Investigation of engineering properties of steel fiber reinforced concrete exposed to homogeneous magnetic field

Abstract

The present study was performed to investigate the effect of applying homogeneous magnetic field (HMF) of density 0.5 Tesla (T) to steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) specimens containing 1.5% volume of fiber on engineering properties. To achieve this goal, compressive and flexural strengths tests were employed to evaluate mechanical properties of the SFRC specimens at the age of 28 days. Furthermore, durability characteristic of the specimens was investigated for water absorption and permeable porosity tests. The non-destructive test based on ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) was used to assess the compressive strength of the specimens exposed to the HMF applied to either fresh or hardened states. In order to generate HMF, a magnetic device capable of causing the intended intensity was designed and manufactured. The concrete tests results indicated that the applying HMF to the SFRC specimens, during the casting process, increased their mechanical strength in the terms of compressive and flexural strengths to 18 and 16%, respectively. Also, flexural toughness of the specimens was enhanced by 7% compared to the specimen with no magnetic treatment. Due to the HMF exposure to the SFRC specimens, water absorption and permeable porosity values of the specimens decreased by 11 and 18%, respectively.