LABORATORY AND FIELD APPLICATIONS OF BIAXIAL POLYMER GRID AS SHRINKAGE REINFORCEMENT FOR CONCRETE PAVEMENTS

Shrinkage cracking is one of the factors that cause deterioration of reinforced concrete structures. The cracks facilitate the ingress of moisture, oxygen and chlorides to the steel reinforcement surface, which results in steel corrosion and subsequent deterioration of the structure. In this paper, a field investigation was conducted and a monitoring program was designed and implemented to evaluate the performance of the polymer grid in controlling shrinkage cracking under realistic conditions. The monitoring program extended for a period of three years. At the end of the three years period, some samples were cored from the cracked sections and transferred to the laboratory to measure the variation of crack width through the depth and the residual tensile strength of the partially cracked cores. The results show that the polymer grid reduced both the width and density of shrinkage cracks, and endowed partially cracked concrete with higher residual tensile strength. Also, limited and preliminary data indicate that the grid reduced the permeation of chlorides from deicing salt.