Application of Reactive Powder Concrete in Highway Barriers

As a king of ultra-high performance concrete, RPC (Reactive powder concrete) possesses excellent performances such as ultra-high compressive strength, ultra-high rupture strength, high ductility and high durability. If barriers used in highway engineering were made of RPC to replace normal reinforced concrete barriers, service life and durability would be increased. In this paper, on the basis of Min-hua II reinforced concrete barriers used in highway median strip, RPC barriers were designed. The designed results show that: 1) the section size of RPC barriers is largely decreased, and the gravity is about one-third times as great as that of reinforced concrete barriers so that they are easy to pre-cast, transport and assemble. Accordingly, the constructing cost would be largely reduced; 2) the cost of RPC barriers per metre is about 330 Yuan and is a little greater than that of reinforced concrete barriers per metre (about 250 Yuan). However, the excellent durability of RPC would reduce the maintenance cost of RPC barriers, and the excellent wear resistance of RPC would increase the ability of scrape resistance of RPC barriers. Therefore, RPC barriers possess good durability and economical efficiency, and are worth popularizing in highway engineering.