Professional Documents
Culture Documents
and Building
Abstract
The marked brittleness with low tensile strength and strain capacities of high-strength concrete (HSC) can be overcome by the
addition of steel bers. This paper investigated the mechanical properties of high-strength steel ber-reinforced concrete. The
properties included compressive and splitting tensile strengths, modulus of rupture, and toughness index. The steel bers were added
at the volume fractions of 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, and 2.0%. The compressive strength of the ber-reinforced concrete reached a max-
imum at 1.5% volume fraction, being a 15.3% improvement over the HSC. The splitting tensile strength and modulus of rupture of
the ber-reinforced concrete improved with increasing the volume fraction, achieving 98.3% and 126.6% improvements, respectively,
at 2.0% volume fraction. The toughness index of the ber-reinforced concrete improved with increasing the fraction. The indexes I5 ,
I10 , and I30 registered values of 6.5, 11.8, and 20.6, respectively, at 2.0% fraction. Strength models were established to predict the
compressive and splitting tensile strengths and modulus of rupture of the ber-reinforced concrete. The models give predictions
matching the measurements.
2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
0950-0618/$ - see front matter 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2004.04.027
670 P.S. Song, S. Hwang / Construction and Building Materials 18 (2004) 669673
HSC containing 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5% volume fractions then added in small amounts to avoid ber balling and
of steel bers, declaring that compressive and splitting to produce the concrete with uniform material consis-
tensile strengths improved to 1.0% fraction, whereas the tency and good workability. For concrete mixes with a
modulus of rupture did up to 1.5%. Eren and C elik [10] 2.0% volume of bers, extra time was required for
studied the strength-producing eect of steel bers and mixing. The freshly mix steel ber-reinforced concrete
silica fume in HSC, indicating that the ber volume and was placed in two equal layers into a cylinder mold to
ber aspect ratio governed the compressive strength of cast a standard 150 300 mm cylindrical concrete
the concrete. Chunxiang and Patnaikuni [8] indicated specimen for a compressive strength test and a splitting
that the compressive strength of HSFRC increased with tensile test, and into a 150 150 530 mm beam mold
maturity, which increased 24% in the aged 76 day for a exure strength test. Each layer was consolidated
HSFRC. According to Marar et al. [11], at each ber using a vibrating table. At the end of 24 h after con-
aspect ratio, the compressive strength of HSFRC im- solidating, the specimen was removed from the mold
proved with the increase in ber volume. And as far as and cured in water at 73 3 F for 28 days. And then a
Daniel and Loukili [12] declared, the compressive strength test was performed.
strength of HSFRC held 15% advantage over its HSC
partner. The foregoing discussions indicate the steel - 2.3. Test methods
ber additions primarily exerting the pick-up eect on the
compressive strength. However, the additions play also The compressive strength test, performed on 15 of
devotedly in developing splitting tensile and exural the standard test cylinders, followed ASTM C39 test
strengths. for compressive strength of cylindrical concrete speci-
This paper further investigated the strength im- mens. The cylinders were loaded, in a testing machine
proving potentials of HSFRC containing 0.5%, 1.0%, under load control, at the rate of 0.3 MPa/s until
1.5%, and 2.0% volume of hooked-end steel bers in failure.
comparison with the plain high-strength counterpart, The splitting tensile test, run on 15 of the test cyl-
and established models predicting the behavior of inders, was in accordance with the ASTM C496 test for
HSFRC under compression, splitting tension, and splitting tensile strength of cylindrical concrete speci-
exure. mens, although ACI committee 544.2R hardly recom-
mends the use of the test on ber-reinforced concrete.
