In this research reactive powder concrete (RPC) was prepared using sand from North Sinai. The mechanical properties of locally cast RPC were investigated and evaluated by studying the effects of using different cement and silica fume contents and new steel fi bers’ aspect ratios as reinforce-ment for RPC. Specimens’ preparation, curing regimes and testing procedures to evaluate the com-pressive strength, the modulus of elasticity, the indirect tensile strength and the fl exural strength were discussed. A compressive strength of 154.5 MPa, indirect tensile strength of 11.98 MPa, mod-ulus of elasticity of 45.1 GPa and fl exural strength of 30.26 MPa have been achieved for reinforced RPC contains 800 kg/m³ cement content and silica fume content 30% of cement weight. The test results showed some improvements by increasing cement and silica fume contentsas well as adding steel fi bers on the compressive strength, modulus of elasticity and indirect tensile strength.
Concrete is the most widely used construction material because of its specialty of being cast into any desired shape. The main requirements of earthquake resistant structures are good ductility and energy absorption capacity. Fiber reinforced concrete possesses high flexural and tensile strength, improved ductility, and high energy absorption over the conventional concrete in sustaining dynamic loads. The aim of this paper is to compare the properties of concrete beams in which three types of fibers are added individually. Steel fibers, polypropylene fibers and hybrid fibers were added to concrete in the weight ratio of four percentages in the preparation of four beam specimens. The fourth specimen did not contain fibers and acted as a control specimen. The dimensions of the beam specimens were 150 × 150 × 700 mm. The reinforced concrete beams of M30 grade concrete were prepared for casting and testing. Various parameters such as load carrying capacity, stiffness degradation, ductility characteristics and energy absorption capacity of FRC beams were compared with that of RC beams. The companion specimens were cast and tested to study strength properties and then the results were compared. All the beams were tested under three point bending under Universal Testing Machine (UTM). The results were evaluated with respect to modulus of elasticity, first crack load, ultimate load, and ultimate deflection. The test result shows that use of hybrid fiber improves the flexural performance of the reinforced concrete beams. The flexural behavior and stiffness of the tested beams were calculated, and compared with respect to their load carrying capacities. Comparison was also made with theoretical calculations in order to determine the load-deflection curves of the tested beams. Results of the experimental programme were compared with theoretical predictions. Based on the results of the experimental programme, it can be concluded that the addition of steel, polypropylene and hybrid fibers by 4% by weight of cement (but 2.14% by volume of cement) had the best effect on the stiffness and energy absorption capacity of the beams.
The strength of recycled aggregate (RA) is low, which makes the performance of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) poor, and the addition of fiber can make up for the shortcoming of RAC. In this paper, the mechanical properties of RAC which was added with steel fiber were studied. The specimens with RA content of 0%, 40%, 70% 100% and steel fiber content of 0%, 0.5% and 1% were prepared, and their mechanical properties were tested. The results showed that the slump reduced 73.75% after the addition of 100% RA and 37.5% after the addition of 1% steel fiber compared to R0S0; from the perspective of mechanical properties, the larger the content of steel fiber, the better the mechanical properties of the specimen; the improvement of the tensile strength was the most obvious after the addition of steel fiber. The experimental results show that steel fiber can improve the performance of RAC and make it perform better in practical application.
Experimental tests were carried out to assess the failure model of steel and basalt fiber reinforced concrete two-span beams. Experimental research was focused on observing the changes in behavior of tested elements in dependence on the ratio of shear reinforcement and type of fiber. The beams had varied stirrup spacing. The steel fiber content was 78.5 kg/m3 (1.0% by vol.) and basalt fiber content was 5.0 kg/m3 (0.19% by vol.). Concrete beams without fibers were also examined. Two-span beams with a cross-section of 120×300 mm and a length of 4150 mm were loaded in a five-point bending test. Shear or flexural capacity of tested members was recorded. The effectiveness of both sorts of fibers as shear reinforcement was assessed and the differences were discussed. It was shown that fibers control the cracking process and the values of deflections and strains. Fibers clearly enhance the shear capacity of reinforced concrete beams.
Confinement in concrete can improve the descending branch of the stress-strain relationship of concrete. The addition of steel fiber in concrete can also improve the descending branch of the stress-strain relationship of concrete. The combination of the use of both can double the impact significantly on the post-peak response. It can be seen from the trend of the post-peak response that the values of both 0.85fccf and 0.5fccf can be well predicted. The study involved an experimental investigation on the effect of confinement on square column specimens reinforced with steel fiber. From the experimental program, it is proven that the use of combination of confining steel and steel fiber works very well which is indicated by the better improvement on the post-peak response. The proposed equations can predict the actual stress-strain curves quite accurately which include the effects of confinement parameters (Zm) and steel fiber volumetric parameter (Vf).