Cement and Concrete Research 56 (2014) 112120

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Cement and Concrete Research

journal homepage: http://ees.elsevier.com/CEMCON/default.asp

Reorientation of short steel bres during the ow of self-compacting

concrete mix and determination of the bre orientation factor
R. Deeb, B.L. Karihaloo , S. Kulasegaram
School of Engineering, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A simple method has been developed to assess the orientation and distribution of short steel bres in self-
Received 22 March 2013 compacting concrete mixes during ow. The ow of self-compacting bre reinforced concrete has been
Accepted 3 October 2013 simulated using three-dimensional Lagrangian smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) which is simpler and
more appropriate to use to simulate the ow and to monitor the distribution of bres and their orientation during
Keywords:
the ow. A probability density function (PDF) has been introduced to represent the bre orientation variables in
Fibre orientation
3D simulation
three dimensions. Moreover, the orientation variables of each individual bre in an arbitrary two dimensional
Self-compacting concrete cross-section have been calculated using the geometrical data obtained from the three dimensional simulations.
Smooth particle hydrodynamic (SPH) From these a new denition of the bre orientation factor has been introduced and a method proposed for its
Fibre orientation factor determination from the bre orientations monitored during the simulations. It is shown that this new denition
gives results that are consistent with the expected reorientation of bres towards the principal direction of ow.
A method has also been proposed for its determination from image analysis on cut sections.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction dimensions. Moreover, the orientation variables of each individual

With an increase in the compressive strength of concrete, its
brittleness becomes an important structural integrity issue. To
overcome this short steel bres are added to high strength concrete.
They improve the ductility, toughness, and exural and shear strengths
of cement-based materials by bridging the micro- and macro-cracks and
preventing their coalescence [1].
The properties of short steel bre-reinforced composites are largely
determined by the bre content, the bre aspect ratio, bre orientation
and the properties of the matrix itself. The efciency of short bres in a
composite material decreases from 100% when the bres are all aligned
along the major tensile stress to just 30% when the bres are randomly
distributed [2]. As the bre orientation changes throughout the
production of the composite, it is important to understand these
changes. This has been the focus of much scientic research for several
decades. Most of the research has concentrated on the visual counting of
bres in concrete sections cut after casting in the hardened state [35]
and the prediction of the average orientation factor of bres in the cut
sections [2]. In this paper, a simple method has been developed to assess
the orientation of short steel bres in self-compacting concrete mixes
during ow. The ow of self-compacting bre reinforced concrete has
been modelled using three-dimensional Lagrangian smooth particle
hydrodynamics (SPH) [6]. A probability density function (PDF) has
been introduced to represent the bre orientation variables in three
bre in an arbitrary two dimensional cross-section have been calculated
using the geometrical data obtained from the three dimensional
simulations. From these a new denition of the bre orientation factor
has been introduced and a method proposed for its determination
from the bre orientations monitored during the simulations. It is
shown that this new denition gives results that are consistent with
the expected reorientation of bres towards the principal direction of
ow. A method has also been proposed for its determination from
image analysis on cut sections.
It should be mentioned that SPH is applicable not only to the high
and ultra-high performance bre reinforced SCC reported in this
paper. It is ideal for simulating the ow of all SCC mixes with or without
steel bres, irrespective of their characteristic compressive strength that
compact under their own weight. It is able to monitor the positions of
coarse aggregates and not just bres during the entire process of the
placement of SCC into the formwork in order to ensure that the mix
ows as a homogeneous mass without any segregation. Full details of
this simulation and monitoring procedure may be found in [6]. Note
however that SPH is not suitable for concrete mixes which need
external vibratory energy for compaction.
2. Development of self-compacting high and ultra-high
performance bre reinforced concrete mixes

Corresponding author. Self-compacting high and ultra-high performance bre reinforced

E-mail address: KarihalooB@Cardiff.ac.uk (B.L. Karihaloo). concrete mixes have been produced in Cardiff University (with nominal

