USE OF DISCRETE FIBER

IN ROAD CONSTRUCTION

PREPARED BY,
V.KOTESWARA REDDY,

III-BTECH (CIVIL),
G.PULLA REDDY ENGINEERING COLLEGE, PH.NO:9440452865, MAIL:ESWAR2067@GMAIL.COM

AND N.SARATH KUMAR III-BTECH (CIVIL),

G.PULLA REDDY ENGINEERING COLLEGE, PH.NO:9032290630 MAIL:NAKKINA.SARATH@YAHOO.COM

ABSTRACT:
New materials and construction techniques are required to provide Civil Engineering with alternatives to

aggregate-surfaced roads and flexible pavements. Sand-fiber stabilization uses common construction equipments and requires skills. no special construction is

traditional road construction practices. Traditional techniques have not been able to bear the mixed traffic load for a long time. Therefore the pavement requires overlaying. To overcome this problem fiber inclusion in pavements is adopted nowadays. This paper highlights on the use of discrete fiber in road construction. Recently Geosynthetics

Sand-fiber

stabilization

applicable for a wide variety of sands and silty sands found around the world. This method is used for expedient road construction over loose sands. The new sand-fiber

stabilization technology uses small amounts of hair-like polypropylene fibers to stabilize the sand. The twoinch-long fibers are simply mixed into the top eight inches of moist sand using a self-propelled rotary mixer. A wearing surface is added by spraying a resin modified emulsion (undiluted road oyl) or emulsified asphalt onto the road surface. The emulsion penetrates and bonds the top inch of sand-fiber mixture. The new sandfiber technology allows quick

have been used to reinforce and separate base course material for aggregatesurfaced roads and flexible pavements. Inclusion of discrete fibers increases shear strength and ductility.

INTRODUCTION:
Traditional road construction practices require alternative materials and techniques. Quality construction materials are not readily available in many locations or are costly. New techniques available are expensive and require skilled labour and special equipments. Recently Geosynthetics have been used to reinforce and separate base course material for

construction of roads over sands at remote sites using reduced

equipment, manpower and materials. The sand-fiber mixture is a very erosion resistant material that could be useful in many erosion control

applications. This technique requires very little or no maintenance for years.

0.8% fibers by dry weight of material were the optimum dosage rates for a 51 mm monofilament polypropylene fiber. The unconfined

LITERATURE REVIEW:
A review of the literature revealed that various laboratory

compressive strength can be used as an index of field performance based on the tests conducted. For sand-fiber stabilization over sandy subgrade, the stabilized thickness requirement should be 305 mm. A 203 mm thick sand-fiber layer is sufficient (Webster and Santoni 1997). The resin modified emulsion (Undiluted Road Oyl) improves the

investigations have been conducted on fiber-reinforced materials. Gray and Ohashi indicated increased shear

strength, increased absorbed strain energy, and reduced postpeak strength loss due to the inclusion of discrete fibers. The inclusion of discrete fibers increases both the cohesion and the angle of internal friction of the mixtures. Arteaga suggested the term apparent cohesion for the increase in cohesion of cohesion less materials.

properties of the mixture. It works as the binder for expedient road and serve the purpose for dust control (Webster and Santoni 1997).

PREPARATION OF THE MIXTURE:

The literature review gives us

Properties improves due to the inclusion of discrete fibers was

the lesson that there are three critical components for preparing fiber-

determined to be a function of various parameters including fiber type, fiber length, aspect ratios, fiber content, orientation and soil properties. The peak strength increases with the

stabilized material: 1. Moisture control 2. Mixing procedure 3. Compaction.

increase in fiber content and fiber length (Gray and Ohashi 1983;

Arteaga 1989).

MOISTURE CONTROL:

Moisture

is

required

to

split mold and then densification in different layers is performed by hammering. Generally, up to 20 or more blows.

adequately mix and mold the mixture. It is required to prevent separation of the sand and fibers during the mixing process and to prevent mixture

disturbance.

