Effect of fiber type and content on properties of high-strength fiber reinforced self-consolidating concrete

Abstract

Effects of polypropylene (PP) fibers, steel fibers (SF) and hybrid on the properties of high-strength fiber reinforced self-consolidating concrete (HSFR-SCC) under different volume contents are investigated in this study. Comprehensive laboratory tests were conducted in order to evaluate both fresh and hardened properties of HSFR-SCC. Test results indicated that the fiber types and fiber contents greatly influenced concrete workability but it is possible to achieve self consolidating properties while adding the fiber types in concrete mixtures. Compressive strength, dynamic modulus of elasticity, and rigidity of concrete were affected by the addition as well as volume fraction of PP fibers. However, the properties of concrete were improved by the incorporation of SF. Splitting tensile and flexural strengths of concrete became increasingly less influenced by the inclusion of PP fibers and increasingly more influenced by the addition of SF. Besides, the inclusion of PP fibers resulted in the better efficiency in the improvement of toughness than SF. Furthermore, the inclusion of fibers did not have significant effect on the durability of the concrete. Results of electrical resistivity, chloride ion penetration and ultrasonic pulse velocity tests confirmed that HSFR-SCC had enough endurance against deterioration, lower chloride ion penetrability and minimum reinforcement corrosion rate.