Impact of Fiber Diameter On-Road Performance of Cement-Stabilized Macadam

Abstract

Cement-stabilized macadam is the most widely used road base material in road engineering. The current study investigated the impact of fiber diameter on its performance. The authors prepared polyester fibers with diameters of 20, 35, 70, and 105 μm and added them to cement-stabilized macadam. Then, the indoor shrinkage tests and mechanical property tests at different ages were conducted. Then, the property changes of the polyester-reinforced cement-stabilized macadam were analysed. The water loss rate of the polyester-reinforced cement-stabilized macadam is subject to the combined influence of the “water loss surface effect” and “water loss porthole effect.”With increasing fiber diameter, the water loss surface effect becomes stronger, and the water loss porthole effect gradually decreases; thus, the overall effect transitions from the latter to the former. Moreover, the water loss rate shows an increasing trend of decreasing to its minimum. Therefore, with increasing fiber diameter, the average dry shrinkage coefficient of the polyester-reinforced cement-stabilized macadam first increases and then decreases, while the temperature shrinkage coefficients increase. The change in the fiber diameter does not significantly affect the compressive resilient modulus of the polyester-reinforced cement-stabilized macadam if the fiber content remains constant. These findings demonstrate the functional mechanism of the fiber diameter on the road performance of cement-stabilized macadam, thus improving our understanding of the road performance of the polyester-reinforced cement-stabilized macadam and laying a solid theoretical foundation for its many applications.