Basic properties of fiber concrete with the utilization of banana tree wastes

Abstract

One of the main functions of adding fiber to concrete is to increase its tensile capacity. In general, the fiber used in concrete consists of two types, namely artificial and natural fiber. The purpose of this study is to examine the basic properties of concrete using natural fibers derived from banana tree waste. The properties examined consisted of slump flow for fresh properties while for hardened properties consisted of compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength. Hardened properties testing was carried out when the concrete was of 3, 7, and 28 days with the type of curing used was water curing. The use of banana tree fiber waste as a concrete constituent material is expected to be able to utilize waste optimally and increase the tensile and flexural capacity of concrete. The fiber content used in this study varied consists of 0 %; 0.08 %; 0.16 % and 0.24 % of the binder weight. The results of the fresh properties test show that as the amount of fiber increases, the workability of fresh concrete decreases. While the results of hardened properties showed that the compressive strength did not increase significantly even though the fiber content used was different. However, the results of the splitting tensile strength and flexural strength tests increased along with the increase in the amount of fiber used. It can be concluded that the fiber is quite effective in increasing the splitting tensile strength and flexural strength.