Computational Materials Science 31 (2004) 337346 www.elsevier.

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Calculating the elastic moduli of steel-ber reinforced concrete using a dedicated empirical formula
T.L. Teng
a b

a,*

, Y.A. Chu b, F.A. Chang c, H.S. Chin

Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, Da-Yeh University, 112, Shan-Jiau Rd., Da-Tsuen, Changhua 515, Taiwan, ROC Chuang-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 90008-17-10, Lung-Tan, Tao-Yuan 325, Taiwan, ROC c Department of Civil Engineering, Chung Cheng Institute of Technology, University of National Defense, Ta-Shi, Tao-Yuan 335, Taiwan, ROC d Institute of System Engineering, Chung Cheng Institute of Technology, University of National Defense, Ta-Shi, Tao-Yuan 335, Taiwan, ROC Received 29 October 2003; received in revised form 16 March 2004; accepted 12 April 2004

Abstract The equivalent inclusion method (EIM) is adopted to study the characteristics of the equivalent material properties of steel-ber reinforced concrete as a function of the volume fraction and the length to diameter ratio of the bers. It is found that the equivalent material moduli of concrete reinforce with randomly orientated and distributed bers are insensitive to the length to diameter ratio of the steel bers. A set of empirical formulae is then proposed for the purposes of engineering applications. The proposed empirical model can simplify the calculation of the equivalent material moduli. Verications of the proposed empirical formulae with the EIM model and with experimental data are performed with two examples. The rst is a compression test. The second is 4 point bending test. The empirical formulae, based on the equivalent inclusion method proposed in this study, represent an alternative means of quickly calculating the eective elastic modulus of steel-ber reinforced concrete materials. 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Elastic moduli; Steel-ber reinforced concrete; Empirical formula

1. Introduction Fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) is currently used in wide range of applications, including bridge decks, airport pavements, tunnels and

Corresponding author. Tel.: +886-4-8511221; fax: +886-48511224. E-mail address: tlteng@mail.dyu.edu.tw (T.L. Teng).

others. FRC is concrete made primarily from hydraulic cements, aggregates and discrete reinforcing bers. A variety of tests have been performed to determine the actual characteristics and advantages of brous materials. Fibers suited to reinforcing composites have been made from steel, glass and organic polymers [1]. Steel-ber reinforced concrete (SFRC) has advantages over traditionally reinforced concrete in civil engineering. Steel bers are added to the concrete mix and

0927-0256/$ - see front matter 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.commatsci.2004.04.003

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become an integral part of the wet concrete. Reinforcement using steel bers can improve the resistance to shrinkage cracking and the durability of the reinforced concrete structures [25]. The design and analysis of structures that use steelber reinforced concrete depends on determining its material parameters. However, researchers have tended to focus on the experimental performance of ber concrete composites. The calculation of eective elastic moduli of ber-reinforced concrete using an analytical method and an empirical formula has rarely been investigated. Numerous empirical expressions for the material properties of plain concrete have been proposed. However, they do not represent the behavior of steel-ber reinforced concrete. The primary shortcoming of these equations is that some properties of the bers (such as ber volume fraction, aspect ratio and orientation) are not accounted for as variables, but as constants [6]. The theoretical framework of the rule of mixtures (ROM), used in recent studies to estimate the mechanical properties of ber-reinforced composite material, has been applied to determine the strength and modulus of elasticity of composite matrices reinforced with short and randomly dispersed bers [7]. This rule can easily be applied to determine the elastic modulus of composite matrices reinforced with bers in any orientation. The information required is the volume fraction of bers and the elastic constants of matrix and ber, respectively. The constituents of the composite are presumed to contribute to the composite elastic constant in direct proportion to their own elastic constant and volume fractions. Halpin and Tsai [8] proposed an interpolation procedure that approximates more complicated micro-mechanical results for brous materials. The rst advantage of their procedure, which is very simple, is that it can be implemented in the design process. The second is that it generalizes typically specic, although more exact, micro-mechanical results. Furthermore, their procedure is quite accurate when the ber volume fraction is small. The diculty in using the HalpinTsai equations is the determination of an appropriate value of n which species the reinforcement of the composite by the bers, and depends on the bers geometry, the packing

