Mechanical and durability behaviour of fiber reinforced concrete

Abstract

Fiber Reinforced Concrete (FRC) is broadly used in the construction of large buildings, industrial floors, and pavements due to the presence of exceptional mechanical and durable properties, having modest production cost. The impact of different types of fiber and environmental conditions on the strength and durability of ordinary concrete, such as steel fiber, polypropylene(PP) fiber, and natural palm tree fiber, varies. A variety of conventional material tests were performed to analyze the compressive strength and flexural properties. The experimental results showed that fiber stomping may take place at higher fiber volume fractions, resulting in mixing and casting issues. Based on the mechanical properties and anti-dry-shrinkage cracking resistance of FRC, the suitable fiber length and volume fractions were determined. In 28 days of water curing, adding small amounts of PP fiber can significantly increase compressive strength, flexural strength, and durability. However, in 6 months of wet-dry and heat-cool cycles, steel fiber performed better than PP fiber. The study also found that early shrinking of cracks decreases with an increase in fiber volume fraction, and no cracks are observed when a volume of 0.20% is used. These results can be used as a testimonial for the material proportion design of concrete.