Fiber Concrete under Temperature Drop Load with Stochastic FEM

Plain concrete plate and fiber concrete plate subjected to temperature drop load were analyzed on stochastic finite element method (FEM).It is found that fibers can enhance concrete ability to resist tem- perature drop load for improving concrete's fracture energy and deferring the crack process.It is found for concrete not to improve apparently its tensile strength and fracture energy is recommended to be its appraisal parameter.

The influence of Fe extracting as a filler of fiber concrete performance

This research is showing the effect of increasing an Fe extracting from the compression strength, tension and bending moment. The variations in this experiment are the increasing of Fe extracting 0.5%, 1% and 1.5% of concrete volume. Water Cement Ratio （WCR） variation of 0.48, 0.56 and 0.60. The result of increasing 1.5% Fe extracting causes the increasing of tension strength 44.028 kN/cm2, the increasing of slit tension strength 2.226 kN/cm2, the increasing of bending moment 14.81 kN/cm2 from normal concrete. 0.48 WCR produces tension strength, slit tension strength and bending moment more than 0.56 and 0.60 WCR. The increasing of Fe extracting with the distribution variation area and the spread concrete in the tension concrete area produce 3.705 kN/cm2 bending moment higher than the spread fiber in all of concrete area. The 4 cm fiber length produces the higher bending moment than the 2 cm fiber length. The difference is equally 5.185 kN/cm2. The combination result of the examined acting varieties by continuation statistic test gives the result to get the maximum tension and split tensile. It is a concrete combination of increasing 1.5% fiber percentage, 0.48 WCR, full spreading area and the 4 cm fiber length. The maximum bending moment is the increasing of 0.5% fiber percentage, 0.48 WCR, full spreading area and the 4 cm fiber length.

Experiment on mechanical properties of steel fiber reinforced concrete and application in deep underground engineering

Specimens of steel fiber reinforced concrete （SFRC） in volume ratios of 0%, 0.5%, 1% and 1.5% were prepared to study the supporting effect of SFRC at these diffterent volume ratios in a deep soft rock tunnel. Experiments with mechanical properties of compressive strength in cubic specimens, cleave strength in cylindrical specimens and four-point flexure strength of sheet metal specimens were carded out. The experimental results indicate that SFRC in a volume ratio of 1% is superior in ranking to other volume ratios in terms of technique and economics. By means of a numerical simulation, given the characteristics of soft rock deformation and damage at great depth, a new support substitution scheme of SFRC to replace plain concrete is proposed. The results of an industrial trial show that the support provided by SFRC can withstand large deformations of the surrounding rock. Good resuits have been obtained in a practical anplication.

Compressive properties of a novel slurry-infiltrated fiber concrete reinforced with arc-shaped steel fibers

Slurry-infiltrated fiber concrete(SIFCON)is a sort of strain hardening cement-based composite material,typically made with 5%–20%steel fibers.This study focused on a novel type of SIFCON in which hooked-end steel fibers were replaced by arc-shaped steel fibers.The quasi-static compressive properties of the SIFCON were first measured.Test results suggested that using arc-shaped steel fibers in lieu of hooked-end steel fibers increased the quasi-static compressive strength by 47.1%and the strain at peak stress by 56.3%.We attribute these improvements to new crack-resisting mechanisms,namely“fiber crosslock”,“dual bridging”,and“confinement loops”,when the arc-shaped steel fibers are introduced into SIFCON.As high impact resistance is a special property of SIFCON that is of practical significance,the dynamic compressive properties of arc-shaped steel fiber SIFCON were studied by using an 80-mm-diameter split Hopkinson pressure bar(SHPB).The results showed that the dynamic compressive strength,dynamic increase factor(DIF),and dynamic toughness of SIFCON all increased with the strain rate.The SIFCON incorporating arc-shaped steel fibers proved to have significant advantages in structural applications requiring high impact resistance.

Experimental Investigation on Fracture Performance of Short Basalt Fiber Bundle Reinforced Concrete

In this paper,a notched three-point bending test is used to study the fracture performance of the short basalt fiber bundle reinforced concrete(SBFBRC).To compare and analyze the enhancement effect of different diameters and different content of basalt fiber bundles on the fracture performance of concrete,some groups are set up,and the P-CMOD curves of each group of specimens are measured,and the fracture toughness and fracture energy of each control group are calculated.The fracture toughness and fracture energy are two important fracture performance parameters to study the effect and law of the new basalt fiber bundles on the fracture performance of concrete.The research results show that the diameter and content of the new basalt fiber bundles have a certain effect on the fracture performance of concrete.With the increase of the content of basalt fiber bundles,the peak load,crack initiation toughness,instability toughness and fracture energy of SBFBRC are greatly improved compared with the benchmark group.When the fiber bundle diameter is 0.2 mm,the peak load increases by 69.5%compared with the reference group.The instability toughness reaches its maximum value at 0.2 mm diameter,which is 59.7%higher than the benchmark.

