Cemented soil commonly faces issues regarding strength, cracking resistance, and water stability when used in airstrip pavements. Three kinds of soil samples (low-liquid limit clay, high-liquid limit clay, and clayey sand), four kinds of fibers (basalt fiber, glass fiber, fine polypropylene fiber, and coarse polypropylene fiber), and one curing agent (cement) were analyzed in a systematic investigation of the compressive strength of fiber-reinforced cemented soil based on unconfined compressive strength (UCS), water stability, and failure mode. When 38 mm coarse polypropylene fiber at 0.3% content was mixed with 12 mm fine polypropylene fiber at 0.3% content, the hybrid fiber-reinforced cemented soil prepared after 7 d of saturated curing achieved UCS values of 4.18 (low-liquid limit clay), 4.36 (high-liquid limit clay), and 4.16 MPa (clayey sand), which satisfied airstrip requirements for the strength of base course. In this study, coarse polypropylene fiber was adopted and mixed with fine fiber to give full play to their respective advantages and effectively enhance the mechanical properties of cemented soil. The research results improved the understanding of the mechanical properties and reinforcement mechanism of coarse and fine fiber reinforced cemented soil in theory, and enriched the materials and methods of airstrip construction in engineering.

Airstrip can be used to cater to the emergency need of an airport. For shortening construction time, the surface course should be handled as fast as possible. This paper explores the carboxylic styrene butadiene latex (CSBL), waterborne epoxy resin (WER) and modified polyurea elastomer (MPE) for any possibility to be used as surface course for an airstrip. The anti-slip test and the wear resistance test were performed to evaluate the coatings’ anti-slip and wear resistance performance. Test results indicate that: (1) The British Pendulum Number (BPN) of stabilised and reinforced soils meets the specifications. The BPN increases with the increase of cement and fibre contents. Samples with surface course can meet the requirements of BPN in a dry state; however, the BPN is slightly lower than that of the requested value in a wet state. When the sand is added to the coatings, the BPN can meet the requirements and its value ranges between 36.8 and 49.9; and (2) Cement and fibre enhance the wear resistance performance of samples. The wear mass per unit area of stabilised soil is less than half of the plain soil. As the content of fibre increases from 0.3 to 0.8%, the wear mass per unit area decreases from 19.4 to 11.8 kg/m² as well as the wear depth decreases from 3.33 to 2.69 mm. The functional surface course can greatly enhance the performance of wear resistance. The enhancement of MPE can be regarded as the most significant. The addition of sand slightly improves the performance of wear resistance for CSBL and WER. The MPE can meet the requirements of anti-slip and wear resistance performance of airstrip’s surface course.

In cold regions, freeze-thaw cycles cause airport pavements to exhibit numerous failure modes on the surface, thus affecting the normal operations of the airports. To repair surface damage to airport pavements quickly, efficiently, and cheaply, surface-strengthening materials may be added to the concrete to improve its frost resistance. In the current study, several such materials, namely, concrete protectant, polyurea, epoxy resin, and silane (main ingredients), were tested for their performance in pavement concrete samples. A one-sided freeze-thaw cycle experiment was designed and the mass loss, relative dynamic elastic modulus, saturation, and diffusion coefficient were used to evaluate the frost resistance of the reinforced concrete. In order to calculate the diffusion coefficient, the existing diffusion model was extended to take into account moisture diffusion in concrete during freeze-thaw cycles. The mechanisms of frost resistance were further investigated with the help of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that after surface treatments, mass loss and saturation of the concrete decreased, while its relative dynamic elastic modulus increased. The diffusion coefficient exhibited a minimum value with the increase in the number of freeze-thaw cycles, with a cutoff around the 42nd cycle. The results demonstrated that for the selected concrete and four strengthening materials, the condensation reaction products of the silane in particular increased the water and frost resistance of the concrete significantly compared with other surface-strengthening materials. The mass loss of concrete was reduced by 66% and the relative elastic modulus was increased by 64.8% for the silane reinforced sample compared with the unreinforced concrete. The saturation and diffusion coefficient of the concrete were also reduced, demonstrating that, among all materials tested in this research, the silane is the most suitable material for surface strengthening of the airport concrete pavement selected for the research, and its optimum dosage is $4{\mathrm{m}}^2/\mathrm{kg}$ .

Concrete Canvas (CC) is a 3D spacer fabric-reinforced cement-based composite, prepared through filling cement-based composite powder into fabric via the porous surface of 3D spacer fabric. When hardened by water, CC forms a water-proof, fire-resistant, and durable concrete layer with outstanding mechanical properties. So far, CC has been applied in inflatable tents, slope protection, structure reinforcement and repair, ditch lining, and other engineering projects, as well as furniture and artwork design. Existing studies on CC primarily focus on the modification and optimization of its component materials, and CC reinforcement using externally bonded FRP and aluminum flakes. CC has a broad application and an enormous application potential in emergency engineering, such as the protection of emergency tents and shelters, emergency repair and construction of airport pavement and positional projects; however, it is necessary to improve the compressive strength, flexural strength, wear resistance, anti-penetration performance, and base course bond performance of CC. To that end, research from the perspectives of modifying CC component materials, reinforcement of CC by externally bonded FRP, the improvement of the anchorage method, and the optimization of anchoring primers can be carried out.

In order to repair surface damage to airport pavements quickly and efficiently, surface-strengthening materials are applied to the surface of the concrete to improve its durability. In the current study, several materials, namely concrete protectant, polyurea, epoxy resin and silane, were applied to concrete samples in various amounts. One-sided freeze–thaw cycle experiments, wear tests and flame ablation tests, along with scanning electron microscopy to observe morphologies, were carried out on these four coatings and the uncoated samples to determine the best material for strengthening runway concrete. Results showed that polyurea had excellent wear resistance and poor flame ablation resistance. The epoxy resin had good resistance to freeze–thaw cycles and flame ablation, but had poor wear resistance. The protective layer of silane reduced the loss by freeze–thaw by 66% compared with non-coated samples, the relative dynamic elastic modulus increased by 64·8% and the unit area wear quality decreased by 41%, and there was no obvious damage to the samples after flame ablation. Silane is the most suitable material for surface improvement of the airport concrete pavement, with an optimum dosage of 4 m²/kg.

This article discusses the strength and water stability of fiber-reinforced cemented loess (FRCL). The unconfined compressive tests, the anti-erosion tests and the Cantabro tests were performed for soaked and non-soaked specimens. The aforementioned specimens were made by mixing of loess with different cement and fiber ratios. Results indicate that the mixing of cement and fiber significantly improve the strength and the water stability of samples. The unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of samples increases with the increase of cement content. The UCS first increases and thereafter decreases with the increase of fiber content; the optimum content of fiber ranges between 0.3% and 0.45%. The total erosion mass and the erosion rate of samples were decreased by increasing the cement and fiber contents. It is pertinent to note that: (1) the anti-erosion performance of the fiber-reinforced soil was approximately 26–75% higher than that of the cemented soil, and (2) the improvement of UCS was beneficial to the anti-erosion performance. The scattering process of samples can be divided into three stages, i.e., initial stage, rapid-scattering stage and stable stage.