geometry, and the loading conditions. Exact elasticity solutions and curve tting techniques can be used to determine the values of n. The aim of this study is to determine the eective elastic moduli of ber-reinforced concrete using an equivalent inclusion method (EIM) and determine an empirical formula for use in practical engineering applications. The predictions of eective elastic moduli are compared with those of the EIM model, ROM model [7], Ahmad formulae [9], and experimental values [10] to verify the accuracy of the proposed formulae in all instances. The comparison of results demonstrates that the estimates of eective elastic moduli yielded by the proposed empirical formulas closely approximate to the experimental results. Additionally, the empirical formula is further applied to determine the eective elastic modulus and the deection of the mid-point of a steel-ber reinforced concrete beam under four-point loading. The results of the proposed method t the experimental results well, implying that the application of the empirical formula to evaluating the eective elastic modulus of steel-ber reinforced concrete is feasible in problems of engineering design. The empirical formula proposed in this study is useful for further application in the nite element numerical analysis of ber-reinforced concrete structures.

2. Elastic moduli of ber reinforced composites The equivalent inclusion method (EIM) [11,12] was developed to evaluate the eective elastic moduli of steel-ber reinforced concrete materials. Similar algorithms have been successfully applied to determine the eective elastic moduli of multiphase piezo-electric materials [13,14] and porous composite materials [1517]. Concrete is idealized as a homogeneous matrix and the bers therein are treated as randomly distributed and randomly orientated inhomogeneities within the matrix. The micro-mechanical solutions of Eshelbys tensors are used to evaluate the strains within the equivalent inclusions. MoriTanakas average stress theory [18] is then applied to derive the equivalent material compliance as a function of the volume fraction of the reinforcing steel-bers and the

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material properties of both the concrete and the bers. In the following sections, the equivalent inclusion method is introduced rst. The equivalent material compliance is then derived based on the Eshelbys tensors and MoriTanakas average stress theory. For a matrix that contains randomly distributed and orientated bers, a coordinate transformation and superposition of the elastic moduli are performed, following which the numerical solutions of the overall equivalent elastic moduli can be determined and used in strength and structure analyses of ber reinforced concrete. 2.1. Equivalent inclusion method Consider a nite region of a composite body, D, which contains a sub-domain, X, as shown in Fig. 1. The matrix is denoted as D X, with elastic moduli of Cijmn . Should the sub-domain X has elastic moduli Cijmn dierent from those of the matrix, this sub-domain is dened as an inhomogeneity. However, a sub-domain with the same elastic moduli, Cijmn , as the matrix will be dened as an inclusion which may or may not have initial strains that dier from those of the matrix. Assume that the nite region of the composite body D is subjected to uniform surface tractions ti0 r0 nj , where r0 are the associated stresses ij ij along the boundaries and nj are the outward unit normal to the boundaries of D. In the case of a domain D without any inhomogeneity X, the uniform strains in D are referred to as e0 and the mn corresponding uniform stresses are r0 Cijmn e0 . ij mn When D contains the inhomogeneity X, the aver-

age stress disturbances in the matrix and the ij ij inhomogeneity are denoted as rM and rX , respectively. The corresponding average strain disturbances are denoted as M and X , respectively. The emn emn associated Hooks law is written as, n o ij r0 rM Cijmn e0 M emn in D X 1 ij mn n o ij r0 rX Cijmn e0 X emn ij mn in X 2

The basic concept of the equivalent inclusion method is to replace the volume of the inhomogeneity by an equivalent inclusion with embedded ctitious eigen-strains, to take care of the equivalency. Therefore, let the inhomogeneity in Fig. 1 be replaced by an equivalent inclusion with ctitious eigen-strains e . The stresses in the inhomogeneity mn can be simulated by the strains in the equivalent inclusion with the elastic moduli of the matrix and ctitious eigen-strains. Therefore Eq. (2) is rewritten as n o ij r0 rX Cijmn e0 X e emn in X 3 ij mn mn According to the equivalent inclusion method, the necessary and sucient condition for the equivalency of the stresses in the inhomogeneity, given by Eq. (2), and that in the equivalent inclusion, given by Eq. (3), is, n o n o Cijmn e0 X Cijmn e0 X e emn emn in X mn mn mn 4 The dierence between the average strain disturemn bances X and M can be related to the ctitious emn

(inhomogeneity) * Cijmn
Equivalent inclusion method

(equivalent inclusion) Cijmn

* mn

(matrix) Cijmn
Fig. 1. The matrix inhomogenity and equivalent inclusion with ctitious eigen-strains.

