Effect of Shrinkage Reducing Agent and Steel Fiber on the Fluidity and Cracking Performance of Ultra-High Performance Concrete

Due to the low water-cement ratio of ultra-high-performance concrete(UHPC),fluidity and shrinkage cracking are key aspects determining the performance and durability of this type of concrete.In this study,the effects of different types of cementitious materials,chemical shrinkage-reducing agents(SRA)and steel fiber(SF)were assessed.Compared with M2-UHPC and M3-UHPC,M1-UHPC was found to have better fluidity and shrinkage cracking performance.Moreover,different SRA incorporation methods,dosage and different SF types and aspect ratios were implemented.The incorporation of SRA and SF led to a decrease in the fluidity of UHPC.SRA internal content of 1%(NSRA-1%),SRA external content of 1%(WSRA-1%),STS-0.22 and STE-0.7 decreased the fluidity of UHPC by 3.3%,8.3%,9.2%and 25%,respectively.However,SRA and SF improved the UHPC shrinkage cracking performance.NSRA-1%and STE-0.7 reduced the shrinkage value of UHPC by 40%and 60%,respectively,and increased the crack resistance by 338%and 175%,respectively.In addition,the addition of SF was observed to make the microstructure of UHPC more compact,and the compressive strength and flexural strength of 28 d were increased by 26.9%and 19.9%,respectively.

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.

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.

Compressive Strength Estimation for the Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP)-Confined Concrete Columns with Different Shapes Using Artificial Neural Networks

An evaluation of existing strength of concrete columns confined with fiber-reinforced polymer( FRP) was presented with extensive collection of experimental data. According to the evaluation results, artificial neural networks( ANNs) model to predict the ultimate strength of FRP confined column with different shapes was proposed. The models had seven inputs including the column length,the tensile strength of the FRP in the hoop direction,the total thickness of FRP,the diameter of the concrete specimen,the elastic modulus of FRP,the corner radius and the concrete compressive strength. The compressive strength of the confined concrete was the output data. The results reveal that the proposed models have good prediction and generalization capacity with acceptable errors.

Properties of High Strength Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete under Compression

This paper mainly discusses the properties of high strength steel fiber reinforced concrete under compression. Steel fibers with volume content of 1% do not display significant effect on the strain at peak stress and the area of the ascending portion of

Shear strengthening of pre-damaged reinforced concrete beams with carbon fiber reinforced polymer sheet strips

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation on the response of pre-damaged reinforced concrete （RC） beam strengthened in shear using applied-epoxy unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced polymer （CFRP） sheet. The reasearch included four test rectangular simply supported RC beams in shear capacity. One is the control beam, two RC beams are damaged to a predetermined degree from ultimate shear capacity of the control beam, and the last beam is left without pre-damaged and then strengthened with using externally bonded carbon fiber reinforced polymer to upgrade their shear capacity. We focused on the damage degree to beams during strengthening, therefore, only the beams with sidebonded CFRPs strips and horizontal anchored strips were used. The results show the feasibility of using CFRPs to restore or increase the load-carrying capacity in the shear of damaged RC beams. The failure mode of all the CFRP-strengthened beams is debonding of CFRP vertical strips. Two prediction available models in AC1-440 and fib European code were compared with the experimental results.

Effect of Steel Fiber on Concrete’s Compressive Strength

The general goal of this research is to investigate whether steel fiber has a significant “positive” or “negative” influence on concrete compressive strength, as well as the optimal steel fiber ratio that delivers best result. Manually, cement, fine aggregates, coarse aggregates, steel fibers, and water were mixed together properly. A slump test was carried on the mixed concrete. After determining the workability, the mixed concrete was poured into cubes dimension 150 mm × 150 mm × 150 mm and left for 24 hours. After 24 hours, the samples were removed from the mold and placed in a water tank to cure for 7 to 28 days. The cube was tested for compressive and flexural strength in a universal testing machine after the samples had cured for the required 7 - 28 days. This study focuses on how to obtain high strength concrete using with steel fiber in the Conventional mix ratio to enhance concrete strength. Concrete reinforcement using steel fibers alters the characteristics of the concrete, allowing it to withstand fracture and hence improve its mechanical qualities. This study reports on an experimental study that reveals the effect of steel fiber on concrete compressive strength and the optimal steel fiber ratio that produces the best results. Steel fiber reinforcing improved the compressive strength of concrete. The average compressive strength of normal M25 concrete with 0% steel fibers and curing ages of 7 and 28 days was determined to be 22.97 N/mm2 and 25.78 N/mm2, respectively. The steel fibers are then added in various concentrations, such as 1%, 2%, and 3%, with aspect ratios of 70. The compressive strength of concrete with 1%, 2%, and 3% steel fiber with an aspect ratio of 70 was examined at 7 days and found to be 23.96, 24.80, and 26.14 N/mm2 correspondingly.

