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Effect of Steel Fibers on Strength of Concrete

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 J. Eng. Sci. Manage. Educ. Vol-9 (I) 45-51, 2016 Journal of
Engineering,
Science &
Management
Education

Effect of Steel Fibers on

Strength of Concrete
A.G. Dahake1 and K. S. Charkha2
1
Marathwada Institute of Technology, 2Aurangabad Maharashtra, India
Email: ajaydahake@gmail.com

Article History : Received: 19th January 2016 Revised: 18th March 2016 Accepted: 28th March 2016

Abstract : The present work deals with the effect of different types of steel fibers on various strengths of concrete are studied. The different fibers at
a constant rate of 2.5 % by the weight of cement are used for the experimental work. Various strengths considered for investigation are
compressive strength and flexural strength. Results obtained are of different researchers and their experimental comparison of results of steel
fiber reinforced concrete with that of normal concrete showed the significant improvements in the results of compressive strength and flexure
strength of concrete with different types of steel fiber with various constant volume fractions and different aspect ratio.

Key words: Steel fiber, compressive strength, flexural strength

I - INTRODUCTION material were used. Fiber Reinforced Concrete started to come

Cement concrete is probably the most extensively used
construction material in the world. The reason for its extensive
use is that it provides good workability and can be moulded in
any shape. Concrete consumption is around 10 billion tons per
year, which is equivalent to 1 ton per every living person.
Production of Cement and Steel has environmental hazards due
to emission of CO2 and dust particles in the atmosphere. Hence
prudent use of cement and steel has distinct economic and
environmental iMPacts.
Plain concrete is a brittle material. Under iMPact and dynamic
loading plain concrete exhibits extensive cracking and
undergoes brittle failure. The concrete is weak in tension and
hence to overcome this problem cement concrete is reinforced
using steel bars and thus called as reinforced cement concrete
(R.C.C.) In this modern age, civil engineering constructions
have their own structural and durability requirements. Every
structure has its own intended purpose and hence to meet this
purpose, modification in traditional cement concrete has
became mandatory.
Fiber Reinforced Concrete (FRC) is a composite material made
primarily from hydraulic cements, aggregates and discrete
reinforcing fibers. Fiber incorporation in concrete, mortar and
cement paste enhances many of the engineering properties of
these materials such as fracture toughness, flexural strength,
resistance to fatigue, iMPact, thermal shock and spelling. It is a
type of building material that is increasing in use. New types of
concrete develop continuously and the need to update the
knowledge on the use of fiber reinforcement in such concrete
increases. The use of fiber reinforcement is not a particularly
recent idea. During ancient times, fibers extracted from organic
to its modern industrial use during the 1960's. The first
applications were mainly defense related where FRC was used
in various shelter structures. Research development has led the
FRC to increase its use as a building material. Nowadays, it is
commonly applied in shotcrete, pavements, industrial floors,
bridge decks and precast elements.
Technically, it is possible to produce FRC of very high tensile
strength using high fiber content but it is not feasible for
structural applications due to practical reasons. For e.g. the use
of high fiber content leads to severe reduction of the
workability of the fresh concrete. FRC is limited to applications
where crack distribution and reduction of crack widths is the
main purpose. However, the combined use of FRC and re-bars
may yield synergetic effects due to improved bond properties.
The use of FRC as a building material has been the target of
extensive research during the last decade but still the resulting
iMPact on existing building codes is sparse. It is often argued
that the relatively high material cost of fibers is the reason for
the low usage, but the main reason is the current lack of design
rules and guidelines which fully utilizes the advantages of
FRC. The fiber reinforced concrete is produced using different
types of fibers. The fibers are mainly classified in two groups as
metallic and non-metallic fibers. Here, we will mainly discuss
Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete (SFRC).
The SFRC is a composite material made of cement, fine and
coarse aggregates and discontinuous discrete steel fibers. In
tension SFRC fails only after the steel fiber breaks or pulled out
of the cement matrix. The composite nature of SFRC is
responsible for its properties in freshly mixed and hardened
state. The SFRC possess many excellent dynamic

© NITTTR, Bhopal, India (45)

