Abstract
In this study, an experimental investigation was conducted on the mechanical properties of lightweight aggregate concrete (LWAC) with different chopped fibers, including basalt fiber (BF) and polyacrylonitrile fiber (PANF). The LWAC performance was studied in regard to compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and shear strength at age of 28 days. In addition, the oven-dried density and water absorption were measured as well to confirm whether the specimens match the requirement of standard. In total, seven different mixture groups were designed and approximately 104 LWAC samples were tested. The test results showed that the oven-dried densities of the LWAC mixtures were in range of 1.819–1.844 t/m3 which satisfied the definition of LWAC by Chinese Standard. Additionally, water absorption decreased with the increasing of fiber content. The development tendency of the specific strength of LWAC was the same as that of the cube compressive strength. The addition of fibers had a significant effect on reducing water absorption. Adding BF and PANF into concrete had a relatively slight impact on the compressive strength but had an obvious effect on splitting tensile strength, flexural strength and shear strength enhancement, respectively. In that regard, a 1.5% fiber volume fraction of BF and PANF showed the maximum increase in strength. The use of BF and PANF could change the failure morphologies of splitting tensile and flexural destruction but almost had slight impact on the shear failure morphology. The strength enhancement parameter β was proposed to quantify the improvement effect of fibers on cube compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength and shear strength, respectively. And the calculation results showed good agreement with test value.
Highlights
Lightweight aggregate concrete (LWAC) has become a main development focus in the construction field, owing to its low density, high strength and excellent durability [1,2,3]
Li et al investigated the flexural behavior of LWAC with steel fiber and the test results showed that the steel fiber could significantly improve the compressive and flexural strength of LWAC, as well as the post-cracking behavior [21]
Li et al researched the shear performance of steel fiber-reinforced LWAC beams and reported that the shear-resistance capacity was enhanced by 25.1%, 35.9% and 43.6% with steel fiber amounts of 0.4%, 0.8% and 1.2%, respectively, as compared to those without fiber reinforcement [22]
Summary
Lightweight aggregate concrete (LWAC) has become a main development focus in the construction field, owing to its low density, high strength and excellent durability [1,2,3]. Materials 2020, 13, 1715 thermal expansion result in improved fire-resistance [9] and frost-resistance [10] and reducing the size of the members results in a lower cost of construction [11,12]. All of these advantages have led to LWAC being widely applied in super high-rise buildings, long-span bridges and marine structures [13,14]. Li et al researched the shear performance of steel fiber-reinforced LWAC beams and reported that the shear-resistance capacity was enhanced by 25.1%, 35.9% and 43.6% with steel fiber amounts of 0.4%, 0.8% and 1.2%, respectively, as compared to those without fiber reinforcement [22]
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