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8th Global Conference on Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE2019) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 770 (2020) 012004 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/770/1/012004

Compressive behavior of rice straw-reinforced concrete for

rigid pavements

T Ahmed1,2, M U Farooqi1 and M Ali1

1
Department of Civil Engineering; Capital University of Science and Technology –
Islamabad, Pakistan

Email: [email protected]

Abstract. Micro-shrinkage cracking in concrete is normally observed at early stages. The

cracking increases with the passage of time and affects the serviceability. The micro-shrinkage
cracking can be avoided if its initiation is controlled by use of fibers. The utilization of natural
fibers gains popularity in developing countries, including Pakistan, where vast resources of
natural fibers are available as by-products with a low economic use. This paper primarily focuses
on the utilization of locally available rice straw in concrete for rigid pavement application. The
compressive behavior of rice straw-reinforced concrete (RSRC) is explored as per ASTM
standard. The mix proportion of 1:2:4:0.6 (cement, sand, aggregate, and water, respectively by
their weight) is considered for plain cement concrete (PCC) which is taken as reference. For
RSRC, the length and content of rice straw are 25 mm and 1% (by wet volume weight),
respectively. In addition to compressive strength, elastic modulus, absorbed energy, and
toughness index of PCC and RSRC are experimentally determined and compared. The modulus
of rupture is determined through empirical relation. Rigid pavements for PCC and RSRC are
designed and compared using these parameters. The proposed rigid pavement design is discussed
in detail.

1. Introduction
In the last few decades, fiber-reinforced concrete is studied by many researchers. As early as 1900, the
asbestos fiber was firstly used in concrete [1]. Nowadays, the used fibers are either in chopped or long
form in structural members of concrete such as slabs, beams, canal lining and pavements. The use of
fibers in concrete increases the flexural strength, abrasion resistance, fatigue resistance and reduce the
thermal cracking with drying shrinkage [2]. Rigid pavements are normally recommended because of
their relatively longer service life as compared to flexible pavements and provides high-performance
when subjected to traffic loading. Problems like uneconomical rigid pavement projects due to expensive
constituents of concrete and similarly, deviation between experimental works including casting
procedures in design laboratories leads to pre-mature distresses causing early age micro-cracking [3].
At early stages of concrete maturity, the micro shrinkage cracking is observed. The cracking increases
with the passage of time and affects the serviceability of pavement, which can be reduced by use of
natural fibers. Fibers amend the properties of composites and provide bridging behavior across the crack
resulting the post-cracking toughness and residual strength to composites [4].
Fibers are frequently used in the concrete to resist the cracking due to the early age shrinkage and
drying shrinkage [5]. Micro cracking creates before the structure is subjected to loading after drying
shrinkage and different reasons for change of volume [6]. The fiber content used in the range of 0-1%

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8th Global Conference on Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE2019) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 770 (2020) 012004 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/770/1/012004

shows better results including flexural and abrasion value [7]. There is need to discover flaws of the
rigid pavements, including poor construction practice and many more are evaluated in developing
countries and to minimize them by using sustainable material and techniques. The fiber addition in
concrete is to improve the capability of energy absorption and to resist the crack of the concrete [8]. The
foremost role of fibers in composites is to make a bridge action, which controls the crack initial
propagation and which leads to support more post-cracking resistance. From the last few decades
production and availability of natural fibers showing physical properties are determined by various
researchers in their study of work which shows the potential of the fibers to be used as construction
material. The natural fibers that are used in applications of civil engineering include coir, sisal, sugarcane,
bamboo, jute, palm, hemp, pineapple leaf, hair, wheat straw [5, 8-14]. The utilization of natural fibers
can lead towards the sustainable development [15, 16]. In agrarian countries natural fibers are cheap and
locally available which has very less economic use. Hence, its use as a construction material costs a very
little, in fact almost nothing when compared with the total cost of composite. In this way, huge savings
can be made by using natural fibers. Fibers are frequently used in the concrete to resist the cracking due
to the early age shrinkage and drying shrinkage [5]. The joint spacing can also be increased by the use
of fiber reinforced concrete [2].
To the best of author’s knowledge, rice straw is not used for pavement applications. The natural
fibers examined in pavement application are hair fiber, wheat straw and sugarcane bagasse by Patel, an
Farooqi and others [13, 17, 18]. Compressive and flexural stresses are produced in rigid pavements. The
modulus of rupture and elasticity are the two leading factors which affect the rigid pavement thickness
design [19]. The main objective of the research is to utilize available local natural fibers and to design
rigid pavements for more economic and durable construction practices. Rigid pavement thickness can
be decreased by increasing flexural strength and that of modulus of elasticity in equation available in
AASHTO guide (1993) [20] while keeping remaining parameters constant. The ACI relationship to
calculate the modulus of elasticity using compressive strength is recommended by AASHTO guide.
Pavement thickness is not affected by the elastic modulus. Hence, the latter is calculated by using
compressive strength as recommended by ACI.