Mechanical Properties of Layered Steel Fiber and Hybrid Fiber Reinforced Concrete

To explore a new structure form of fiber reinforced concrete, namely, the layered steel fiber and layered hybrid fiber reinforced concrete （LSFRC and LHFRC）, the mechanical properties of LSFRC and LHFRC, such as compressive strength, tensile strength, flexural strength, fatigue and durability were focused on. The experimental results show that LSFRC and LHFRC can improve the flexural strength of concrete by 20%-50%. In the aspect of improving the flexural strength of concrete, adulterant rate has more obvious effect than length/diameter ratio. Double logarithmic fatigue equation considered liveability was founded. The impermeability of LHFRC is superior to LSFRC and plain concrete （C）. However, the porosity of LHFRC is lower than LSFRC and C. The shrinkage of LHFRC at every age is obviously lower than C. The antifreeze durability of LHFRC is also better than C.

Effect of Acid Rain Erosion on Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete

Acid rain can deteriorate the performance of reinforced concrete structure.Combined with the characteristics of acid rain in China,the properties of steel fiber reinforced concrete subjected to acid rain were studied.The effects of steel fiber content and pH value of acid rain on the mass loss,erosion depth,neutralization depth,and splitting tensile strength of tested concrete were investigated.The mercury intrusion pore（MIP） test was used to analyze the influence of steel fiber on the acid rain resistance of concrete matrix.The results show that the corrosion of steel fiber reinforced concrete subjected to acid rain results from the combined effect of H^＋ and SO4^2- in the acid rain,and steel fiber can improve the acid rain resistance of the tested concrete by improving the pore structure and enhancing the tie effect of the concrete matrix.The experiment further indicates that the optimum content of steel fiber is 1.5%compared to the various mixing proportion in this tests.The tested concrete mass loss and splitting tensile strength decrease followed by increasing as a function of corrosion time when the pH value of the simulation solution is 3 or 4,while they decrease continuously in the simulation solution at pH 2.Thanks to the tie effect of steel fiber,the spalling of concrete matrix is significantly improved,and the erosion depth and neutralization depth are less than those of conventional concrete.

Mechanical Properties of Layered Hybrid Fiber Reinforced Concrete

To improve the mechanical properties of concrete,Layered Hybrid Fiber Reinforced Concrete (LHFRC) was developed in this paper.Through comparative tests,the effects of layered hybrid fibers on a series of mechanical properties of concrete were discussed.The mechanical properties include compressive strength,tensile strength,flexural strength,compressive stress-strain relationship,flexural toughness and cracking resistance of concrete.The testing results and analysis demonstrate that layered hybrid fibers can significantly improve the flexural strength,toughness and cracking resistance of concrete while the cost of concrete increases slightly.

Spalling and Mechanical Properties of Fiber Reinforced High-performance Concrete Subjected to Fire

Spalling and mechanical properties of FRHPC subjected to fire were tested on notched beams. The results confirm that the internal vapor pressure is the leading reason for spalling of high-performance concrete （HPC）. At the same time, the temperature-increasing velocity and constrained conditions of concrete element also play significant roles in spalling. Steel fibers cannot reduce the risk of spalling, although they have obvious beneficial effects on the mechanical properties of concrete before and after exposure to fire. Polypropylene （PP） fibers are very useful in preventing HPC from spalling, however, they have negative effects on the strengths. By using hybrid fibers （steel fibers＋PP fibers）, both good anti-spalling performance and improved mechanical properties come true, which may provide necessary safe guarantee for the rescue work and structure repair after fire disaster.

Mesoscopic Modeling Approach and Application for Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete under Dynamic Loading:A Review

Steel fiber reinforced concrete(SFRC)has drawn extensive attention in recent years for its superior mechanical response to dynamic and impact loadings.Based on the existing test results,the highstrength steel fibers embedded in a concrete matrix usually play a strong bridging effect to enhance the bonding force between fiber and the matrix,and directly contribute to the improvement of the post-cracking behavior and residual strength of SFRC.To gain a better understanding of the action behavior of steel fibers in matrix and further capture the failure mechanism of SFRC under dynamic loads,the mesoscopic modeling approach that assumes SFRC to be composed of different mesoscale phases(i.e.,steel fibers,coarse aggregates,mortar matrix,and interfacial transition zone(ITZ))has been widely employed to simulate the dynamic responses of SFRC material and structural members.This paper presents a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art mesoscopic models and simulations for SFRC under dynamic loading.Generation approaches for the SFRC mesoscale model in the simulation works,including steel fiber,coarse aggregate,and the ITZ between them,are reviewed and compared systematically.The material models for different phases and the interaction relationship between fiber and concrete matrix are summarized comprehensively.Additionally,some example applications for SFRC under dynamic loads(i.e.,compression,tension,and contact blast)simulated using the general mesoscale models are given.Finally,some critical analysis on the current shortcomings of the mesoscale modeling of SFRC is highlighted,which is of great significance for the future investigation and development of SFRC.

