Mechanical properties of concrete reinforced with graded pva fibers

Abstract

Concrete is poor in tensile property due to its brittle nature. Improvement in the mechanical properties of concrete is carried by combining the rebars and fibers in concrete. Earlier research state that non-metallic fibres improve pre-crack performance and metallic fibers improve post crack performance. Short fibers resist the micro-cracks at an early stage and long fibers resist macro-cracks. The combination of short and long fibers makes the performance of concrete much effective. In this study, the investigation is done on non-metallic PVA fiber with the lengths of 6mm (Short fiber) and 12mm (Long fiber) by hybridization of fibers on 50MPa concrete. The investigation is done in two stages; in the first stage, the optimum dosage of fiber content and strength effectiveness of strengths is carried. Further, in the second stage the hybridization of fiber is done with the 30% SF + 70% LF, 50%SF + 50% LF, 70% SF + 30% LF for finding the optimum hybrid combination. Mechanical properties of concrete like flexural strength, split tensile strength, compressive strength is investigated. The results obtained by the hybridization of fibers are compared with the mono fiber performance and control mix. Improvement in strength parameters is observed in fiber hybridization. According to the fiber functionality, the hybrid combination of 30% SF + 70% LF showed desired results by improving the overall performance of concrete. More long fibers content improves the crack growth resistance than short fibers in concrete.