 J. Eng. Sci. Manage. Educ. Vol-9 (I) 45-51, 2016
performances such as high resistance to explosion and
penetration as compared to traditional concrete. When used in
structural applications, SFRC should only be used in a
supplementary role to inhibit cracking, to improve resistance to
iMPact or dynamic loading and resist material disintegration.
The mechanical properties of SFRC are influenced by the type
of fiber, aspect ratio, and volume fraction of fibers and the size
of the aggregates. One of the most important properties of
SFRC is its ability to transfer stresses across a cracked section
which increases toughness of concrete in hardened state.
Among the various types of fiber currently available, steel
fibers are most widely used. Considerable research had been
carried out to evaluate mechanical properties such as tensile,
compressive, flexural, and iMPact strength of steel fiber
reinforced cement composites.
The investigation reported in this paper is aimed at studying the
behavior of steel fiber reinforced concrete beam under
combined loading. The tests conducted on rectangular beams
under different combination of torsion and shear. The observed
failure modes helped to modify the strength equation
developed for presence of shear force. The results of tests are
coMParing with the theoretical predictions. A good agreement
between the theory and experiment has been observed.
Kamal et al (2014) carried out experimental test on ultra-high
performance concrete (UHPC). It is a special type of concrete
with extraordinary potentials in terms of strength and durability
performance in production and application implement the most
up-to–date knowledge and technology of concrete
manufacturing. This paper aimed to evaluate the behavior of
ultra-high strength concrete beams. This paper also aimed to
determine the effect of adding fibers and explore their effect
upon the behavior and strength of the reinforced concrete
beams. The main variables taken into consideration in this
research were the type of fibers and the percentage of
longitudinal reinforcement as well as the existence or absence
of the web reinforcement .Two types of fibers were used
including steel and polypropylene fibers. The behavior of the
tested beams was investigated with special attention to the
deflection under different stages of loading initial cracking,
cracking pattern , and ultimate load. This led to increased
stiffness and higher values of maximum loads.
Soylev and Ozturan (2014) Studied steel polypropylene and
glass fiber concretes at low volume fractions, which have been
successfully used for crack control in many structural
application. These were tested for different properties
including water absorption ,electrical resistivity ,depth of
chloride penetration ,chloride penetration .compressive
strength, splitting tensile strength ,flexural strength and
fracture toughness were also determined .Two different water
–cement ratios and two curing types were used in the study
.fibers caused physical changes in concrete , which were
© NITTTR, Bhopal, India
reflected to the Tested properties. The effect on durability was
significant in longer term tests like corrosion.
Alireza et al (2014) studied self coMPacting concrete (SCC) is
a highly–workable concrete that without any vibration or
iMPact and under its own weight fills the formwork and its also
passes easily through small spaces between rebar. In this paper,
the effect of steel fibers on rheological properties, compressive
strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength and
flexural toughness of SCC specimens using four different steel
fiber volume fraction (0.5 % ,1% ,1.5%,and 2%) were
investigated. Two mix designs with strengths of 40MPa and
60MPa (high strength ) were considered .Mechanical
characteristics were obtained through compressive strength
and splitting tensile strength tests with standers cylindrical
specimens of 150 x300mm and flexural strength and flexural
toughness tests were performance by using beams of 100X
140X1200mm.The result revealed that the workability of
medium and high strength SCC classes reduced by increasing
the steel fiber volume fraction and using high percentages of
fibers led .
Pajak and Ponikiewski (2013) presented work to investigate
the flexural behavior of self –coMPacting concrete reinforced
with straight and hooked end steel fibers at levels of 0.5% ,1%
,and 1.5% and coMPare it to normally vibrated concrete
(NVC).The flexural behavior of SCC appeared to NCV where
the increase of fibers volume ratio cause the increase in pre
peak and post –peak parameters of SCC .The type of steel
fibers influences much this dependency based on performed
analysis the flexural tensile strength of SFR-SCC can be
described with the formulas used for SFRC.
Mahmoud and Afroughsabet (2010) this study investigated the
iMPact resistance and mechanical properties of steel fiber
–reinforced concrete with water –cement ratios of 0.46 and
0.36 with and without the addition of silica fume. Hooked steel
fibers with 60-mm length and aspect ratio of 80, with three
volume fraction of 0%, 0.5% and 1% were used as the
reinforcing materials .In pre –determined mixtures, silica fume