0008-8846/$ see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2013.10.002
 R. Deeb et al. / Cement and Concrete Research 56 (2014) 112120
28-day cube compressive strengths of 100 MPa and 160 MPa, res-
pectively) using 30 mm long Z560 Dramix steel bres with crimped
ends [7,8]. Both mixes have been tested to satisfy ow-ability, passing
ability and cohesiveness (i.e. resistance to segregation) criteria using
slump cone ow, J-ring and L-box tests [9,10].
The development of these mixes followed the traditional trial and
error approach, using the slump cone, J-ring and L-box tests on trial
mixes, until the mix met the ow-ability and passing ability criteria
and no visible signs of segregation was found. In this manner the
mixes 1 and 2 were proportioned to meet all the requirements in the
fresh state according to BS EN 206-9[9], see Table 1. The plastic viscosity
of each mix was calculated using the micromechanical procedure
described in [11].
3. Modelling the ow of self-compacting bre reinforced concrete
A three-dimensional Lagrangian smooth particle hydrodynamics SPH
method has been used to simulate the ow of mixes 1 and 2 [6]. The
constitutive behaviour of this non-Newtonian viscous uid is described
by a Bingham-type model. The simulation of self-compacting high- and
ultra-high-performance concrete containing short steel bres is focused
on the distribution of bres and their orientation during the ow.
SCC can be regarded as a non-Newtonian incompressible uid. Its
rheology is best described by the Bingham model which contains two
material properties, the yield stress 0 and the plastic viscosity . It is
known however that the yield stress of SCC mixes is very low (less
than 200 Pa) in comparison with normal vibrated concretes (thousands
of Pascal) and remains nearly constant over a wide range of plastic
viscosities. From a practical computational point of view, it is expedient
to approximate the bi-linear Bingham constitutive model which has a
kink at zero shear strain ratey 0 by a smooth continuous function [12]


