Addition of discrete fibers in concrete road pavements

Road networks form the arteries of any nation and specifically in Kashmir, road network is the major form of transportation due to the unavailability of other means like railways. The road surface or pavement is a surface made from durable material laid down on an area to sustain the load of vehicles and footfall. Pavements are mainly of three types: flexible pavements, rigid pavements and composite pavements. Traditionally, pavements are constructed by using bituminous materials and therefore, whenever we think of a road construction it is assumed to be a bituminous pavement because very rarely, we opt for an alternative like concrete pavements. There are several advantages of cement concrete pavements over bituminous pavement such as greater life span and low maintenance but at the same time concrete roads may also undergo cracking, warping and they are less resilient, less ductile and weak in tension. Since, road transportation is witnessing an exponential growth, there is a need for rigorous research for the improvement of properties of concrete road pavements. To overcome these problems, addition of discrete fibers can prove to be a boon in the construction of concrete road pavements. This paper reviews the effects of polypropylene and polyester fibers on concrete and proposes their use in concrete road pavements. Several research papers have been assessed to analyze the properties of concrete and the effect of the polypropylene and polyester fibers on these properties are discussed in this paper.