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eigen-stains by the Eshelbys tensors Smnkl as [13,15] X M Smnkl e emn emn kl 5 h i1 C

where Smnkl are the Eshelbys tensors, which depend on the geometry of the inhomogeneity and the material properties of the surrounding concrete matrix. 2.2. Equivalent elastic compliance tensor According to the MoriTanakas average stress theory [18], the volume average of the average stress disturbances must vanish, such that 1 Vf rM Vf rX 0 6

1 6 E11 6 6  6 m12 6 6 E11 6 6 13 6 m 6 E 6 11 6 6 6 0 6 6 6 6 6 0 6 6 4 0

21 m E22 1 E22 23 m E22 0 0 0

m31 E33 32 m E33 1 E33 0 0 0

0 0 0 1 G23 0 0

0 0 0 0 1 G31 0

0 0 0 0 0

3 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 5

1 G12 11

where Vf is the ber volume fraction ranged from 0 to 1 ( 100%). The overall strain eld, e D , of the ber reinforced concrete composite body D is dened as eD e0 Vf X 1 Vf M e e 7

where Eij , Gij and ij are the equivalent elastic m moduli, the equivalent shear moduli and the equivalent Poissons ratio of the equivalent composite material, which can all be determined by comparing Eqs. (9)(11). 2.3. Elastic moduli of randomly orientated ber concrete Uniformly distributed and randomly orientated steel bers in the matrix of ber-reinforced concrete composites are used to enhance the overall material stiness and toughness. Hence, this section introduces a coordinate transformation and superpositions of the material moduli to determine the overall equivalent material moduli. Assume that the components of the equivalent compliance in Eq. (9) or Eq. (11) are based on a global coordinate system with axes that coincide with the principal axes of the inclusion. For an arbitrarily orientated cylindrical ber, the orientation of the long axis can be described by two angles h and /, as indicated in Fig. 2 [14]. The local coordinate axes (the principal axes of the ber) are represented by the coordinate system, x01 , x02 ; and x03 while the global or xed coordinate axes are represented by the other coordinate system, x1 , x2 ; and x3 . The equivalent compliance tensor for the concrete matrix that contains bers whose principal axes are aligned with those of the local coordinate system (x01 , x02 ; and x03 ), can be obtained by tensor

After several steps of straightforward algebraic manipulation, Eq. (7) can be rewritten as [13,15] eD C r0
1 1

where C is the equivalent elastic compliance tensor and is written as h i  1 C I Vf P 1 C C C 1 9 The tensor P in Eq. (9) is dened as h  i  P C C S Vf S I C

10

where I is the identity tensor or the so-called unit tensor and S is the Eshelbys tensor. In the case of a single inclusion, the equivalent elastic compliance tensor is orthotropic, and the coordinate system coincides with the principal axes of the inclusion. Using Voigt two-index notation, the eective elastic moduli of the concrete com1 posite equivalent compliance tensor C (in Eq. (9)) can be represented as a 6 6 matrix. The components of the equivalent compliance matrix of an orthotropic material are expressed generally as,

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x1
x1'

e e e e E E 11 E 22 E 33 e e e e G G 12 G 23 G 31 ~ ~12 ~21 ~23 ~32 ~13 ~31 m m m m m m m   e E ~ E; G m e e 1 e 2G 14

x3'
' x2

x3

x2
Fig. 2. A spatially oriented short ber [14].