m
0 1e
in which m is a very large number m = 105. This smooth function is
practically indistinguishable from the original bi-linear relation.
The Bingham constitutive model of the mixes is coupled with the
isothermal Lagrangian continuity and momentum conservation equations
to model the ow of SCC mixes.
A projection method based on the predictorcorrector time stepping
scheme has been adopted to track the Lagrangian non-Newtonian ow
[1315] and the incompressibility condition has been satised exactly
through a pressure Poisson equation.
Table 1
The mix constituents of Mix 1 and Mix 2.
Constituents Mix 1
Cement (kg) 500
Micro-silica (kg) 75
Ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) (kg)
Limestone powder b 2 mm 200
Coarse aggregates (kg) (crushed limestone) b10 mm 833
Sand b 2 mm 700
Quartz sand (kg)
9300 m
250600 m
Water (kg) 138
Fibres (30 mm long with crimped ends, volume fraction) 0.5%
Super-plasticiser/water 0.14
Water/(cement + micro-silica + GGBS) 0.24
Flow spread (mm) 760
t500 (sec) 3 3
Plastic viscosity (Pa s) 42.1
Compressive strength (MPa) 100
113
4. Treatment of bres
A number of computational modelling strategies have been attempted
to model the distribution of bres and their orientation during the ow of
a viscous uid. For instance, numerical techniques such as the discrete
element method [16] or the lattice Boltzmann technique [17] can be
used to model the SCC uid ow with bre suspensions. These
computational methodologies have their own merits and drawbacks in
solving the SCC ow with suspended bres. However, it would seem
natural, simpler and more appropriate to use a meshless particle based
Lagrangian numerical technique to simulate the ow and to monitor
the distribution of bres and their orientation during the ow in self-
compacting concrete.
The methodology based on SPH used here to monitor the bres
during the ow was proposed by Kulasegaram and Karihaloo [18]. The
key points of this methodology are the following:
The ends of a bre are represented by two particles and the mass of
the bre is equally divided between them. These particles are tagged
throughout the simulation process and the distance between them
is maintained equal to the bre length.
A bre is regarded as a rigid body that undergoes only rotational and
translational motions during the ow in a viscous uid.
Both bre and uid particles behave as a homogeneous mass and have
the same continuum properties except their masses.
Fibre orientation is mainly dictated by the uid ow of the homo-
geneous SCC mix rather than the mass of bres. It is therefore feasible
to assume that the positions of the ends of bre are largely controlled
by the uid particles surrounding them.
Fibres are generated randomly, maintaining a constant distance
between their ends equal to the bre length L0. The distance Ln + 1 at
a subsequent time step tn + 1 between the particles representing the
ends of a bre was calculated and forced to be equal to L0 within an
1 acceptable error.
5. Three-dimensional simulation results
To investigate how the short steel bres will distribute and orient
themselves during the ow, the slump cone tests of two mixes with
bres (Mix 1 and Mix 2 in Table 1) were simulated. In these simulations,
the total number of particles used was 23,581. The short steel bres
were treated as explained above. The number of bres in each of these
mixes was calculated from their volume fraction (0.5% in Mix 1 and
2.5% in Mix 2) (see Table 2). It should be mentioned that in this paper
the focus is on the reorientation of bres during the slump ow test
for both mixes 1 and 2. The distribution of coarse aggregates in Mix 1
during the ow has been simulated in [6] and it shows that this mix
does indeed ow as a homogeneous mass without any segregation of
coarse aggregates or bres.
Figs. 1 and 2 show the distribution of bres and their orientation at
Mix 2 two instants during the ow of Mix 1 and Mix 2, respectively. The
time for the mixes to spread to a diameter of 500 mm (t500 = 3 s)
543.5
214 matches exactly the time measured in the laboratory (Table 1). The
311.5 surface of the spread is smooth and the bres stay homogeneously
distributed at all times during the ow.
470
470 Table 2
188 Volume fraction of bres in Mix 1 and Mix 2 and the number of particles representing
2.5% them.
0.28
Mix 1 Mix 2
0.18
850 Total number of particles 23,581 23,581
Volume fraction of bres (%) 0.5 2.5
54.3 Number of bres 118 590
160 Number of bre end particles 236 1180
114 R. Deeb et al. / Cement and Concrete Research 56 (2014) 112120

Fig. 1. Simulated horizontal ow of Mix 1 after 0.2 s and 3 s in slump cone ow test.

A two-dimensional or axisymmetric simulation of these mixes
would be misleading because it would show all the bres in a single
plane. The three-dimensional ow simulation which shows the actual
distribution of bres and their orientation during the ow gives a highly
accurate picture of their rigid body motion.
6. Fibre orientation distribution in the slump ow test simulation
Short steel bres are distributed randomly during the production of
a self-compacting concrete mix. However, they alter their orientations
during the placement process. It is vital to know how they are distrib-
uted and oriented at the end of this process, because the performance
of the bre reinforced SCC in the hardened state is largely dictated by
their alignment relative to the major tensile stresses in the cast
structural element.
As mentioned above, two particles represent the ends of each bre
and these particles are tagged throughout the ow of the SCC and the
distance between them is maintained equal to the bre length. The
coordinates of the ends of each bre i, si(xsi, ysi, zsi) and ei(xei, yei, zei)
are therefore known during the ow. It is thus easy to track the
orientation of each individual bre represented by angles i and i
throughout the ow of SCC, say in the slump cone test, where i spans
between 0 and 90, and i between 0 and 360, as illustrated in Fig. 3.
From Fig. 3 it follows that
q of the curve; a high positive value means the curve is sharp, while a
tan i x2i y2i =zi ; tani xi =yi : 2 small value close to 0 means a nearly at, wide curve (Fig. 4).
We now introduce a Probability Density Function (PDF) of the bre
orientations f(, ) at an arbitrary instant t during the ow. The PDF
2
2
satises 0 f ; sin d d 1 . Next, we perform a statistical
0
analysis of the bre orientations at different times during the simulated
ow to estimate the best t PDF. The Johnson SB distribution function
[19], which has been successfully used in marine [20] and forestry [21]
science, was found to t our simulated data the best from among 55
different distribution functions tried, including the Gamma, Gaussian,
uniform, log-normal, Weibull distributions, etc.

