Hybrid Steel Fiber of Rigid Pavements: A 3D Finite Element and Parametric Analysis

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In this study, the effects of the hybrid steel fibers, the thickness of the pavement and the compressive strength of concrete on the load bearing capacity of rigid pavement are explored by the 3D finite element method and the experimental verification method, and the appropriate proportion of the hybrid steel fiber is recommended. The selection of research topics and related research contents and conclusions have reference value for the design of rigid pavements, and the application of the hybrid steel fibers has certain innovation. Two debatable questions:

1. What is the purpose and significance of adding macro synthetic fibers? How is its role reflected in this study?

2. How is the load capacity or ultimate load capacity of this study defined? How is this definition applied during model testing and finite element simulation? There does not seem to be a mention in the text.

Author Response

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Reviewer 2 Report

The paper seems good. some minor checks should be done to improve the paper. In particular:

line 57 FRC acronym was not introduced before line 81 FE method acronym not introduced before..usually FEM is used for finite element methods but should be introduced the first time and then used along the text line 262-266 some text is missing or capital letter . please revise paragraph figure 6 and 7 label - bold is missing line 323 reference 53 is bad referenced (should be according to SORELLI et al - Luca is the first name)

Author Response

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Reviewer 3 Report

This paper investigates the influence of hybrid steel fiber on the behaviour of rigid pavement using the finite element method, and the study has a high application value. The paper can be published in Coatings after the problem is modified.

1、Line 205 and 208: What is the “(CCIsoBrick<xxxxxxxx>)” and the “(CCIsoTetra<xxxx>)”.

2、Line 242, 269, and 308: The title number needs to be modified.

3、Line 395: The pictures in Table A2 are not clear and it is recommended to increase the resolution of the pictures.

4、It is recommended to add relevant material parameters used in the simulation process.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf