Lightweight Panels of Steel Fiber-Reinforced Self-Compacting Concrete

Abstract

When the benefits of self-compacting concrete (SCC) are added to those resulting from the addition of discrete steel fibers to cement based materials, a high performance material, designated as steel fiber-reinforced self-compacting concrete (SFRSCC), is obtained. The present work is part of a research project that was conducted to develop a lightweight precasting SFRSCC panel for building facades. The SFRSCC mix design strategy and the experimental research conducted to characterize the bending and the compression behavior of SFRSCC at ages ranging from 12 h to 28 days are presented. A particular effort is made to assess the SFRSCC postcracking behavior, carrying out three point notched beam bending tests. The equivalent and the residual flexural tensile strength parameters, proposed by RILEM TC 162-TDF to characterize the toughness of steel fiber reinforced concrete, are determined for the designed SFRSCC. To evaluate the stress-crack opening diagram of the designed SFRSCC, an inverse analysis is performed, fitting the experimentally obtained force-deflection curves. The influence of the age on the SFRSCC fracture parameters is analyzed. SFRSCC prototype panels were tested to assess their flexural and punching resistance.