Performance evaluation of low volume synthetic fibres in pozzolanic cement concrete

Figures & data

Table 1. Observations made regarding properties of low volume dosage polypropylene fibre concrete.

Author	Polypropylene fibre	Major Observations
Drago Saje et al. (2011) (Saje et al., 2011)	0, 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75%	0.75% fibre specimen showed 25% less shrinkage than plain concrete
Vahid Afroughsabet (2015) (Afroughsabet & Ozbakkaloglu, 2015)	0.15%, 0.3%a nd 0.45%	Drop in Workability
(Mohseni et al., 2017)	0.30%	Lower water absorption
(Nosheen et al., 2018)	0.4% and 0.6%	Crack width increased for former and latter dosage was 7.5 mm and 9.5 mm.
(Sadrinejad et al., 2018)	0.10%	The maximum crack width with 0.1% PP was in the range between 4 mm-6mm.
(Deb et al., 2018)	2%	Flexural strength improvement
(Guo et al., 2019)	0.12%, 0.17% and 0.22% (19 mm)	Tensile strength - 0.12% slight improvement, 0.17% showed minor drop and 0.22% major drop
(Shen et al., 2020)	8kg/m^3 (60 mm, 54 mm and 42 mm)	Compressive and tensile strength increased with increase in fiber length
(Alwesabi et al., 2020)	1%	Drop in Workability
(Bencardino et al., 2010)	1% and 2%	Fibres contributed to stability, integrity and durability of concrete
(Leong et al., 2020)	0.15%, 0.3% and 0.50%	Higher dosage improved flexural strength up to 26.7% and drying shrinkage was also reduced
(Amin et al., 2020)	0.2% and 0.4%	21% and 41% increase in flexural strength respectively
(Rashid et al., 2019)	0.40%, 0.60%	lower absorption
(Ahmed et al., 2020)	0.15%–0.9%. (12 mm)	0.6% is considered as optimum with increase in compressive strength and tensile strength
(Akid et al., 2021)	0.06%, 0.12% and 0.18%.	0.12% optimum - lower sorptivity, chloride permeability and water penetration
(Liang et al., 2022)	0.9 and 6 kg/m^3 (19 mm)	Compressive strength showed increment
(Rangrazian et al., 2022)	0.5% (19 mm)	slight improvement in flexural strength with 4.12 MPa for FRC and 3.22 MPa for plain concrete

Figure 1. Experimental program.

Table 2. Concrete mix designations.

Cement type	Fibre dosage (%)	Designation	Cement (kg/m^3)	Fine Aggregate (kg/m^3)	Coarse aggregate (kg/m^3)	Water (kg/m^3)	Admixture (%)
Ordinary Portland cement (0)	0	0 (O)	420	840	840	151.2	0.55
	0.1	0.1 (O)	420	840	840	151.2	0.55
	0.2	0.2 (O)	420	840	840	151.2	0.55
	0.3	0.3 (O)	420	840	840	151.2	0.55
Portland pozzolana cement (P)	0	0 (P)	450	720	1327.5	162	0.5
	0.1	0.1 (P)	450	720	1327.5	162	0.5
	0.2	0.2 (P)	450	720	1327.5	162	0.5
	0.3	0.3 (P)	450	720	1327.5	162	0.5

Figure 2. Workability characteristics of PPC and OPC.

Figure 3. The variation of Concrete strength, quality and with respect to fibre dosage.

Table 3. Correlation coefficients of PPC concrete.

Portland pozzolana cement		Fibre dosage(%)	Compressive strength (N/mm2)	Split Tensile strength (N/mm2)	Flexural strength (N/mm2)	Ultrasonic Pulse velocity (km/s)	Permeability (mm)
Fibre dosage(%)	Pearson Corr.	1	−0.85693	0.97206	0.92582	−0.96471	0.95618
	p-value	–	0.14307	0.02794	0.07418	0.03529	0.04382

2-tailed test of significance is used.

Table 5. Standard deviation for PPC concrete.

	Mean	SD	Min	Max
Fibre dosage (%)	0.15	0.1291	0	0.3
Compressive strength (N/mm2)	47.4525	0.97473	46.3	48.63
Split tensile strength (N/mm2)	3.2225	0.0943	3.11	3.31
Flexural strength (N/mm2)	4.84	0.16733	4.6	4.98
Ultrasonic pulse velocity (km/s)	4.035	0.26764	3.79	4.4
Permeability (mm)	13	1.08012	12	14.5

Table 6. Standard deviation for OPC concrete.

	Mean	SD	Min	Max
Fibre dosage (%)	0.15	0.1291	0	0.3
Compressive strength (N/mm^2)	52.105	0.8985	50.8	52.78
Split tensile strength (N/mm^2)	3.3425	0.06131	3.28	3.4
Flexural strength (N/mm^2)	5.8625	0.05315	5.8	5.92
Ultrasonic pulse velocity (km/s)	4.0575	0.24254	3.76	4.27
Permeability (mm)	13.55	0.8226	12.5	14.5

Figure 4. Concrete compression test. a. Mixing, b. Concrete collection, c. Casted cubes, e. Compression test, d. Post failure sample.

Figure 5. Compressive strength variation of fibrous concrete.

Table 4. Correlation coefficients of OPC concrete.

Ordinary Portland cement		Fibre dosage (%)	Compressive strength (N/mm2)	Split Tensile strength (N/mm2)	Flexural strength (N/mm2)	Ultrasonic Pulse velocity (km/s)	Permeability (mm)
Fibre dosage (%)	Pearson Corr.	1	−0.90521	0.94763	0.99586	−0.96343	0.97304
	p-value	–	0.09479	0.05237	0.00414	0.03657	0.02696

2-tailed test of significance is used.

Figure 6. Evolution of compressive strength of OPC concrete (left) and PPC concrete (right).

Figure 7. Evolution of Split tensile strength of OPC concrete (left) and PPC concrete (right).

Figure 8. Cylinders post failure –0.3% fibre dosage.

Figure 9. Cylinder testing (left) and Cylinders post failure –0, 0.1% and 0.2% fibre dosage (right).

Figure 10. Flexure test on beam specimen.

Figure 11. Evolution of Flexural strength of OPC concrete (left) and PPC concrete (right).

Figure 12. Ultrasonic pulse velocity test.

Figure 13. Evolution of ultrasonic pulse velocity for OPC concrete (left) and PPC concrete (right).

Figure 14. Permeability test.

Figure 15. Evolution of water penetration for OPC concrete (left) and PPC concrete (right).

Figure 16. Pores observed in concrete matrix.

Figure 17. Matrix of semi-porous and non-fibrous PPC concrete.

Figure 18. Water pocket formation around fibres.

Figure 19. Balling of fibres at 0.3% dosage of PPF.

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