Modified imperialist competitive algorithm-based neural network to determine shear strength of concrete beams reinforced with FRP

Fiber reinforced polymers (FRPs), unlike steel, are corrosion-resistant and therefore are of interest;however, their use is hindered because their brittle shear is formulated in most specifications using limited data available at the time. We aimed to predict the shear strength of concrete beams reinforced with FRP bars and without stirrups by compiling a relatively large database of 198 previously published test results (available in appendix). To model shear strength, an artificial neural network was trained by an ensemble of Levenberg-Marquardt and imperialist competitive algorithms. The results suggested superior accuracy of model compared to equations available in specifications and literature.

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.

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.

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.

Bond Performance of Fiber Reinforced Polymer （FRP） Bars in Autoclaved Aerated Concrete （AAC）

This paper concerns the bond strength of FRP bars in AAC by the concentric pullout test. Specimens were subjected to compare with mild steel bars. The bond performance including the mode of failure and bond strength was investigated with varying embedment length and surface treatment. Regarding the bond performance, embedment depth has influenced on bond strength as well as the sanded surface. Carbon fiber reinforced polymer （CFRP） pronounced the most promising results with the highest bond strength attained.

Mechanical Properties of Polypropylene Fiber Reinforced Concrete under Elevated Temperature

Apart from many advantages,High Strength Concrete(HSC)has disadvantages in terms of brittleness and poor resistance to fire.Various studies suggest that when polypropylene(PP)fibers are uniformly distributed within concrete,they play an active role in improving spalling resistance of concrete when exposed to elevated temperature while having no adverse effect on its mechanical properties.Therefore,there is a necessity to quantify the effect of the addition of polypropylene fibers in terms of the fiber dosage,the strength of the concrete,and the residual mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced concrete under exposure to high temperature from fire.The study was carried out on three water/cement(w/c)ratios(0.47,0.36&0.20)using granite aggregate for determining short term mechanical properties of Polypropylene fiber reinforced concrete in comparison to control mix.The experimental program includes 100×200 mm&150 x 300 mm cylinders with fiber volume of 0.5%,that were subjected to temperatures exposures of 400°C and 600°C for durations of 1 hour.From the results,it was observed that no significant enhancement in mechanical properties such as modulus of elasticity,Poisson’s ratio,split tensile strength,flexural strength,and compressive strength was observed at room temperature and at elevated temperatures.

Mechanism of improving ductility of high strength concrete T-section beam confined by CFRP sheet subjected to flexural loading

For the purpose of inventing a new seismic retrofitting method for the reinforced high strength concrete （HSC） T-section beam using carbon fiber reinforced polymer （CFRP） sheet, three series, a total of twelve T-section beams with nine specimens confined by CFRP sheet in the plastic zone and three control beams were conducted up to failure under four-point bending test. The effectiveness of confining CFRP sheet on improving the flexural ductility of tmstrengthened T-section beams was studied. The parameters such as the width and the thickness of CFRP sheet and the type of T-section were analyzed. The experimental results show that ductility and rotation capacity of plastic hinge can be improved by the confinement of CFRP sheet, and the ductility indices increase with the increment of width and thickness of CFRP sheet. A plastic rotation model considering the width of CFRP sheet and the effect of flange of T-section beam is proposed on the basis of the model of BAKER, and the test results show a good agreement with the perdicted results. The relevant construction suggestions for seismic retrofitting design of beam-slabs system in cast-in-place framework structure are presented.

Effects of fibers on mechanical properties of high-performance concrete subjected to elevated temperatures

The compressive strength and ilexural toughness as well as fracture energy of fiber reinforced highperformance concrete （FRHPC） subjected to different high temperatures were studied. The results showed that after exposure at 300,600 and 900℃, the concrete mixes retained 88.1% , 41.3% and 10.2% of the original compressive strength on average, respectively. Steel fiber and polypropylene （PP） fiber were both effective in minimizing the damage effect of high temperatures on the compressive strength. The HPC reinforced with steel fibers showed higher flexural toughness and fracture energy before and after the high-temperature exposures. In comparison, PP fibers had minor beneficial effects on the flexural toughness and fracture energy. The mechanical properties of HPC reinforced with hybrid fibers （steel fiber ＋ PP fiber） were equivalent to or better than those of HPC reinforced with steel fibers alone. In addition, the failure pattern of FRHPC beams changed from pull-out of steel fibers at lower temperatures （20, 300 and 600℃） to tensile failure of steel fibers at higher temperature （900 ℃）.

