Abstract
Fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) is an attractive alternative to traditional steel bar-reinforced concrete structures, as evidenced by the constantly increasing market consumption of structural fibers for this purpose. In spite of significant research dedicated to FRC, less attention has been given to the effects of low temperatures on the mechanical properties of FRC, which can be critical for a variety of structural typologies and regions. With this in mind, an experimental program was carried out to assess the flexural behavior of macro-synthetic fiber-reinforced concrete (MSFRC) at different temperatures (from 20 °C to −30 °C) by means of three-point bending notched beam tests. The tested MSFRCs were produced by varying the content of polypropylene fibers (4 and 8 kg/m3). The results proved that the flexural strength capacity of all MSFRCs improved with decreasing temperature. Finite element analyses were then used to calibrate constitutive models following fib Model Code 2010 guidelines and to formulate empirical adjustments for taking into account the effects of low temperatures. The outcomes of this research are the basis for future experimental and numerical efforts meant to improve the design of MSFRCs subjected to low temperatures during service conditions.
Highlights
Fiber‐reinforced concrete (FRC) is one of several new types of innovative concretes that can be used for structural purposes in accordance with a number of national and international codes, guidelines, and design recommendations [1,2,3,4,5,6]
Further reduction in the temperature led to a significant enhancement of fLOP: a total increment of 67.7% and 66.5% was detected for the above listed materials at –10°C, whereas the tem‐ perature magnitude of –30°C entailed an increment of 68.5% and 73.2% for macro‐synthetic fiber‐reinforced concrete (MSFRC)‐4 and MSFRC‐8, respectively
An experimental program was described following an analysis of low temperature effects on the pre‐ and post‐cracking flexural behavior of macro‐synthetic fiber reinforced concrete (MSFRC)
Summary
Fiber‐reinforced concrete (FRC) is one of several new types of innovative concretes that can be used for structural purposes in accordance with a number of national and international codes, guidelines, and design recommendations [1,2,3,4,5,6]. There is still a lack of information for modeling possible “temperature–post‐cracking flex‐ ural strength” relationships for different types of FRC and, more importantly, the adjusted designed procedures to suitably predict the structural response of FRC at low tempera‐ tures have still not been analyzed. With this in mind, the presented research study was conducted, this being comprised of two main parts. Ad‐ ditionally, the numerical part of the study evidenced the necessity of the correction factors to precisely predict the real behavior of FRC elements reinforced by a given amount/type of fibers
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