Development and thermo-mechanical behavior of cement-based composite for the runway concrete of F-35B joint strike fighter

The current study aims at increasing the strength and heat resistance of concrete that can be used in airport pavements for vertical take-off and landing of new generation F-35B combat aircraft by improving concrete mixtures. For this purpose, two different mixtures with lightweight (expanded glass aggregate) and traprock (basalt) aggregate were prepared. The mechanical properties and thermal conductivity of the mixtures were determined, 3D maps of cracks that occurred with the flexural tensile strength tests were examined using fractal analysis, and the fracture energy of the samples was obtained. A statistically significant extremely high correlation was found between fractal dimension and flexural tensile strength. No significant compressive strength losses were observed in samples after heat exposure. We determined that the mechanical properties of the basalt aggregate mixture were better than the expanded glass aggregate mixture, however, its thermal conductivity was higher.