Experimental Investigation on the Mechanical Properties of Natural Fiber Reinforced Concrete

Recently,addition of various natural fibers to high strength concrete has aroused great interest in the field of building materials.This is because natural fibers are much cheaper and locally available,as compare to synthetic fibers.Keeping in view,this current research conducted mainly focuses on the static properties of hybridized(sisal/coir),sisal and coir fiber-reinforced concrete.Two types of natural fibers sisal and coir were used in the experiment with different lengths of 10,20 and 30 mm and various natural fiber concentrations of 0.5%,1.0%,and 1.5%by mass of cement,to investigate the static properties of sisal fiber reinforced concrete(SFRC),coir fiber reinforced concrete(CFRC)and hybrid fiber reinforced concrete(HFRC).The results indicate that HFRC has increased the compressive strength up to 35.98%with the length of 20 mm and with 0.5%concentration,while the CFRC and SFRC with the length of 10 mm and with 1%concentration have increased the compressive strength up to 33.94%and 24.86%,respectively.On another hand,the split tensile strength was increased by HFRC with the length of 20 mm and with 1%concentration,CFRC with the length of 10 mm and with 1.5%concentration,and SFRC with the length of 30 mm and with 1%concentration have increased up to 25.48%,24.56%and 11.80%,respectively,while the HFRC with the length of 20 mm and with 0.5%concentration has increased the compressive strength of concrete but has decreased the split tensile strength up to 2.28%compared to PC.Overall,using the HFRC with the length of 20 mm and with 1%concentration provide the maximum output in terms of split tensile strength.

Charactersitics of Stress-strain Curve of High Strength Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete under Uniaxial Tension

A whole of 110 specimens divided into 22 groups were tested with varying the volume fraction of steel fibers and the matrix strength of these specimens. The stress-strain behaviors of four types of steel fiber reinforced concrete （SFRC） under uniaxial tension were studied experimentally. When the matrix strength and the fiber content increase, the tensile stress and tensile strain vary differently according to the fiber type. The mechanisms of reinforcing effect for different types of fiber were analyzed and the stress-strain curves of the specimens were plotted. Some experimental factors for stress or strain of SFRC were given. A tensile toughness modulus Re0.5 was introduced to evaluate the toughness characters of SFRC under uniaxial tension. Moreover, the formula of the tensile stress-strain curve of SFRC was regressed. The theoretical curve and the experimental ones fit well, which can be used for references in construction.

Dynamic Mechanical Behaviour of Ultra-high Performance Fiber Reinforced Concretes

Ultra-high performance fiber reinforced concretes （UHPFRC） were prepared by replacing 60% of cement with ultra-fine industrial waste powder. The dynamic mechanical behaviour of UHPFRC with different fiber volume fraction was researched on repeated compressive impact in four kinds of impact modes through split Hopkinson pressure bar （SHPB）. The experimental results show that the peak stress and elastic modulus decrease and the strain rate and peak strain increase gradually with the increasing of impact times. The initial material damage increases and the peak stress of the specimen decreases from the second impact with the increasing of the initial incident wave. Standard strength on repeated impact is defined to compare the ability of resistance against repeated impact among different materials. The rate of reduction of standard strength is decreased by fiber reinforcement under repeated impact. The material damage is reduced and the ability of repeated impact resistance of UHPFRC is improved with the increasing of fiber volume fraction.

Flexural Strength and Behavior of Polypropylene Fiber Reinforced Concrete Beams

The strength and deformation characteristics of polypropylene fiber reinforced concrete ( PFRC) beams were investigated by four-point bending procedures in this paper. Two kinds of polypropylene fibers with different fiber contents (0.2% , 0.5% , 1.0% and 1.5% ) by volume were used in, the beam, which measured 100 × 100 mm with a span of 300 mm. It was found that the strength of the reinforced concrete beams was significantly decreased, whereas the flexural toughness was improved, compared to those unreinforced concrete beams. Geometry properties and volume contents of polypropylene fiber were considered to be important factors for improving the flexural toughness. Moreover, the composite mechanism between polypropylene fiber and concrete was analyzed and discussed.