The overall equivalent material moduli in Eq. (14) can be deduced from the overall equivalent e material moduli C ijpq , in Eq. (13), which can be determined numerically. Therefore, the associated material moduli are readily applicable to strength and structural analyses of ber-reinforced concrete materials.

transformations of the equivalent compliance tensor C klmn in Eq. (9) [17]: e C ijpq aik ajl apm aqn C klmn 12

3. Determining the empirical formula 3.1. EIM results for the equivalent elastic moduli In this section, the EIM model described in the preceding sections is applied to determine the overall equivalent elastic moduli of steel-ber e reinforced concrete, C ijpq , by numerically integrating Eq. (13) for steel bers with various volume fractions (Vf ) and aspect ratios (l=d). Each steel ber is treated as a cylindrical inhomogeneity of nite length. Although the associated Eshelbys tensors in Eq. (10) are not analytically determinable, they can be obtained numerically [11,12]. The steel bers are assumed to be uniformly distributed and randomly orientated, such that h0 p, /0 p=2 and qh; / 1=4p. Table 1 lists the material properties of the steel bers (inclusions) and the concrete (matrix). Figs. 3 and 4 plot the overall equivalent elastic e e modulus E and shear modulus G, respectively, as functions of the volume fraction Vf , for steel bers with various aspect ratios (l=d). The equivalent
Table 1 Material properties of steel ber and concrete Material properties Young modulus E (GPa) Shear modulus G (GPa) Poissons ratio m Steel ber 200 76.92 0.3 Concrete 20.802 8.61 0.2081

where aik are components of the coordinate transformation matrix that corresponds to Fig. 2. The eective elastic moduli of a concrete composite, containing identically shaped and randomly orientated bers, can be obtained by [14] Z h0 Z p/0 2 e e C ijpq C ijpq h; /qh; / sin / d/ dh
h0
p/ 0 2

13 where qh; / is the probability density function of the bers. The orientation of the bers is constrained within to h0 6 h 6 h0 and p=2 /0 6 / 6 p=2 /0 . If C ijpq in Eq. (9) is determined and the probability density function qh; / is specied, then the integration in Eq. (13) can be explicitly determined for any given ranges of h0 and /0 . In this paper, h0 p, /0 p=2 and qh; / 1=4p, are set, implying that the bers are randomly orientated and uniformly distributed in all directions and regions. In such a situation, the overall e equivalent material moduli C ijpq become isotropic e and the overall eective elastic modulus E, the e eective shear modulus G and the eective Poissons ratio ~ are readily obtained as, m

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1.75 1.5 1.25 1 0.75 0.5 0.25 0 0

EIM (l/d=2) EIM (l/d=5) EIM (l/d=10) EIM (l/d=30) EIM (l/d=50) EIM (l/d=80) EIM (l/d=110) EIM (l/d=150)

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

Fiber volume fraction

Fig. 3. The variations of ber volume fraction and aspect ratio on overall eective elastic modulus.
0.8

Effective shear modulus (Mbar) .

EIM (l/d=2) EIM (l/d=5) EIM (l/d=10) EIM (l/d=30) EIM (l/d=50) EIM (l/d=80) EIM (l/d=110) EIM (l/d=150)

concrete used in engineering, ranges from 30 to at least 100 [19]. Hence, the eect of the ber volume fraction (Vf ) on the eective moduli is much stronger than that of the ber aspect ratio (l=d), for general steel-ber reinforced concrete, because the interaction between short bers is weaker than that between longer bers at the same ber volume fraction (Vf ). This sub-section qualitatively examines the overall equivalent material moduli with reference to the solution obtained using the EIM model, based on well-developed theories in micromechanics. However, numerical calculations of the equivalent material moduli, based on the EIM model, are admittedly time-consuming and thus not suitable for application to engineering designs. Hence, the next section proposes an empirical formula for estimating the eective elastic moduli. 3.2. Empirical formula The preceding section reveals that the overall equivalent material moduli depend on the volume fraction and the aspect ratio of the bers, and on the original material moduli of both the bers and e the concrete C ijkl  F Vf ; l=d; Cijkl ; Cijkl . However, the foregoing discussion indicates that the e overall equivalent elastic modulus E and the shear e are insensitive to the aspect ratio of the modulus G steel bers for 30 6 l=d 6 150. Hence, the parameter l=d can be ignored in developing the e empirical model, since C ijkl  F 0 Vf ; Cijkl ; Cijkl . A set of empirical formulae is proposed for the overall elastic modulus and shear modulus with randomly orientated bers 1 ngVf e E Em 1 gVf 1 ngVf e G Gm 1 gVf 15 16

Effective elastic modulus (Mbar) .