z 2 
1

f x p exp ln 3
2z1z 2 1z
x
z : 4
Eq. (3), in which x stands for or represents the most probable
bre density function for each of the two uncorrelated variables , .
Here, N 0 is a scale parameter and is a location parameter. and
are shape parameters of the PDF curve. The density function is skewed
to the left, symmetric, or skewed to the right, if N 0, = 0, or b 0,
respectively (Fig. 4). represents the standardised measure of kurtosis

Fig. 2. Simulated horizontal ow of Mix 2 after 0.2 s and 3 s in slump cone ow test.
 R. Deeb et al. / Cement and Concrete Research 56 (2014) 112120 115

particles representing a bre are largely controlled by the uid particles

surrounding them. The bres however remain randomly distributed in
the circumferential direction as attested by the probability density
function f () which remains nearly a uniform distribution throughout
the ow (Figs. 5 and 6) with the mean deviating from the anticipated
180 by less than 6 in Mix 1 (low volume fraction of bres) and by less
than 3 in Mix 2 (high volume fraction of bres) (Fig. 7) after 10 s.

7. Determination of bre orientation in a cross-section

In practise, the bre orientation is often assessed by image analysis

Fig. 3. Fibre orientation in three dimensions.
The Johnson SB distribution function possesses two properties that
make it well suited to represent bre orientation angles , . Firstly,
because of the lower bound and the upper bound , it can represent
variables that have physical or natural constraints on their ranges.
Secondly, the two parameters controlling the shapes and allow a
considerable amount of exibility to t a broad spectrum of distributions.
This is clearly seen in Figs. 5 and 6 which show the PDFs of and at
various instants during the simulated ow of Mix 1 and Mix 2.
The mean values of angles and at various instants of ow shown
in Fig. 7 are calculated using Eq. (5), where n is the total number of
bres.
on cut sections of a hardened concrete structural element. A cylindrical
bre with diameter d and length l cut by a plane will appear as a circle
(with diameter d) if the plane is perpendicular to the bre, as an ellipse
if the plane is inclined to the bre (with the aspect ratio dependent on
the angle of inclination), or as a rectangle (width d and length l) if it
lies in the plane (Fig. 8).
By cutting the simulated slump cone ow by a plane at any time
during the ow, we can calculate exactly the number and cross-
sectional shapes of the bres lying in this plane or cut by it. For this, we
need to calculate the centre of intersection between a cylindrical bre
and the cutting plane, say the horizontal plane xy at z = zci. Let us
denote the coordinates of the centre of intersection as (xci, yci, zci).
These coordinates are calculated from the coordinates of the ends of a
bre (Fig. 3) and the plane z = zci
xci xsi xei xsi zci zsi =zei zsi ;
yci ysi yei ysi zci zsi =zei zsi ; zci 6

Xn The shape of the cross-section of the bre cut by a horizontal plane

x i1
f xi xi :
From Fig. 7, it is clear that bres align themselves with the ow such
that the mean angle of orientation with respect to the horizontal
direction of ow is only (90 ) 8 after 10 s, irrespective of the
volume fraction of bres. This is in agreement with the probability
density function f () which is skewed to the right (Figs. 5 and 6). The
bre orientation is therefore mainly dictated by the uid ow of the
homogeneous SCC mix rather than the mass of bres, and this conrms
the assumption made in the SPH simulation that the positions of the
5 parallel to the xy-plane is decided as follows:
It is rectangular (with width = d and length = l) if zsi = zei, as both
ends of the bre will appear in the plane;
It is circular (with diameter=d) if zsi is not equal to zei and i is equal
to 0 (Fig. 3);
It is elliptical if zsi is not equal to zei and i is not equal to 0. The semi
major and semi minor axes of the ellipse are calculated once the angle i
is known (it spans between 0 and 90).
The semi-major (ai) and semi-minor (bi) are given by ai = r/cos i
(i b 90) where the bre radius r = d/2 = 0.275 mm, with i given by
Eq. (2), and bi = r.