2. Experimental

2.1. Raw materials

Rice straws are taken out from agricultural remains which are usually burnt after extraction of rice and
rice husk. Raw fiber of rice straw is taken from the nearby source. The materials that are used in study
are ordinary Portland cement with locally available aggregates, sand, and rice straws were used. Potable
water is used for boiling water treatment to remove impurities.

2.2. Preparation of rice straw

The fiber with variable diameter is observed with split into smaller fibers at one end. These fibers are
not taken in study while the selection of fiber is done by naked eye and the fibers are cut into an
approximate length of 25mm (1-inch). Different researchers have adopted several approaches to increase
the bond strength by improving the fiber surfaces. This pre-treatment requires physical and chemical
modifications. Therefore a simple pre-treatment was used for coconut fiber in the study of Ali and
Chouw [21]. The rice straw is dipped in boiling water for 15 –20 min interval and water is changed three
times until the color of the water is clear and fibers are clean from impurities. These fibers are named as
treated fibers and are shown in figure 1.

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8th Global Conference on Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE2019) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 770 (2020) 012004 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/770/1/012004

(a) Raw rice straw (b) Untreated rice straw (c) Treated rice straw
Figure 1. Rice straw used in the study.

2.3. Mixing and casting procedure

For production of PCC and RSRC the locally available natural fiber, coarse and fine aggregates, Portland
cement including water are used. Aggregate having maximum size of 20mm is used after sieve analysis.
The mix design ratio of the plain cement concrete is 1:2:4:0.60 for cement, sand, aggregates and water
by their weight. Water ratio in mix design is kept high. The reason for higher water ratio is to make the
concrete workable because natural fibers absorb water and will cause reduction in water content. The
fibers added in related mix design using fiber length of approximately 25 mm while fiber content of 1%
by wet volume weight of concrete is used to prepare RSRC. For preparation of concrete all the
constituents are added in concrete drum mixer for mixing. Water is than added in concrete drum mixer
and revolved for about four to five minutes. After the proper mixing process, specimens are casted. The
slump cone test is executed rapidly as per ASTM regulations C143 and C143M-15a before filling molds.
The constituents are added in one-third layer of mix design of RSRC. Initially coarse aggregates, sand,
rice straw and cement are added in concrete mixer, in form of layers by one-third of their volume. The
same methodology is opted for additionally adding coarse aggregates, sand, rice straw and cement into
the concrete mixer. The concrete mixer is revolved for about three to four minutes after the addition of
two-third of the water in concrete mixer. The remaining water is poured into the concrete drum mixer
and revolved again for about three additional minutes. The adding of more water present in composite
might increase bleeding of RSRC mix. For the preparation of RSRC composite sample is cast in three
layers and the 25 blows are required for compaction. For the removal of voids and for self-densification
of RSRC mixture, the height of samples in the mold is increased up to 15-20cm, until its collapse. The
specimens of RSRC is demolded and immersed into water for curing for almost 4 weeks (28 days).
The value for slump and compaction factor of concrete mix with water to cement ratio of 0.60 is
decreased but, as predicted, slump and compaction factor of the FRCs is less than the concrete mix
because of fiber presence. The slump value was noted to be 1-inch and 0.25-inch for PCC and RSRC,
respectively. The compaction factor was computed as 0.88 and 0.82 for PCC and RSRC, which shows
less workability of rice straw-reinforced concrete.

2.4. Specimens
All cylinders are casted having the specimens of 100 mm diameter, 200 mm height used for the
preparation of samples for splitting tensile and compressive strength cylinders are formed. A total of
three cylinders are cast for each PCC and RSRC.

2.5. Testing of composites

Compressive strength test is conducted on PCC and RSRC in compression testing machine composite
as per C39 and C39M-15a of ASTM. Compressive strength and compressive energy gained before the
failure and the toughness is determined. For uniform transfer of load the capping of every composite is
done by the application of plaster before the test is performed. As per the report of Washington State
Department of Transportation [21], the cap thickness and its maximum limit should be 3 and 8mm in
any case. The mean capping thickness of composites is approx. 4mm.

3
8th Global Conference on Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE2019) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 770 (2020) 012004 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/770/1/012004

3. Results and Analysis

3.1. Density
After testing, a decrease in density of RSRC was observed, as compared to density of PCC. The density
of PCC and RSRC were 2318.67 and 2095.25 kg/m3, respectively. The same behavior was observed by
the other researchers [22-25]. The decrease in density is primarily due to presence of less density rice
straw fibers. The low density of composites results in excessive air voids.

3.2. Compressive behavior

The compressive strength is determined using stress-strain curve. For compressive strength calculation
it is taken as the maximum value against the stress-strain curve. Under the own peak load of PCC and
RSRC specimens, the first crack was appeared at 82 and 58%, respectively. The compressive strength
test is conducted on specimen of PCC and RSRC after 28 days of curing. The stress-strain curve is
shown in figure 2a.

a)

b)
Figure 2. Mechanical behavior of RSRC: a) stress-strain; b) crack propagation under compressive load.

4
8th Global Conference on Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE2019) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 770 (2020) 012004 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/770/1/012004

In the specimen of PCC, the first crack length and width were larger than those of RSRC. The initial
crack lengths in PCC and RSRC were 0.5 and 0.3cm, respectively.