The running arose because the ratio of ber length to
2. Experimental program cylinder diameter took a low value of 0.23 in the work
and because some investigators have shown that the
2.1. Materials ASTM C496 test is applicable to ber-reinforced con-
crete specimen [9,13]. In the test, load applications
Type I cement, river sand with a neness modulus of were continuous and shockless, at a constant rate
3.1, and crushed basalt of 19 mm maximum size were of 900 kPa/min splitting tensile stress until specimen
used. Silica fume used was a commercially available failure.
byproduct of the production of silicon metal and fer- The exural strength (modulus of rupture, MOR)
rosilicon alloys, which improved concrete properties in test, conducted using 15 test beams under third-point
fresh and hardened states. To improve the workability loading, followed the ASTM C1018 test for exural
of concrete, a high-range water-reducing admixture toughness and rst-crack strength of ber-reinforced
(superplasticizer) was employed during mixing opera- concrete. The mid-span deection was the average of the
tions. The cement, silica fume, water, superplasticizer, ones detected by the transducers through contact with
river sand and crushed basalt of 430, 43, 133, 9, 739 and brackets attached to the beam specimen. The testing
1052 kg/m3 were used to make the HSC. The slump of machine ran to increase the deection at a constant rate;
the concrete was 60 mm. The hooked-end steel bers the loaddeection relation recorded using an X Y
were made of mild carbon steel. The bers have an av- plotter.
erage length of 35 mm, nominal diameter of 0.55 mm,
and the aspect ratio of 64. These bers are available in
bundles of about 30 bers, which were brillated with 3. Results and discussion
water-soluble glue to ensure immediate dispersion in
concrete during mixing. Table 1 presents the strength test results on HSFRC
and HSC. Each strength test result was the average for
2.2. Preparation of samples 15 test specimens. The compressive strength, splitting
tensile strength, and modulus of rupture of HSFRC
In the production of concrete, the constituent mate- improved to dierent extents in response to the ber
rials were initially mixed without bers. The bers were volume fractions.
P.S. Song, S. Hwang / Construction and Building Materials 18 (2004) 669673 671
Table 1
Strength test results and strength-eectiveness on HSFRC and HSC
Fiber volume Compressive strength Splitting tensile strength Modulus of rupture
fraction (%)
Measured Strength- Measured Strength- Measured Strength-
(MPa) eectivenessa (%) (MPa) eectivenessa (%) (MPa) eectivenessa (%)
0 85 5.8 6.4
0.5 91 7.1 6.9 19.0 8.2 28.1
1.0 95 11.8 8.7 50.0 10.1 57.8
1.5 98 15.3 10.8 86.2 12.3 92.2
2.0 96 12.9 11.5 98.3 14.5 126.6
a
Strength-effectiveness HSFRC strengthHSC strength
HSC strength 100%.
90
3.2. Splitting tensile strength
Table 2
Comparison of predicted and measured values for compressive and splitting tensile strengths and modulus of rupture
Fiber volume Compressive strength Splitting tensile strength Modulus of rupture
fraction (%)
Predicted Measured Prediction Predicted Measured Prediction Predicted Measured Prediction
(MPa) (MPa) errora (%) (MPa) (MPa) Error (%) (MPa) (MPa) error (%)
0 85 85 0 5.8 5.8 0 6.4 6.4 0
0.5 91 91 0 7.3 6.9 5.80 8.2 8.2 0
1.0 95 95 0 8.8 8.7 1.15 10.2 10.1 0.99
1.5 97 98 )1.02 10.3 10.8 )4.63 12.3 12.3 0
2.0 96 96 0 11.7 11.5 1.74 14.5 14.5 0
a
Prediction error predictedmeasured
valuemeasured
value
value
100%.
672 P.S. Song, S. Hwang / Construction and Building Materials 18 (2004) 669673
12
10
Table 3
Toughness index at various ber volume fractions
8 Fiber volume fraction (%) Toughness index
Measurements
I5 I10 I30
Predictions frf = 6.4 + 3.43Vf + 0.32Vf2
6 0 1.0 1.0 1.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 0.5 3.0 4.8 8.2
1.0 3.3 6.2 12.4
Fiber volume fraction Vf (%) 1.5 4.2 8.3 17.8
2.0 6.5 11.8 20.6
Fig. 3. Eect of ber volume on modulus of rupture.
