Shrinkage cracking and durability characteristics of cellulose fiber reinforced concrete

Shrinkage cracking is a major concern, especially for flat structures such as highway pavement, slabs for parking garages, and walls. One of the methods to reduce the adverse effects of shrinkage cracking is to reinforce concrete with short randomly distributed fibers. The efficiency of cellulose fiber to arresting cracks in cementitious composites was studied. A ring-type specimen was developed for restrained shrinkage cracking test. Concretes reinforced with six different types of cellulose fibers, with a fiber content of 0.5 percent by volume (approximately 1 percent by weight of cement) were tested. Cellulose fiber reinforcement showed an ability to reduce the crack width significantly (as compared to unreinforced concrete). For comparison, concrete reinforced with 0.5 percent cellulose fibers showed equally excellent performance as 0.5 percent polypropylene fibers (maximum crack width about 1/3 of that of plain concrete).