0.008
0.014
<0 0.007 =0 0.014
0.012
>0
0.012
0.006
0.01 0.005 0.01
PDF
PDF

0.008 0.008
PDF

0.004
0.006 0.003 0.006
0.004 0.002 0.004
0.002 0.001 0.002
0 0 0
-50 0 50 -50 0 50 -50 0 50
Johnson SB Johnson SB Johnson SB

0.016
0.014 ~0 0.015
=2 0.08 =10
0.012
0.01 0.06
PDF
PDF

PDF

0.008 0.01
0.04
0.006
0.004 0.005
0.02
0.002
0 0 0
-50 0 50 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 -10 -5 0 5 10 15
Johnson SB Johnson SB Johnson SB

Fig. 4. Different distribution function shapes based on different values of and .

116 R. Deeb et al. / Cement and Concrete Research 56 (2014) 112120

0 sec 0 sec
0.12
0.12
0.1
0.1
0.08
PDF 0.08

PDF
0.06 0.06

0.04 0.04

0.02 0.02
0 0
0 20 40 60 80 0 100 200 300
Angle (degree) Angle (degree)
5 sec 5 sec
0.25 0.09
0.08
0.2 0.07
0.06
0.15
PDF

PDF
0.05
0.04
0.1
0.03
0.05 0.02
0.01
0 0
20 40 60 80 0 100 200 300
Angle (degree) Angle (degree)
10 sec 10 sec
0.32
0.064
0.28
0.056
0.24
0.048
0.2
PDF

0.04
PDF

0.16 0.032
0.12 0.024
0.08 0.016
0.04 0.008
0 0
20 40 60 80 0 100 200 300
Angle (degree) Angle (degree)
Histogram Johnson SB

Fig. 5. Probability density functions f () (left) and f () (right) at several instants during the simulated ow of Mix 1.

At this stage all the required geometrical data for the ellipses are
known, namely the centre ci (xci, yci, zci), the semi-major ai, and the
semi-minor bi axes.
The major axis of this ellipse may also be rotated by an angle i
(spanning between 0 and 360 with respect to y-axis as illustrated in
Fig. 3) which can be calculated from Eq. (2).
Fig. 9 shows how the steel bres are oriented in a horizontal section
(100 mm above the base of the cone) of the self-compacting concrete
mixes (Mix 1 and Mix 2) at the start of the simulated slump cone test.
In a similar manner the slump ow can be cut by a vertical plane
parallel to the xz-plane (Fig. 3), as we shall do below and the same
steps as described above for the horizontal plane followed to calculate
the number and cross-sectional shapes of bres lying in the vertical
cross-section or cut by it. In this case however, is measured from the
y-axis (i.e. the axis normal to the plane). Angles and and the co-
ordinates of the point of intersection are again given by Equations (2)
and (6), after swapping y and z.
Figs. 1014 illustrate how the steel bres are oriented in a vertical
section of the self-compacting concrete mixes (Mix 2 and Mix 1) at
various times during the simulated ow. Fig. 10 shows a diametrical
section of the slump cone at the initiation of a simulated ow when
the bres are nearly randomly distributed in the mixes. For clarity of
presentation, the sizes of the ellipses, circles, and rectangles are
exaggerated several times compared to the cross section dimensions
of the cone. Note that the coordinates of the particles representing the
ends of the bres are continuously monitored throughout the
simulation from which the cross-sectional shapes of the bres cut by
the vertical sections are calculated as described above (Figs. 1112). It
should be mentioned that the end particles representing the bres are
randomly distributed, but as the distance between these particles is
xed, a number of degrees of freedom are suppressed. Referring to
Table 2, this means that 118 of freedom out of a possible 70,743 are
suppressed in Mix 1; the corresponding gures in Mix 2 are 590 out of
70,743.
It can be seen from Figs. 1014 that the number of bres lying in the
vertical section (plane xz) or cut by it decreases as the ow time
increases and the surface area of the cut section reduces. For a random
distribution of bres in a volume, the number of bres lying in section
of a certain area or cut by it can be calculated exactly using the theory
of geometric probability, or more precisely from the solution of the so-
called Buffon problem [22,23]. The solution is
X
Eh volumes
l 4X : 7
Ec surface areas
The solution is obtained by dividing the volume of the cone into
smaller cells larger in size than the longest ingredient in the SCC mix
(i.e. the 30mm bre), say 40mm cubes and then calculating the number
of bres of equal length that either fall into interior of the cells or are cut
by one of its surfaces. Here, E(c) is the number of bres of length l that
are cut by one of the surfaces of the cells, and E(h) is the number
of times each of the two ends of the bres fall in the interior of the
cells.
 R. Deeb et al. / Cement and Concrete Research 56 (2014) 112120 117