P.S. Song, S. Hwang / Construction and Building Materials 18 (2004) 669673 673
4. Conclusions [4] Chan SYN, Feng NQ, Tsang MKC. Durability of high-strength
concrete incorporating carrier uidifying agent. Mag Concr Res
2000;52(4):23542.
1. The compressive strength of HSC improved with ad- [5] Tasdemir C, Tasdemir MA, Lydon FD, Barr BIG. Eects of silica
ditions of steel bers at various volume fractions. The fume and aggregate size of the brittleness of concrete. Cem Concr
strength showed a maximum at 1.5% fraction but a Res 1996;26(1):638.
slight decrease at 2% fraction compared to 1.5%, [6] Palmquist SM, Jansen DC. Postpeak strainstress relationship for
still remaining 12.9% higher than before the ber concrete in compression. ACI Mater J 2001;98(3):2139.
[7] Hsu LS, Hsu T. Stress strain behavior of steel-ber high-strength
addition. concrete under compression. ACI Struct J 1994;91(4):44857.
2. The splitting tensile strength and modulus of rupture [8] Chunxiang Q, Patnaikuni I. Properties of high-strength steel ber-
of HSFRC both improved with increasing ber vol- reinforced concrete beams in bending. Cem Concr Com
ume fraction. The splitting tensile strength ranged 1999;21(1):7381.
from 19.0% to 98.3% higher for the fractions from [9] Khaloo AR, Kim N. Mechanical properties of normal to high-
strength steel ber-reinforced concrete. Cem Concr Aggr
0.5% to 2.0%. And the modulus of rupture ranged 1996;18(2):927.
from 28.1% to 126.6% higher for the fraction from [10] Eren O, C elik T. Eect of silica fume and steel bers on some
0.5% to 2.0%. properties of high-strength concrete. Constr Build Mater
3. The strength-eectiveness showed at each volume 1997;11(78):37382.
[11] Marar K, Eren O, C elik T. Relationship between impact energy
fraction a maximum for modulus of rupture, fol-
and compression toughness energy of high-strength ber-rein-
lowed by splitting tensile strength, and compressive forced concrete. Mater Lett 2001;47:297304.
strength. [12] Daniel L, Loukili A. Behavior of high-strength ber-reinforced
4. The strength models developed for HSFRC predicts concrete beams under cyclic loading. ACI Struct J 2002;99(3):248
the compressive and splitting tensile strengths and 56.
modulus of rupture accurately. [13] Chenkui H, Guofan Z. Properties of steel bre reinforced concrete
containing larger coarse aggregate. Cem Concr Comp
1995;17:199206.
[14] Williamson, GR. The eect of steel bers on the compressive
References strength of concrete. ACI SP-44, 1974;195207.
[15] ACI Committee 363, State of the art report on high strength
[1] Swamy RN. High-strength concrete-material properties and concrete, (ACI 363R-84), Detroit: American Concrete Institute;
structural behaviors. ACI SP-87, Detroit: American Concrete 1984. p. 48.
Institute; 1987. p. 110146. [16] Wafa FF, Ashour SA. Mechanical properties of high-strength
[2] Rabbat BG, Russell HG. Optimized sections for precast, pre- ber reinforced concrete. ACI Mater J 1992;89(5):44955.
stressed bridge girders. Research and Development Bulletin No. [17] Nilson AH. Design implications of current research on high-
RD080.01E, Portland Cement Association, Skokie 1982. p. 10. strength concrete. ACI SP-87, Detroit: American Concrete Insti-
[3] Mbessa M, Pera J. Durability of high-strength concrete in tute; 1987. p. 85109.
ammonium sulfate solution. Cem Concr Res 2001;31(8):1227 [18] ACI Committee 544, State of the art report of ber reinforced
31. concrete. Concr. Int.: Des. Construct. 1982;4(5):930.