A Study on the Estimation of Prefabricated Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete Panel Strength Values with an Artificial Neural Network Model

In this study,artificial neural networks trained with swarm based artificial bee colony optimization algorithm was implemented for prediction of the modulus of rapture values of the fabricated glass fiber reinforced concrete panels.For the application of the ANN models,143 different four-point bending test results of glass fiber reinforced concrete mixes with the varied parameters of temperature,fiber content and slump values were introduced the artificial bee colony optimization and conventional back propagation algorithms.Training and the testing results of the corresponding models showed that artificial neural networks trained with the artificial bee colony optimization algorithm have remarkable potential for the prediction of modulus of rupture values and this method can be used as a preliminary decision criterion for quality check of the fabricated products.

Structural Behavior of Continuous Prestressed Steel Fiber Reinforced High Strength Concrete Beam

The flexural behaviors of continuous fully and partially prestressed steel fiber reinforced high strength concrete beams are studied by experiment and nonlinear finite element analysis. Three levels of partial prestress ratio （PPR） are considered, and three pairs of two-span continuous beams with box sections varying in size are designed. The major parameters involved in the study include the PPR and the fiber location. It is concluded that the prestressed high strength concrete beam exhibits satisfactory ductility; the influences of steel fiber on the crack behaviors for partially prestressed beams are not as obvious as those for fully prestressed ones; steel fibers can improve the structural stiffness after cracking for fully prestressed high strength concrete beams; the moment redistribution from mid-span to intermediate support in the first stage should be mainly considered in practical design.

Flexural Fatigue Behavior of Layered Hybrid Fiber Reinforced Concrete

In order to obtain the fatigue life of layered hybrid fiber reinforced concrete （LHFRC） at different stress levels, flexural fatigue tests were carried out on specimens. The relation between fatigue lives and stress levels was simulated using the two-parameter Weibull distribution. Furthermore, both single- logarithmic and double-logarithmic regressive equations of various reliabilities were derived. It is evident that LHFRC gets the advantage of longer fatigue life over common concrete.

Complete splitting process of steel fiber reinforced concrete at intermediate strain rate

The complete splitting process of steel fiber reinforced concrete （SFRC） at intermediate strain rate was studied by experiment. The basic information of a self-developed SFRC dynamic test system matching with lnstron 1342 materials testing machine was given, and the experiment principle and the loading mode of cubic split specimen were introduced. During the experiment, 30 cubes of 150 mm×150 mm×150 mm and 36 cubes of 100 mm×100 mm×100 mm, designed and prepared according to C20 class SFRC with different volume fractions of steel fiber （0, 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%） were tested and analyzed. At the same time, the size effect of SFRC at intermediate strain rate was investigated. The experimental study indicates that SFRC size effect is not influenced by the loading speed or strain rate. When the steel fiber content increases from 0 to 4%, the splitting strength of SFRC increases from 100% to 261%, i.e. increasing by 161% compared with that of the common concrete. The loading rate increases from 1.33 kN/s to 80.00 kN/s, and the splitting tensile strength increases by 43.55%.

Long-term Behavior of Fiber Reinforced Concrete Exposed to Sulfate Solution Cycling in Drying-immersion

The damage process and corrosion ion distribution in concrete, which was exposed to 60 and 170 drying-immersion cycles of sulfate solution, were systematically investigated. The effects of plain concrete, plain concrete mixed with 4 and 8 kg/m^3 modified PP fiber and high-performance concrete（HPC） mixed with 0.8 kg/m^3 fine PP fiber on the damage process were also studied. The experimental results showed that thenarditeinduced surface scaling, as well as gypsum-and ettringite-induced cracks, were the main degradation forms of concrete under attack of sulfate solution and drying–immersion cycles. The relative dynamic modulus of elasticity of concrete initially increased, then reached stability and finally decreased to failure. The sulfate diffusion coefficients of plain and HPC were 10^（-12） and 10^（-13） m^2/s, respectively. The concentration of sodium ion increased with depth, then maintained stability and finally decreased rapidly with concrete depth. The content of calcium ion on the concrete surface was 110%-150% of that in the interior of specimens. Although fiber worsened the surface scaling of concrete, better resistance capacity of sulfate ion penetration into concrete was observed in plain concrete with 4 kg/m^3 modified PP fiber and HPC.

Seismic Enhancement of Existing Buildings by Means of Fiber Reinforced Concrete Diaphragms

Floor diaphragms may provide an effective solution for reducing the seismic vulnerability of masonry buildings. Unfortunately, diaphragms are usually not present in historical building with wooden floors but often they are non present even in old R/C buildings where floors were made without shear reinforcement. A possible strengthening technique could be based on the application of a thin concrete plate reintbrced with a welded mesh. In order to reduce the thickness of the plate, some suitable solutions may be obtained by using Fiber Reinforced Concrete （FRC） since the minimum concrete cover is no longer required because the reinforcement （fibers） is spread all over the concrete matrix. The adoption of FRC floor diaphragms is proposed and discussed in this paper; the early results from a preliminary numerical study are analyzed in order to asses the feasibility of this new strengthening technique and better organize an experimental program that is currently in progress.