0 sec 0 sec
0.12 0.08
0.07
0.1
0.06
0.08 0.05

PDF
PDF
0.06 0.04
0.03
0.04
0.02
0.02 0.01
0 0
0 20 40 60 80 0 100 200 300
Angle (degree) Angle (degree)

5 sec 5 sec
0.36 0.072
0.32 0.064
0.28 0.056
0.24 0.048
PDF

0.2

PDF
0.04
0.16 0.032
0.12 0.024
0.08 0.016
0.04 0.008
0 0
20 40 60 80 0 100 200 300
Angle (degree) Angle (degree)

10 sec 10 sec

0.064
0.4
0.056
0.048
0.3
PDF

PDF

0.04
0.2 0.032
0.024
0.1 0.016
0.008
0 0
20 40 60 80 0 100 200 300
Angle (degree) Angle (degree)
Histogram Johnson SB

Fig. 6. Probability density functions f () (left) and f () (right) at several instants during the simulated ow of Mix 2.

For Mix 2 containing 2.5% volume fraction of 30 mm long steel bres
with 0.55 mm diameter, the total number of bres in the volume of the
truncated slump cone is N f VV cf  2:5% 19285, where Vc is the volume
of truncated slump cone and Vf is the volume of each bre. By dividing
the cone volume into 40 mm cubical cells (there are nearly 86 such
cells in the cone) we have from (7) that EEhc 89.
The total number of bres in the interior of each cell or cut by one of
its surfaces is Ec Eh VVcube  2:5% 224, whence it follows that the
f
number of bres cut by a 40 40 mm2 side of the cube is E(c) =118. The
diametrical vertical section of the slump cone at the start of the test
(Fig. 10) has a surface area equal to 45,000mm2, so that the total number
of bres cut by this section is 4040
118
 45000 3318 out of a total of 19,285

200 200
180 180
160 160
Angles (degree)

Angles (degree)

140 140
120 120
100 100
80 80
60 60
40 40
20 20
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Flow time (sec) Flow time (sec)

Fig. 7. The mean values of angles and for Mix 1 (left) and Mix 2 (right).
118 R. Deeb et al. / Cement and Concrete Research 56 (2014) 112120

