Load-bearing behaviour of anchors in fibre-reinforced concrete – A state of the art review

Abstract

Contemporary construction heavily relies on advanced techniques for connecting and assembling structures. The most common example of construction assemblies is connecting structural and non-structural elements to a concrete substrate, often using cast-in and post-installed anchors. The widespread adoption of advanced concrete materials with high compressive strengths, such as Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete (SFRC), in practical applications have led to challenges. Most of these stem from the absence of established standards and limited understanding of their impact on other structural elements, such as anchorage systems embedded in these types of substrates. This is because existing guidelines for anchorage design primarily rely on studies and test outcomes conducted on anchors embedded in Plain Normal-Strength Concrete (NPC). This creates a research gap when applying the CCD method to SFRC, particularly Ultra-High-Performance Fibre Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC), where compressive strength can exceed 120 MPa. In this work, a comprehensive evaluation of the literature on anchorages in SFRC is conducted. Several parameters relating to the behaviour of anchorage in SFRC are listed and discussed in this work. Factors such as the fibre content, fibre homogeneity and orientation, and fibre type are determined to influence the capacity of anchors. The results of a total of 916 tests on the performance of anchorages in SFRC are carefully collated, classified, critically reviewed and analysed. The synthesised data highlights the trends, gaps, and evolutions on the research on anchorage in SFRC and illustrates the relationships and connections that emerge from the collective literature. The evaluation of the test results indicates that the scope of the CCD method can potentially be expanded to be used for the design of anchors in SFRC, with some modifications. Consequently, a modification factor is suggested for the CCD method using the analysed dataset. The insights from this comprehensive review on anchorages in SFRC can drive future research, guide revisions to industry standards and enhance practical construction applications.