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.

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.

Toughness of Polymer Modified Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete

An experimental investigation is carried out to study the toughness of polymer modified steel fiber reinforced concrete. Volume fraction of steel fibers is varied from 0% to 7% at the interval of 1% by weight of cement. 15% SBR latex polymer was used by weight of cement. Cubes of size 150 × 150 × 150 mm for compressive strength, prism specimens of size 150 mm × 150 mm × 700 mm for flexure strength and, specimen of size 150 × 150 × 150 mm with 16 mm diameter tor steel bar of length 650 mm embedded in concrete cube at the center for bond test were prepared. Various specimens were tested after 28 days of curing. Area under curve (toughness) is measured and mentioned in this work.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Experimental Study on Electric Properties of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Concrete

According to the phenomenon that the physical properties have,a great effect on the electric capability of carbon fiber reinforced concrete, the author researched the relationship between DC resistance of carbon fiber reinforced concrete and curing age using the two-probe method. Then the effect of insulative area, location and quantity on DC resistance of carbon fiber reinforced concrete was investigated at different curing age with analysis of hydration. The results suggest that DC resistance increases greatly with its curing age, which illustrates the relationship like Gaussian curve. In every curing ages the electric capability of carbon fiber reinforced concrete weakenes with the increase of insulative area. In same curing ages, section and insulative area, the more the quantity of insulation, the stronger the conductibility. The insulative location in optimal position can only result in optimal conductibility.

Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis of Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete Deep Beams

By the nonlinear finite element analysis （FEA） method, the mechanical properties of the steel fiber reinforced concrete （SFRC） deep beams were discussed in terms of the crack load and ultimate bearing capacity. In the simulation process, the ANSYS parametric design language （APDL） was used to set up the finite element model; the model of bond stress-slip relationship between steel bar and concrete was established. The nonlinear FEA results and test results demonstrated that the steel fiber can not only significantly improve the cracking load and ultimate bearing capacity of the concrete but also repress the development of the cracks. Meanwhile, good agreement was found between the experimental data and FEA results, if the unit type, the parameter model and the failure criterion are selected reasonably.

Detecting the Resistivity Distribution of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Concrete by Electrical Resistance Tomography Method

According to the principle of electrical resistance tomography （ ERT）, the resistivity distribution of the carbon fiber reinforced concrete （CFRC） in the sensing field can be measured by injecting exciting current and measuring the voltage on the sensor electrode arrays installed on the surface of the object. Therefore, measurement of the resistivity distribution of CFRC is divided into first measuring the boundary conditions and then inversely computing the resistivity distribution. To reach this goal, an ERT system was constructed, which is composed of a sensor array unit, a data acquisition unit and an image reconstruction unit. Simulations of static ERT was performed on set-ups with many objects spread in a homogeneous background, and a simulation of dynamic ERT was also done on a rectangular board, the resistivity of which was changed within a small domain of it. Then, the resistivity distribution of a CFRC sample with a circlar hole as the target was detected by the ERT system. Simulation and experimental results show that the reconstructed ERT image reflects the resistivity distribution or the resistivity change of CFRC structure well. Especially, a small change in resistivity can be identified from the reconstructed images in the simulation of dynamic ERT images.

Meso-mechanical Interfacial Behavior of Elbow Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete

The strain distributions near the interface when the elbow steel fiber is pulled out from the half-mould concrete matrix are directly measured using a combined method of single fiber pull-out test and digital image correlation. Meanwhile, the real-time processes of the bonding, debonding and sliding at the interface are observed. The micro-mechanism of the strain localization in the failure process of interface when debonding occurs and the strengthening mechanism at the imbedded fiber are discussed. The experimental results show that the meso-scale strain localization gives rise to the localization of shear damage near the fiber interface. This strain localization characterized by the debonding process near the interface occurs, develops and moves gradually at an apparently regular interval. At the elbow part of the imbedded fiber, the peak value of the shearing stress occurs. But the primary debonding does not occur at this place because the strength of the shear damage is increased at the local area of the elbow part in the concrete, displaying an apparent reinforced effect at the end of the fiber.

Mesoscale Modeling of Hooked-End Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete under Uniaxial Compression Using Cohesive Elements

Based on the cohesive zone model, the 2D mesostructures were developed for numerical studies of multi-phase hooked-end steel fiber reinforced concrete under uniaxial compression. The zero-thickness cohesive interface elements were inserted within the mortar, on interfaces of mortar and aggregates and interfaces of mortar and fibers to simulate the failure process of fiber reinforced concrete. The results showed that the numerical results matched well the experimental results in both failure modes and stress-strain behavior. Hooked-end steel fiber reinforced concrete exhibited ductile failure and maintained integrity during a whole failure process. Compared with normal concrete, HES fiber reinforced concrete was greater stiffness and compressive strength;the descending branch of the stress-strain curve was significantly flatter;the residual stress was higher.

SIZE EFFECT AND LOADING RATE DEPENDENCE OF THE PRESSURE-SENSITIVITY OF CARBON FIBER REINFORCED CONCRETE(CFRC)

Carbon fiber reinforced concrete(CFRC) was found to be anintrinsically smart material. An experi- mental study is presented toexamine the influence of size effect and loading rate on thepressure-sensitivity of CFRC during the elastic regime. The resultsshow that the sensitiv- ity increases with the size of specimenincreasing and load- ing rate makes no influence on it. The former isbecause the deformation of higher specimen is larger than lower oneunder the same compressive stress. The behind is because thedeformation of specimen is the same under the same com- pressivestress although the loading rate is different. Therefore, the smartbeharvior of CFRC also reflects the Deformation of material undercompressive stress.