Effects of steel fibre-aggregate interaction on mechanical behaviour of steel fibre reinforced concrete

ABSTRACT

This work investigated the effects of fibre type, dosage and maximum aggregate size on the mechanical behaviour of concrete reinforced with steel fibres. Hooked-end steel fibres with 50 and 60 mm length and aspect ratios (length/diameter) of 45, 65 and 80 were used with maximum sizes of coarse aggregate of 10 and 20 mm. The same mix proportions of concrete were used throughout the investigation. Flexural testing of 600 mm square panels was performed. Subsequently, cores were taken from these panels and X-ray computed tomography was used to analyse the positioning of fibres in hardened concrete. The experimental results show that the performance of steel fibre-reinforced concrete improved drastically when compared to plain concrete without fibres. Longer, thinner fibres and smaller aggregates were noted to give the best results.

KEYWORDS:

• Concrete
• steel fibres
• flexural properties
• X-ray CT

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank Bekaert for supplying steel fibres and the technical staff of School of Civil Engineering and Surveying, University of Portsmouth and Mr Chris Fox of University of Nottingham for their assistance in data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The financial support for the first author from Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Nigeria is gratefully acknowledged.