0.6

0.4

0.2

0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

Fiber volume fraction

Fig. 4. The variations of ber volume fraction and aspect ratio on the overall eective shear modulus.

moduli are equal to that of the concrete for Vf 0, and are equal to that of the steel bers for Vf 1 (100%). The gures clearly reveal that the overall e equivalent elastic modulus E and shear modulus e G, increase with the steel-ber volume fraction Vf , but only very slowly when Vf < 0:5 (50%). If the concrete composites contains bers with the lower aspect ratio will has a lower equivalent modulus. However, as the aspect ratio increases, for example when l=d > 30 in both Figs. 3 and 4, the associated curves are very close to each other, implying that, when the aspect ratio of the steel ber becomes large enough, its inuence on the eective moduli becomes insignicant. The typical aspect ratio of the steel bers used in steel-ber reinforced

where Em and Gm are the original elastic and shear moduli of the concrete matrix, respectively, and the values of g in Eqs. (15) and (16) are given by g Ef =Em 1 Ef =Em n 17

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and g Gf =Gm 1 Gf =Gm n 18

respectively. Ef and Gf in Eqs. (17) and (18) are the elastic and shear moduli of the bers, respectively. The empirical parameter n is determined as follows. Figs. 5 and 6 plot the overall eective elastic

0.45 EIM l/d=30

0.4

EIM (l/d=150) Empirical Model (1.5) Empirical Model (2.0)

0.35

Empirical Model (2.5) Empirical Model (3.0)

0.3

0.25

0.2 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3

modulus and shear modulus predicted by Eqs. (15) and (16), for n 1:5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0. The results for the eective elastic modulus and the shear modulus calculated by the EIM model for l=d 30 and l=d 150 are also shown for comparison. The gures indicate that the empirical model with n 2:5 yields an overall eective elastic modulus and a shear modulus that are closest to those determined by the EIM model. For n 1:5 and 2.0, the empirical model yields lower values than the EIM model. For n 3:0, the empirical model slightly over-estimates the overall eective material moduli. Hence, the empirical parameter n 2:5 is used in this paper for a volume fraction Vf 6 0:3 (30%). (For conventional steel-ber reinforced concrete, the ber volume fraction is usually limited to approximately 0.03 (3%); and for slurry inltrated ber-reinforced concrete, is normally limited between 0.050.2 (i.e., 520%) [20].) The proposed empirical formula in conjunction with the EIM model will be applied to strength and structural analyses of steel-ber reinforced concrete.

Modulus of elasticity (Mbar) .

Fiber volume fraction

Fig. 5. The predictions of the overall eective elastic modulus by the EIM model and by the proposed model for n 1:5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0.

3.3. Verication This section estimates the equivalent elastic modulus using the EIM model and veries the proposed empirical formulas for steel-ber reinforced concrete. The results are compared to the experimental results of Williamson [10]. Williamsons experiment used steel bers with an aspect ratio of l=d 100. Table 1 lists the elastic moduli and Poisson ratios of the steel bers and the concrete. Fig. 7 compares the results obtained using the proposed empirical formulae, those obtained from the EIM model and Williamsons experimental results for the equivalent elastic modulus of concrete, which is reinforced with up to steel ber volume fraction Vf 6 0:025 (2.5%). A least-squares linear curve is also t to the experimental data in the gure. The proposed empirical formula, Eq. (15) yields results that are very close to those of the EIM model but slightly lower than the experimental data. Ahmad and Lagoudas [9] proposed another formulation,

0.2 EIM (l/d=30)

Effective shear modulus (Mbar) .

0.175

EIM (l/d=150) Empirical formula (1.5) Empirical formula (2.0)

0.15

Empirical formula (2.5) Empirical formula (3.0)

0.125

0.1

0.075

0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3

Fiber volume fraction

Fig. 6. The predictions of the overall eective shear modulus by the EIM model and by the proposed model for n 1:5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0.

