Portland cement concrete (PCC), limit its use for vehicular applications. In this study, different size fractions of cured carbon fiber composite material (CCFCM) pieces were incorporated into a PC mixture (rPC) in three volume fractions. The goal was to determine the physical and mechanical properties of rPC in comparison to the corresponding properties of plain PC (control). Seven mixture designs were prepared in order to investigate the effect of CCFCM volume fractions as well as CCFCM particle sizes. The test results indicated that CCFCM addition enhanced the workability of the PC mixtures. rPC mixtures presented higher average infiltration rates when compared to the control mixture. Improvements in mechanical properties were seen on 28-day compressive strength (4-11%), 7-day tensile strength (11-46%) and in modulus of elasticity (6-45%). In terms of resistance to mass loss in Cantabro and surface abrasion, rPC mixtures presented various behaviors, with one mixture containing the highest volume fraction and a combined size fraction, outperforming the control in both tests. Overall, the results of this study indicate that incorporation of CCFCM is promising in improving physical and mechanical properties of PC.