Mechanical Properties and Durability of Latex‐Modified Fiber‐Reinforced Concrete: A Tunnel Liner Application

This study assessed the mechanical properties and durability of latex‐modified fiber‐reinforced segment concrete (polyolefin‐based macrosynthetic fibers and hybrid fiber‐macrosynthetic fiber and polypropylene fiber) for a tunnel liner application. The tested macrosynthetic fiber‐reinforced concrete has a better strength than steel fiber‐reinforced concrete. The tested concrete with blast furnace slag has a higher chloride ion penetration resistance (less permeable), but its compressive and flexural strengths can be reduced with blast furnace slag content increase. Also, the hybrid fiber‐reinforced concrete has higher compressive strength, flexural strength, chloride ion water permeability resistance, impact resistance, and abrasion resistance than the macrosynthetic fiber‐reinforced concrete. The modified fiber improved the performance of concrete, and the hybrid fiber was found to control the formation of micro‐ and macrocracks more effectively. Therefore, overall performance of the hybrid fiber‐reinforced concrete was found superior to the other fiber‐reinforced concrete mixes tested for this study. The test results also indicated that macrosynthetic fiber could replace the steel fiber as a concrete reinforcement.