Comparative impact behaviours of ultra high performance concrete columns reinforced with polypropylene vs steel fibres

Polypropylene(PP) fibres have primarily used to control shrinkage cracks or mitigate explosive spalling in concrete structures exposed to fire or subjected to impact/blast loads, with limited investigations on capacity improvement. This study unveils the possibility of using PP micro-fibres to improve the impact behaviour of fibre-reinforced ultra-high-performance concrete(FRUHPC) columns. Results show that the addition of fibres significantly improves the impact behaviour of FRUHPC columns by shifting the failure mechanism from brittle shear to favourable flexural failure. The addition of steel or PP fibres affected the impact responses differently. Steel fibres considerably increased the peak impact force(up to 18%) while PP micro-fibres slightly increased the peak(3%-4%). FRUHPC significantly reduced the maximum midheight displacement by up to 30%(under 20°impact) and substantially improved the displacement recovery by up to 100%(under 20° impact). FRUHPC with steel fibres significantly improved the energy absorption while those with PP micro-fibres reduced the energy absorption, which is different from the effect of PP-macro fibre reported in the literature. The optimal fibre content for micro-PP fibres is 1% due to its minimal fibre usage and low peak and residual displacement. This study highlights the potential of FRUHPC as a promising material for impact-resistant structures by creating a more favourable flexural failure mechanism, enhancing ductility and toughness under impact loading, and advancing the understanding of the role of fibres in structural performance.

Flexural fatigue strength of steel fibrous concrete containing mixed steel fibres

This paper reports investigation conducted to study the fatigue performance of steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) containing fibres of mixed aspect ratio. An extensive experimental program was conducted in which 90 flexural fatigue tests were carried out at different stress levels on size 500 mm×100 mm×100 mm SFRC specimens respectively containing 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0% volume fraction of fibres. About 36 static flexural tests were also conducted to determine the static flexural strength prior to fatigue testing. Each volume fraction of fibres incorporated corrugated mixed steel fibres of size 0.6 mm×2.0 mm×25 mm and 0.6 mm×2.0 mm×50 mm in ratio 50:50 by weight. The results are presented both as S-N relationships, with the maximum fatigue stress expressed as a percentage of the strength under static loading, and as relationships between actually applied fatigue stress and number of loading cycles to failure. Two-million-cycle fatigue strengths of SFRC containing different volume fractions of mixed fibres were obtained and compared with plain concrete.

Fracture Properties of Cement Composites Reinforced with Steel Polypropylene Hybrid Fibres

Polypropylene fibres and three sizes of steel fibres reinforced concrete are discussed. The total fibres content ranges from 0 4%-0 95% by volume of concrete. A four point bending test is adopted on the notched prisms with the size of 100?mm×100?mm×500?mm to investigate the effect of hybrid fibres on crack arresting. The research results show that there is a positive synergy effect between large steel fibres and polypropylene fibres on the load bearing capacity in the small displacement range. But this synergy effect disappears in the large displacement range. The large and strong steel fibre is better than soft polypropylene fibre and small steel fibre in the aspect of energy absorption capacity in the large displacement range. The static usage limitation for the hybrid fibres concrete with “wide peak' or “multi peaks' load CMOD pattern should be carefully selected. The ultimate load bearing capacity and the crack width or CMOD at this load level should be jointly considered.

Strength and Toughness of Steel Fibre Reinforced Reactive Powder Concrete Under Blast Loading

The blast resistance of structures used in buildings needs to be investigated due to the increased threat of a terrorist attack. The damage done by Composition B or Powergel to steel fibre reinforced reactive powder concrete （SFRPC） panels and ordinary reinforced concrete （RC） panels of equivalent static flexural strength is compared. A 0. 5 kg charge was detonated at a distance of 0. 1 m from the 1. 3 m × 1. 0 m × 0. 1 m （thick） panels, which were simply supported and spaning 1.3 m. Dynamic displacement measurements, high-speed video recording and visual examination of the panels for spall and breach were undertaken. The SFRPC panels withstood the bare charge blast better than the reinforced ordinary concrete panels. Neither type of panel was breached using a O. 5 kg charge, The RC panel exhibited more spalling when Composition B was used. Under successive Composition B loading conditions, the RC panel was breached. In comparison the SFRPC panel was not breached. Exposure to fragmenting charge loading conditions confirmed these performance differences between the SFRPC panel and the reinforced ordinary concrete panel.

Application of steel fibre reinforced sprayed concrete to a deep tunnel in weak rocks

Based on an engineering background of a deep tunneling in weak rocks, the numerical modeling is used to compare different support schemes of tunnel at great depth in this paper. Focused on the general behaviors of weak rocks at great depth, a tunneling scheme with rock bolting and steel fibre reinforced sprayed concrete is proposed. This scheme is practiced successfully at a deep tunnel in weak rocks in Coal Mine No 10 of Hebi Coal Mining Administration.

