Experimental Investigation of Ultra-high Performance Fiber Reinforced Concrete Slabs Subjected to Deformable Projectile Impact

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Ultra-High Performance Fiber Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC) is currently one of the biggest challenging issues in modern concrete technology. The UHPFRC represents a concrete with improved durability and strength, which is significantly higher than in conventional normal strength concrete. This may result in reduced cross-sections and as a consequence smaller dead-load of the structure. The uniaxial compressive cylinder strength of UHPFRC used in this study exceeded 150MPa and the uniaxial direct tensile strength exceeded 10MPa. Several UHPFRC mixtures with different content of fibers were subjected to deformable projectile impact. The ogive-nose projectile weighed 8.04 grams and its average velocity was determined to be 710 m/s. It was shown that plain UHPC specimen failed in the brittle manner which caused that the slab split into several pieces. Further, it was demonstrated that addition of steel micro fibers enhanced the resistance to deformable projectile impact and it was specified that specimens containing 2% of fibers by volume have optimal resistance against impact loading. In addition, response of slabs made of conventional fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) and normal strength concrete (NSC) was studied for comparison. The magnitude of the damage was assessed based on the penetration depth, crater diameter and mass loss. Experimental results clearly showed that implementation of high strength steel micro fibers significantly increased the resistance to projectile impact. It was stated, that UHPFRC has much better resistance to projectile impact in comparison to conventional FRC.