Experimental Investigation on the Properties of Recycled Concrete Using Hybrid Fibers

Due to the inherent property of concrete being very weak in tension, efforts have been made to overcome this deficiency by adding various type of fibers like carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP), glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP), polypropylene fiber (PPF) and stainlesssteel fiber (SSF) smeared into the concrete mix. The present study involves experimental investigation on the use of GFRP, CFRP and SSF fibers alone or as combination to improve the mechanical properties of concrete. Furthermore, concrete cylinders were cast and tested for compression and tension using 10% fly ash as cement replacement in all specimens. Besides fiber material types, fiber reinforcement ratios of 1% and 1.5% were tested to investigate the mechanical properties of concrete. In all concrete cylinder tests, the fiber reinforcement ratio of 1% had a significant contribution in increasing the tensile strength as oppose to compressive strength. As a result, the tensile and compressive strengths were increased by 26% and 11%, respectively as compared to the control specimen. Increasing the fiber reinforcement ratio from 1% to 1.5%, resulted in diminishing the mechanical properties of concrete. However, reduction in concrete compressive strength was more prominent than the tensile strength. Furthermore, it was observed that, the crack propagation was decreased with the increase of fiber content when compared to the control specimen.

Durability of Concrete Subjected to the Combined Actions of Flexural Stress,Freeze-thaw Cycles and Bittern Solutions

Freeze-thaw durabilities of three types of concretesnormal portland cement concrete （OPC）, high strength concrete （HSC） and steel fiber reinforced high strength concrete （SFRHSC） were systemically investigated under the attacks of chemical solution, and combination of external flexural stress and chemical solution. Four kinds of bitterns from salt lakes in Sinkiang, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia and Tibet provinces of China were used as chemical attack solutions. The relative dynamic modulus （RDM） was used as an index for evaluating the damage degree during the course of chemical attack and stress corrosion. The experimental results show that the freeze-thaw durability of concrete is visibly reduced in the present of the flexural stress, i e, stress accelerates the damage process. In order to quantify the stress accelerated effect, a stress accelerating coefficient was proposed. The stress accelerating coefficient is closely related with the types of bitterns and the numbers of freeze-thaw cycles is. The more numbers of freeze-thaw cycles is, the greater the stress accelerating coefficient for various concretes will be. In addition, there also exists a critical ratio of external stress to the maximum flexural stress. If the stress ratio exceeds the critical one, the freeze-thaw durability of various concretes will be greatly decreased compared to the responding concretes without applied stress. The critical stress ratio of OPC, HSC and SFRHSC is 0.30, 0.40 and 0.40, respectively, indicating that HSC and SFRHSC have advantages over OPC and are suitable to use in the bittern erosion regions.

Strength and Deformation of Axially Loaded Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Sheet Confined Concrete Columns

Experimental results of 29 axially loaded fiber-reinforced polymer sheet (FS) confined concrete columns and two reference plain concrete columns are introduced. Twenty four column specimens were confined with carbon fiber sheet (CFS) and five column specimens were hybrid confined with both CFS and glass fiber sheet (GFS). The influence of aspect ratio, FS material, initial axial force ratio, and FS confine-ment degree on the strength and deformation of columns were studied. Based on the experimental results, the equations of complete stress-strain curve of CFS confined concrete are proposed. These equations are suitable for the nonlinear analysis of square and rectangular section columns. Suggestions of applying FS to confine concrete columns are presented.

BFRP筋与超高性能纤维混凝土黏结性能试验研究

为探究玄武岩纤维增强复合材料(BFRP)筋与超高性能纤维混凝土(UHPFRC)之间的黏结性能,通过中心拉拔试验,对BFRP-UHPFRC试件破坏模式、黏结-滑移曲线进行分析,且探讨了筋材直径、单一纤维及钢-PVA混杂纤维对黏结强度的影响。结果表明,试件破坏模式包括BFRP筋拔出破坏与拉断破坏。BFRP筋直径的增大将导致黏结强度降低。随着单一纤维掺量增加,黏结强度呈先增大后减小的趋势。而相较于单一纤维,钢-PVA混杂纤维显著提高了试件的黏结强度,当掺入1%钢纤维和0.5%PVA纤维时,黏结强度最高(25.35 MPa)。此外,通过灰狼算法优化的支持向量回归模型实现对黏结强度的预测,预测值与实际值拟合较好。