Strength and deformation characteristics of steel fibrous concrete beams

The results of an analytical investigation of the flexural behaviour of Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete （SFRC） beams are presented. The complete response of the SFRC beams under displacement controlled static loading was obtained using nonlinear Finite Element （FE） techniques implemented with the help of ATENA 2D soRware. Issues relating to the behaviour of SFRC which have a direct bearing on the FE modelling are discussed with relevance to the software employed for the nonlinear analysis. Constitutive models amenable to numerical analysis for steel fibrous concrete are presented. The structural response throughout the loading regime was captured in terms of the load-deflection behaviour, which in addition to the post-peak response characterized the failure mode of the test beams. The crack patterns at crack initiation and at the end of the tests were also recorded. Experimental results from the specimens of two other investigators were used as control values for this investigation. The response of the specimens of this investigation was evaluated in terms of initial tangent stiffness, peak loads and toughness. Good match was obtained between the results from this investigation and corresponding experimentally obtained values, wherever available. The influence of the fibre content is reflected in the observed trends in peak loads, deflection at peak loads and toughness, which are in broad agreement with known behavioral patterns of SFRC.

Influence of Water Stability on Bond Performance Between Magnesium Phosphate Cement Mortar and Steel Fibre

The fibre pullout test was conducted to investigate the influence of the water stability on the bond behaviour between the Magnesium phosphate cement(MPC)matrix and the steel fibre.The composition of the MPC-matrix and the immersion age of the specimens are experimentally investigated.The average bond strength and the pullout energy are investigated by analysing the experimental results.In addition,the microscopic characteristics of the interface transition zone are investigated using scanning electron microscopy(SEM).The experimental results showed that the bond performance between the MPC-matrix and the steel fibre decreased significantly with the increase of the duration of immersion in water.The average bond strength between the steel fibre and the MPC-matrix reduced by more than 50%when the specimens were immersed in the water for 28 days.The effect of the water on the interface between the steel fibre and the MPC-matrix was found to be more significant compared to the composition of the MPC-matrix.In addition,the MgO-KH2PO4 mole ratio of the MPC significantly influenced the water stability of the interface zone between the steel fibre and MPC-matrix.

Rheology of Steel Fibre Containing Alumina-Magnesia-Extruded Graphite Pellets Self-Flowing Castables

The influences of adding steel fibres of different lengths up to 3 volume percentages, on the rheological behaviour of an alumina-magnesia-extruded graphite pellet containing castables have been studied using a rheometer. Free-flow measurements have shown that the flow is severely affected by increasing the length of steel fibres. The calculated values of rheological constants indicate that 19 mm and 25 mm fibre up to 2 volume percentage is permitted while one volume percentage of 50 mm fibres severely degrades the rheology of the castable.

Modelling the Influence of Air Jet Configurations on Non-Woven Steel Fibre Mixing in the Melt Overflow Process

The mixing of non-woven steel fibres in melt overflow process for use in automotive muffler systems was simulated. The aim was to identify optimum parameters for achieving a good fibre mix. Numerical models of mixing chambers of melt overflow process were developed. Multiphysics analyses involving heat transfer, fluid flow and particle tracking were carried out using COMSOL code. The influence of air jet configurations on the fibre distribution was studied. The fibres settled on the moving bed within the mixing chamber were examined for their uniformity. The effect of additional air jets to the existing chamber in a range of regions was explored. An optimum configuration was identified by analyzing the compactness of the particle clusters deposited in the simulation and validated using pixel data acquired from real time imaging. The results showed that by employing dual air jets at the front end of the chamber, the density of the fibre material has improved. We conclude that through multi-physics modelling, it was possible to identify the optimum air-jet configurations leading to fibre uniformity and its distribution. This work also paves the way for incorporating a vision system to evaluate fibre density in real time.

Accelerated engineering properties of high and low volume fly ash concretes reinforced with glued steel fibers

The present study focuses on the improvement of pozzolanic reaction of fly ash particles with the cement hydration products.Low and high volume fly ash concrete mixtures were studied systematically with the addition of accelerating admixtures and accelerated curing of the concrete specimens in a steam chamber for 18 h at 75℃.Also,the reinforcing effects of glued steel fibers addition on the compressive and flexural performance of fly ash concrete were investigated.The test results indicated that the addition of accelerator improved the rate of hardening and the inclusion of steel fibers provided higher flexural performance.Also,it can be noted that the high volume fly ash(50%)addition in concrete showed a reduction in strength;however,the addition of accelerator has compensated the deceleration in strength gain.The proper selection of concrete ingredients,addition of accelerator and initial steam curing for 18 h showed better improvement on the engineering properties in fly ash concrete.A maximum increase(41.7%)in compressive strength of fly ash concrete around 52.90 MPa was noticed for 25%fly ash substitution and 1.5%steel fibers addition.Dynamic elastic modulus was also calculated in loaded concrete specimen using ultrasonic pulse velocity test and showed a good agreement with the experimental value.