e theoretical and simulated numbers is because of the pseudo-random

e nature of the bre distribution in the simulations, since some of the
Section plane s e
s s
Cross section
Fig. 8. Possible cross-sections of a bre cut by a vertical plane.
bres in the cone. However, as only 590 bres represent the total
number of bres in the 3D SPH simulation (Table 2), the number of bres
that should theoretically be cut by the diametrical section of the slump
cone at the start of the test is 590 3318/19285 = 101 bres. The actual
number in our simulation (Fig. 10) is 100. The difference between the
degrees of freedom are suppressed as explained above.
It is seen from Eq. (7) that the number of bres cut by a vertical
section E(c) is proportional to the surface area of the section. At the
initiation of ow, the surface area was 45,000 mm2, and theoretically
101 bres should be found in the cut section, while after 10 s, this
number should be only 39 bres because the area of the vertical section
is reduced to approximately 17,000 mm2. The actual number in our
simulation is 43 (Fig. 14). The number of bres in the cut section in
the simulations is compared with the theoretical value in Table 3.
Also, as seen in Figs. 1014, the number of bres in the (vertical) cut
sections with elliptical cross-sections reduces and those with circular
sections increase as the ow time increases. This suggests that more
and more bres are orienting with the dominant (horizontal) ow
direction normal to the (vertical) cutting plane. However, this was to
be expected because the cone ow spread is almost planar towards
the end of ow reducing in height from 300 mm at initiation (Fig. 10)

Fig. 9. Horizontal cross-section of slump cone at the initiation of simulated ow; Mix 1 (left) and Mix 2 (right).

Fig. 10. Vertical cross section of slump cone at the initiation of simulated ow for Mix 1 (left) and Mix 2 (right).
 R. Deeb et al. / Cement and Concrete Research 56 (2014) 112120 119

Fig. 11. Vertical cross section of simulated slump ow after 3 s (Mix 1).

Fig. 12. Vertical cross section of simulated slump ow after 3 s (Mix 2).

Fig. 13. Vertical cross section of simulated slump ow after 10 s (Mix 1).

Fig. 14. Vertical cross section of simulated slump ow after 10 s (Mix 2).

to only about 30 mm in the centre after 10 s when the ow is about to
stop (Figs. 1314).
8. Fibre orientation factor
A bre orientation factor (01) is used to assess the orientation
state of bres in a given cross-section [19]. If this orientation factor can
be controlled and predicted effectively, then the partial safety factor
reecting the bre orientations can be chosen close to unity thus
allowing the superior properties of bre reinforced self-compacting
concrete to be exploited to the full extent [24]. It was rst proposed
by Soroushian and Lee [25] as the ratio of the number of bres actually
counted in a given cross-section (N) to the average theoretical number
of bres in such a cross-section (Nth), assuming that all the bres are
perpendicular to the cut surface. The theoretical number of bres was
chosen equal to the area of all bres in the cross section (Ac Vf) divided
by the area of one bre (Af), where (Ac) is the area of the cross-section
and Vf is the volume fraction of bres [2]. The smaller is this factor, the
larger is the average deviation of the bres from the perpendicular
direction to the cut surface.
There are two drawbacks of this denition of the bre orientation
factor. Firstly, the approximate method [2] proposed for the calculation
of Nth overestimates the actual theoretical number of bres in a cross
section. Thus, it works out to be 32 for Mix 1 (and 158 for Mix 2) at
the start of the slump ow simulation and 12 (60) after 10 s ow
geometric probability described above (Table 3). Secondly, N does not
reect the actual inclination of the bres relative to the section, and
thus does not reect the effectiveness of a bre; a bre is most effective
if it is perpendicular to the cross-section; it is completely ineffective if it
lies in the section; a bre inclined to the section is partially effective
depending on its angle of inclination.
Therefore, a new orientation factor is introduced here. It is dened as
the ratio of the projected length along the normal to the (vertical) cut
plane (y-axis for vertical plane xz) to the actual length l of the bre
[5,26]. This ratio is nothing but the sine of the angle between the bre
and the y-axis (Fig. 3). This denition is consistent with the bre
probability density function introduced above. The orientation factor
in the vertical cut plane is:
1X n
1X n
r
cos i 8
n i1 n i1 ai
It is clear from Figs. 15 and 16 that the bres tend to orient
themselves with the direction of ow. This is reected in the bre
orientation factor in the xz-plane being equal to 0.92, irrespective of
1
0.8
Orientation factor

which exceeds the exact number calculated using the theory of

0.6
Table 3
Number of bres in a vertical cross-section of (Mix 1) and (Mix 2) based on the 3D 0.4
simulation and Buffon problem.