EFFECTS OF USING DISCRETE FIBER:

MIXING PROCEDURE:
An appropriate amount of sand was placed in the mixing container. Then the required water is mixed into the sand in small increments to ensure uniform coverage. The fibers are mixed in small increments using a two-bladed mortar mixing bit The inclusion of discrete fibers increases the cohesion of the mixture. The increase in cohesion of typically cohesion less materials due to the inclusion of discrete fibers was termed the apparent cohesion of the material.

powdered by an electric drill. Take care during the mixing procedure to ensure a uniform sand-fiber mixture. The inclusion of discrete fibers increases the angle of internal friction of the

COMPACTION:
Compaction is required for the mixture densification, which is done, in different layers to get more stable layers. The idea of compaction procedure can be obtained by study of compaction test in which sand-fiber mixture is placed in a high cast iron

mixture.

EFFECT OF FIBER LENGTH:

Fiber length improves the

unconfined compressive strength of the mixture. As the fiber length is increases the strength of the mixture also increases.

EFFECT OF FIBER CONTENT:

The performance of the mixture increases with the increase in fiber content. Mixture prepared at dosage rates of 0.6-1.0% exhibits the strain hardening characteristics. Strain Unconfined compressive strength

hardening is characterized by increase in unconfined compressive strength with a corresponding increase in strain. The density of the mixture decreases with the increase in fiber content. Hence it performs best up to a dosage rate of 1.0% only.

Deflection

EFFECT OF FIBER DENIER:

The unconfined compressive strength of the mixture decreases slightly with the increase in fiber

Density, kg/m3

denier. The decrease in the strength is not significant. The increase in performance with decreasing fiber denier may be attributed to the slight increase in the number of fibers due to using smaller diameter fibers when Fiber, % dosage rates are calculated.

EFFECT OF SILT CONTENT:

The inclusion silt decreases the unconfined compressive strength of sand. The inclusion of up to 8% silt does not affect much in terms of increased unconfined compressive

strength when compared to the fiberstabilized clean sands. The results show that silt content up to 12% Density, kg/m3 performs similar to the fiber-

stabilized clean sand.

EFFECT OF MOISTURE CONTENT:

The performance of the mixture enhance by the inclusion of discrete synthetic fiber at any moisture

Moisture content, %

content. The results show that the performance increases with the

EFFECT OF COMPACTION:

increase in moisture content. The mixtures unconfined compressive strength increases significantly from base moisture content of 2.6% to mixtures unconfined compressive strength is less beneficial and less effective as the saturation point of 14% moisture content is achieved. At the saturation point its performance is less with the composite mixture. Deflection, % Strength, kPa 14%. Beyond 9.0% moisture, the

EFFECT OF EMULSION:
Road Oyl is sprayed over sandfiber surface such that it penetrates in the top one inch of the surface.

Thickness of the sand subgrade is eight inches and the thickness of fiber-stabilized sand is four inches. This process controls dust and binds the mixture. It provides higher bonding strength than hot applied asphalt emulsion.

Angle of internal friction of the mixture increases.

Shear strength and absorbed strain energy are increased.

It uses common construction equipments and requires no special construction skills.

It is erosion resistant material hence of roads.

It requires little hence economical.

maintenance

It is also environmental friendly as prevent the use of asphalt as binder. ADVANTAGES

OF USING

SAND-FIBER

CONCLUSIONS: Sandfiber technology is

STABILIZATION: Increases life Strain hardening characteristics are obtained.

economical and far more durable than normal methods of road construction. With respect to mixed traffic

conditions like the one existing in Apparent cohesion mixture increases. of the India this type of roads will prove far more successful than the roads built with traditional methods. Materials used can be easily transported even to

remote areas. As specified above this technique does not require much skilled labour. This technology

allows quick construction of roads . References:

Arteaga, C.B. (1989). The shear strength of Ottawa sand mixed with discrete short length plastic fibers. Thesis, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Miss. Gray, D.H., and Ohashi, H. (1983). Mechanics of fiber reinforcement in sand. J. Geotech. Engrg., ASCE, 109(3), 335-353. Webster, S.L., and Santoni, R.L. (1997). Contingency airfield and road construction using geosynthetic fiber stabilization of sands. Tech. Rep. GL-97-4, U.S. Army Engr. Waterways Experiment station, Vicksburg, Miss.