Experimental Study of Steel Fiber Concrete Slabs Part I: Behavior under Uniformly Distributed Loads

Abstract

This article aims to study the effects of adding steel fibers to concrete on the mechanical behavior of steel fiber concrete (SFC) slabs. After formulating the SFC, an experimental work was, first, conducted on <TEX>$160\;{\times}\;320$</TEX> mm cylindrical specimens and <TEX>$70\;{\times}\;70\;{\times}\;280$</TEX> mm prisms. Then, this study was carried out on 20 rectangular <TEX>$1,100\;{\times}\;1,100\;{\times}\;60$</TEX> mm small slabs submitted to a distributed load. Two types of fibers with hooked ends were used: long fibers (LF) of a length of 50 mm and short fibers (SF) of a length of 35 mm. The studied parameters are compressive and tensile strengths and Young's modulus. Plain concrete (PC) small slabs were also prepared to be compared to the SFC specimens. The results showed that the compressive strength of SFC increased up to 25% while the splitting tests showed an improvement of the SFC reaching 45%. Tests on SFC small slabs also showed that a smaller deflection is obtained with respect to PC, which indicates an improvement in strength (up to 100%), in ductility and in resistance to cracking. The LF gives a better improvement in strength than the SF for a 70% <TEX>$kg/m^3$</TEX> of steel proportioning.