Compressive and flexural toughness indices of lightweight aggregate concrete reinforced with micro-steel fibers

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There remains a lack of comprehensive investigations examining ductility of the fiber-reinforced lightweight aggregate concrete (LWAC) elements, necessitating a deeper exploration. The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of micro-steel fibers on the compressive and flexural toughness capacities of LWAC. A total of twenty-one LWAC mixtures were prepared, varying the test parameters of the compressive strength of concrete and fiber volume fraction. The toughness capacities of fiber-reinforced LWAC were calculated using the stress–strain curves in compression and flexural load–deflection curves measured for each specimen, in accordance with ASTM C1018. These were compared with those of the previous normal-weight concrete and LWAC specimens reinforced by single macro-steel fibers or a combination of macro-steel fibers and micro synthetic fibers. The effect of numerous fiber parameters on the toughness of concrete was considered as a function of the fiber reinforcing index. Simple closed-form equations from the literature were modified to reliably determine the compressive and flexural toughness indices of micro-steel fiber-reinforced LWAC. Additionally, the relationship between equivalent flexural strength ratio and flexural toughness indices was formulated from a regression analysis using test datasets. Test results showed that the addition of only 0.25% micro-steel fibers significantly enhanced strength and toughness in compression and flexure. Moreover, better dispersion of steel microfibers enabled greater LWAC strength and toughness increases through a denser restriction of crack propagation.