Effect of steel fibers on self-compacting concrete slump flow and compressive strength

Abstract

Ever since Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC) was introduced, various attempts have been made to further enhance its quality and robustness. The addition of steel fibers into the SCC mix is found to have increased the hardened properties of concrete. However, it is also acknowledged that the addition of steel fibers into the fresh SCC mix poses a negative effect on the workability which may cause segregation and bleeding. Thus, some modifications are required on the mix proportions to obtain a good flowability without bleeding mixes. In this study, four types of mixes were prepared which comprising of normal concrete (NC), SCC and Self-Compacting Concrete with Steel Fibers (SCCSF) with two volume fractions of still fibers 0.5% and 1.0%. The results revealed that an increased amount of steel fibers in the SCC mix improve the compressive strength of concrete but reduced the slump flow of the fresh SCC.