Fresh and mechanical property of caryota-urens fiber reinforced flowable concrete

Abstract

In this study a new variety of natural fiber called Caryota Urens (CU) fiber also called as Fish Tail Palm Fiber (FTPF) was used as micro fiber reinforcement in Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC) and the fresh and mechanical properties were studied. Different volumes of fibers ranging from 1% to 5% of the weight of binders were used to study the effect of fiber volume fraction on the strength and workability of concrete. The fresh concrete test such as slump flow test, L-box test, V- funnel test and J ring test was conducted. With the hardened specimen, compression strength, split tensile strength, flexural strength and impact resistance were measured. Linear regression analysis was carried out using the experimental data set and equations were developed with high regression value (R2). From the result it was concluded that the increase in volume fraction of fibers increase the strength property, while the fresh concrete property is affected by the same. The split tensile strength and flexural strength of SCC increase with the fiber content only up to 3% volume of fibers. The impact resistance of the concrete also increased with the increase in fiber content which showed an increase in the number of blow count required for the development of first and ultimate crack. Empirical equations were formulated to develop a relation between compressive strength flexural strength, split tensile strength, and modulus of elasticity. The present experimental results showed a good agreement with the standard codal values and previous literature findings using natural plant fiber.