344
0.3 0.29
ROM [7] Ahmad [9] Experimental [10]

T.L. Teng et al. / Computational Materials Science 31 (2004) 337346

Effective elastic modulus (Mbar)

0.28 0.27 0.26 0.25

Equivalent inclusion method [Eq. 13] Empirical formula [Eq. 15]

135.5mm
0.24 0.23 0.22 0.21 0.2

135.5mm

135.5mm P

P
Fig. 8. Details of steel-ber reinforced concrete beam.

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

Fiber volume fraction

Fig. 7. Comparison of calculated modulus of elasticity values with experimental data.

3 4mm 8mm e Ef E Em V f 15

19

where mm is the Poissons ratio of the concrete matrix; the results of this formula are also plotted in Fig. 7. The results of Ahmad and Lagoudas, from Eq. (19), are much lower than the experimental data. Fig. 7 also plots the results obtained using the rule of mixtures (ROM) [7], e E Em 1 V f V f Ef 20

concrete. The results are compared to the data experimentally obtained by OLeary et al. [21]. Fig. 8 plots the loads and reaction forces on the simply supported beam. The steel ber has a diameter of 0.38 mm and a length of 25 mm. The volume fraction of the steel bers is Vf 0:016 (1.6%). The elastic modulus of the steel ber is 200 GPa. The compression strength of concrete is 60.7 MPa [21]. The elastic modulus of the concrete, according to CEB regulations [22], is Em 40:956 GPa. The analytical center deection is [23] e dc Pa=24 EI 3L2 4a2 21

which does not consider the geometry and orientation of the bers, and over-estimates the elastic modulus. The results of the ROM model were inconsistent with experimental data. As Fig. 7 shows, the proposed empirical formulae for calculating the equivalent elastic modulus most closely agreed with the experimental data, and are thus veried.

4. Applying the empirical formulas In this section, the EIM model and the proposed model predict the load-deection curves for a 100 mm 100 mm 500 mm, four-point-loaded, simply supported beam of steel-ber reinforced

where P is the applied load; a 135:5 mm is the distance from the supports of the beam to the loads; I is the moment of inertia of the concrete beam, and L 3a 406:5 mm is the span of the e beam. The overall eective elastic modulus E of the steel-ber reinforced concrete beam obtained using the EIM model is 42.129 GPa, and that obtained using the proposed model is 42.170 GPa, which values are very close. Substituting these e values of E into Eq. (21) yields the load-deection curves. Fig. 9 compares the results of the proposed empirical model with the experimental data, which agree very closely, implying that the empirical formula, Eq. (16), remains valid for various strengths of the matrix. The proposed empirical formula obtained using the equivalent inclusion method eciently evaluates the overall equivalent material moduli, which can be applied to study further the steel-ber reinforced concrete or other composites.

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9

345

Empirical formula (fiber concrete)

2

integration. Hence, the empirical formula, based on the equivalent inclusion method proposed in this study, represents an alternative means of quickly calculating the eective elastic modulus of steel-ber reinforced concrete materials. Its value is in its ease of application in the nite element numerical analysis of high performance concrcete (HPC) cementitious materials, reactive powder concrete (RPC), slurry inltrated ber reinforced concrete (SIFCON) and ber-reinforced concrete structures.

Applied load (kN)

Experimental (fiber concrete) [21]

References
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06

Mid-point deflection (mm)

Fig. 9. Load deection curves for steel-ber reinforced concrete beam.

5. Conclusions In this paper the equivalent inclusion method is applied to determine the relationship between the eective elastic modulus of steel-ber reinforced concrete materials and the variation of ber volume fraction and aspect ratio. The calculations imply that the eective elastic modulus curve of a steel-ber concrete composite is a function of the elastic constants of the matrix and the bers, the orientation of the bers, their aspect ratio and their volume fraction. The eective elastic modulus e e E and shear modulus G predicted using the equivalent inclusion method, show that the curves obtained at various aspect ratios are close and are almost superimposed with each other, implying that the eect of the aspect ratio of the ber is very small for 30 < l=d < 150 in steel-ber reinforced concrete composite. The results predicted by the equivalent inclusion method show that the empirical formulas simplify the calculation of the eective moduli, compared to analytical determination. The empirical formula to calculate the eective moduli of the ber concrete composite eliminates both the coordinate transformation and the numerical

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