Flow time No. of bres in the No. of bres based 0.2

(sec) simulation on Buffon problem
0
Mix 1 0 21 21 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10 8 8
Flow time (sec)
Mix 2 0 100 101
10 43 39
Fig. 15. Fibre orientation factor in a vertical cut section (Mix 1).
120
1
Orientation factor
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0 A method has also been proposed for its determination from image
0 1 2 3 4 5
Flow time (sec)
Fig. 16. Fibre orientation factor in vertical cut section (Mix 2).
the bre volume fraction. In a slump cone spread test, it is more
appropriate to consider the bre distribution in the xy-plane. As noted
above, the bres are still distributed nearly randomly in the
circumferential direction. Note that at the beginning of the slump
cone test the bres are oriented nearly randomly with the mean angle
equal to about 42.7 (for perfect random distribution the mean angle
would be 45), so that the bre orientation factor in the xy-plane is
about 0.68. The bres start to reorient themselves with the principal
direction of ow and after 10 s the mean angle has increased to
about 82, corresponding to a bre orientation factor of about 0.99,
irrespective of the bre volume fraction. Such a high orientation factor
for the slump ow is not surprising, given that after 10s the ow spread
is nearly two-dimensional lying in the xy-plane (Fig. 3) with the
maximum height at centre in the z-direction only at 30 mm. In a real
SCC structural element the bre orientation factor in a cut section is
likely to be smaller because the ow spread is three-dimensional.
By comparison, according to the denition of Soroushian and Lee
[25] the bre orientation factor for Mix 1 would be (21/32) = 0.66 at
the start of the slump cone test and (8/12) = 0.67 after 10 s ow. The
corresponding values for Mix 2 are (101/158) = 0.64 and (39/60) =
0.65. In other words, the bre orientation factor hardly changes from
the start of the ow until it stops, i.e. the bres do not reorient with
the principal ow direction at all which is clearly unexpected and
counterintuitive in SCC mixes. In calculating the bre orientation factor
according to Soroushian and Lee [25], we have used Nth, as explained
above and N according to the solution of the Buffon problem (Table 3).
Finally, it should be mentioned that in practise it may not be possible
or practicable to perform the full three-dimensional simulation of the
ow of bre-reinforced SCC into the formwork and thus to determine
the angle of inclination of bres needed for the calculation of the
bre orientation factor. In such instances, it is necessary to measure
the major axis of all elliptical sections of bres in the cut section and
together with all bres with circular sections in the cut plane, used to
determine the bre orientation factor using Eq. (8). Note that the bres
that lie in the plane along which the specimen is cut and which are thus
likely to come loose and fall off during cutting, make a negligibly small
contribution to the bre orientation factor, Eq. (8).
9. Conclusion
A Lagrangian SPH method has been used to simulate the 3-
dimensional ow of SCC mixes containing 0.5 or 2.5% by volume
30 mm steel bres in the slump cone conguration. The orientation
and the distribution of the steel bres have been monitored throughout
the ow and the change in orientation has been described by the
Johnson SB distribution function.
It is shown that the bres tend to align themselves with the principal
direction of ow but remain mostly randomly distributed perpendicular
R. Deeb et al. / Cement and Concrete Research 56 (2014) 112120
to this direction. The reorientation of the bres during the ow has been
used to estimate the bre orientation factor (FOF) in a cross section
perpendicular to the principal direction of ow. This estimation
procedure involves the number of bres cut by the section and their
inclination to the cutting plane.
It is shown that the number of bres cut by the plane as monitored in
the SPH simulation is in excellent agreement with the theoretically
expected value, thus conrming the validity of the new denition of
FOF introduced in this paper.
6 7 8 9 10
analysis on cut sections when it is not be possible or practicable to
perform the full three-dimensional simulation of the ow of bre-
reinforced SCC into the formwork.
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