3.3. Compressive parameters

The total absorbed energy is calculated using the area under stress-strain curve. It is taken as the sum of
the maximum energy absorbed up to maximum stress and energy absorbed after maximum stress. The
results are shown in table 1. Compressive toughness of composite can be calculated using the stress
strain curve of the compressive strength. The ratio between the total compressive energy absorbed up to
the peak stress energy absorbed (i.e., total compressive energy absorbed / compressive absorbed energy
before max. stress) is taken as toughness of compression. The results are shown in Table 1.
The RSRC showed the better inter locked behaviour while, the pieces of PCC specimen were broken
during testing. This shows the ductile behaviour of rice straw reinforced concrete.

Table 1. Total absorbed energy and compressive toughness of PCC and RSRC.
Energy up Energy Total
Compressive Corresponding Compressive
to max after max absorbed
Strength Strain Toughness
stress stress energy
Specimen
(3) (4)
(Ϭ) (ϵ) (1) (2)
= (1) + (2) = (3) / (1)
(MPa) - (MJ/m3) (MJ/m3) (MJ/m3) -
PCC 16.78 0.024 0.13 0.01 0.14 1.07
RSRC 11.69 0.018 0.19 0.07 0.26 1.36

4. Discussion
Two important factors namely modulus of rupture and elasticity plays important role in thickness design
of concrete pavement and these are also utilized by the AASHTO guide [19]. The concrete elastic
modulus can be determined via the correlation recommended by the American Concrete Institute (ACI)
in AASHTO Guide [19]. Since pavement thickness is not affected by the elastic modulus, the latter can
be derived via compressive strength as follows:
EC = 57,000 (fc’)0.5.
where EC represents concrete elastic modulus in psi, while fc’ represents the compressive strength of
concrete in psi. Modulus of rupture can be calculated by the empirical relation for conventional concrete
given in table 2, while table 3 shows the thickness design comparison of PCC and RSRC. The relation
used in this study is from ACI (1997), i.e. fr = 0.94fc0.5.

Table 2. Empirical relations between compressive and flexural strength values.

Reference Equation
Ahmed et al. (2008) fmin = 0.68fc0.5
Selim (2008) fr = 0.034 fc1.286
Legeron and Paultre (2000) favg = 0.94fc0.5
ACI Committee 363 (1997) fr = 0.94fc0.5

Rigid pavement thickness can be decreased by increase of modulus of rupture and modulus of
elasticity in equation available in AASHTO guide (1993) [20], while keeping remaining parameters
constant. The ACI relationship to calculate the elastic modulus using compressive strength is
recommended by AASHTO guide (1997) [20].

5
8th Global Conference on Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE2019) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 770 (2020) 012004 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/770/1/012004

Table 3. Thickness design of composite road via the AASHTO equation*.

Modulus of rupture Elastic modulus
Compressive strength Thickness
Specimen (Sc’) (Ec’)
(MPa) (MPa) (GPa) (mm)
PCC 3.849 16.77 19.38 263.398
RSRC 3.214 11.69 16.18 287.274
*In the AASHTO equation, k=72psi/in, R = 95, ZR = 1.64, Po = 4.2, Pt = 2.5, So = 0.30, J = 3.2,
∆PSI = 1.7, Cd = 1, and W18 = 5100,000.

5. Conclusion
The compressive behavior of plain cement concrete (PCC) and treated rice straw-reinforced concrete
(RSRC) in rigid pavements are explored for possible applications especially for developing countries.
On the basis of conducted study, the following conclusions are made:
• Compressive strength of RSRC is decreased by 30.3%, as compared to PCC.
• The elastic modulus of RSRC is decreased by 16.5%, as compared to that of PCC.
• There is an increase of 46.1% in total energy absorption by RSRC, as compared to that of PCC.
• The compressive toughness index is increased for RSRC by 21.33%, whereas RSRC and PCC
showed a bridged and brittle behavior, respectively.
• The density of RSRC is decreased by 14.26 pcf, as compared to that of PCC.
• The pavement thickness is increased by 8.3% using rice straw by empirical relation. The actual
modulus of rupture needs to be determined, which may result in variation with empirical relation
because of post-cracking behavior.
Based on above results, it is concluded that rice straw reinforced concrete for applications of rigid
pavement due to its post cracking behavior has the potential to be used as construction material. The
results discussed here are based on limited scope using empirical relation. More detailed investigations
need to be performed specially for modulus of rupture, which plays a vital role in the pavement design.
The outcome of the study seems favorable due to post-cracking behavior, which demands a detailed
investigation for economical design with a better performance.

Acknowledgement
The authors like to acknowledge the organization and persons, especially who helped them throughout
the research, Ms. Kaynat Arooj, Mr. Hamza Shahzad, and Mr. Nadeem Shahzad. The careful review
and constructive suggestions by the anonymous reviewers are gratefully acknowledged.

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8th Global Conference on Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE2019) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 770 (2020) 012004 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/770/1/012004

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