Project Name:   RAF Waddington

Location: Waddington, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom

Application: Paving

This extension to the paving at RAF Waddington was completed in 2017. Primarily designed to cater for the high loads from aircraft handing tractors and other aircraft support vehicles, the engineers required a solution that would provide necessary load carrying capability whilst having high impact and abrasion resistance of the concrete surface.

Through the usage of proprietary in-house slab design software, a 250mm thick C40 grade concrete slab was proposed incorporating 4kg/m3 of Macro Synthetic fibre plus 0.9kg/m3 of Micro Synthetic fibre. The former providing necessary structural integrity, as specified by the project engineer, and the latter to offer protection against early age shrinkage cracking. The slab was constructed using the long-strip method and transverse joints sawn at 6m centres.

This is one of many military bases around the world which have utilised the additional durability benefits achieved with fibre reinforced concrete.

Outcomes:

• Replacement of Steel Reinforcement to provide a corrosion free option
• Resistance to both Early Age & Long Term Cracking
• High Impact and Abrasion resistance
• Reduction in material costs and concrete placement time

Author:  trevor.atkinson@propexglobal.com