Properties prediction for self-compacting concrete incorporating activated fiber and stone chips

Abstract

Self-compacted concrete (SCC) has attracted the attention of researchers after its appearance because of its multiple benefits compared to traditional concrete in the construction sector. Multiple additives are adopted by them to explore the influences of these mixtures on SCC, including stone chips as well as fibers. However, previous investigations concentrate on its single impact, which rarely refers to the combined effect of blending. In this research, SCC samples containing stone chips (Zeolite, Wollastonite) and activated fibers (N/A, alkali activation, ultrasonic vibration coating) are prepared and their mechanical, as well as fresh properties, are investigated. Results show that Wollastonite improved the mechanical strengths to a higher degree than Zeolite without fiber addition. Equipped same with stone chips, concretes involving novel ultrasonically activated fiber owned better mechanical performances than the other two activated fiber concrete. The combination of fiber (ultrasonic vibration coating) and Wollastonite (75 μ m ) exhibits the highest unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and flexural strength (FS) among all the mixes. Besides, the introduction of stone chips and the low content of activated fiber (0.1% to 0.2%) are appropriate for SCC workability improvement. In conclusion, an enhanced support vector regression (SVR) model deriving from the beetle antennae search (BAS) was proposed based on overall 123 experimental instances, with high correlation coefficients of UCS (0.9398) and FS (0.9249).