is used as cement replacement materials at 8% weight of
cement. The experimental results show that incorporation steel
fibers improve the strength performance of concrete,
particularly the splitting tensile and the flexural strengths. A
remarkable improvement was observed in iMPact resistance of
the fibrous concretes, as compared with the reference
materials .The results demonstrate that when steel fiber is
introduced into the specimens including silica fume, the
iMPact resistance and ductility of the resulting concrete are
considerably increased.
Cadoni et al (2009) presented experimental results on two types
of concrete reinforced with steel and polyvinyl-alcohol PVA
fibers subjected to dynamic tensile loading. The tests were
carried out by using a Modified Hopkinson Bar apparatus on
fiber reinforced concrete notched-specimens under three
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 Effect of Steel Fibers on Strength of Concrete
different strain-rates 50, 100, and 200 etc. From the
experiments it was found that there is a significant
enhancement in tensile strength with increasing strain-rates.
The dynamic tests on steel FRC with the smaller loading rate 50
s-1 showed a strength similar to the one measured from static
tests; however, for increasing loading rates, a remarkable
decrease of post-peak strength and ductility occurs. In
specimens with PVA fibers, an enhancement of the tensile
strength was also observed and a significant reduction of
fracture energy and ultimate deformation occurred. Some
experimental aspects are also discussed as the specimen shape,
its dimension, the loading rate as well as the different post-peak
behavior from static and this paper presents experimental
results on two types of concrete reinforced with steel and
polyvinyl-alcohol PVA fibers subjected to dynamic tensile
loading. The tests were carried out by using a Modified
Hopkinson Bar apparatus on fiber reinforced concrete notched-
specimens under three different strain-rates 50, 100, and 200 s-
1. From the experiments it was found that there is a significant
enhancement in tensile strength with increasing strain-rates.
The dynamic tests on steel FRC with the smaller loading rate 50
s-1 showed a strength similar to the one measured from static
tests; however, for increasing loading rates, a remarkable
decrease of post-peak strength and ductility occurs. In
specimens with PVA fibers, an enhancement of the tensile
strength was also observed and a significant reduction of
fracture energy and ultimate deformation occurred. Some
experimental aspects are also discussed as the specimen shape,
its dimension, the loading rate as well as the different post-peak
behavior from static and dynamic tests.
Koksal et al (2008) the trio investigated the changes on some
mechanical properties of concrete specimens produced by
using silica fume and steel fiber. The main objective of the work
was to obtain a more ductile high strength concrete produced by
using both silica fume and steel fiber. Two types of steel fibers
with aspect ratios (fiber length/fiber diameter) of 65 and 80
were used in the experiments and volume fractions of steel fiber
were 0.5% and 1%. Addition of silica fume into the concrete
was 0%, 5%, 10% and 15% by weight of cement content.
Water/cement ratio was 0.38 and the reference slump was 120 ±
20 mm. Slump test for workability, air content and unit weight
tests were performed on fresh concretes. Compressive strength,
splitting tensile strength and flexural strength tests were made
on hardened concrete specimens. Load–deflection curves and
toughness of the specimens were obtained by flexural test
performed according to ASTM C1018 standards. Flexural test
on beam specimens were achieved using a closed loop
deflection-controlled testing machine. The use of silica fume
increased both the mechanical strength and the modulus of
elasticity of concrete. On the other hand, the addition of steel
fiber into concrete improved toughness of high strength
concrete significantly. As the steel fiber volume fraction
increased, the toughness increased, and high values of aspect
ratios gave higher toughness. Thus, the toughness of high
© NITTTR, Bhopal, India
strength steel fiber concrete depends on silica fume content, the
fiber volume fraction and the fiber aspect ratio.
Wang et al (2008) investigated three types of SRFC specimens
with 0.0%, 3.0% and 6.0% (percentage by volume) of ultra
short steel fibers subjected to iMPact compression tests
conducted on 74-mm-diameter split Hopkinson pressure bar
(SHPB). Based on the stress–strain curves of different strain-
rates, as well as the random statistical distribution hypothesis
for SFRC strength, a dynamic damage constitutive model of
SFRC composite under compression was proposed. It was
established that both the volume fraction of steel-fiber and
strain-rate of loading exert significant influences on the SFRC
strength. The theoretical results were in good agreement with
experimental data.
Cucchiara et al (2007) carried out experimental tests on simply
supported rectangular beams made of hooked steel fiber
reinforced concrete with and without stirrups, subjected to two-
point symmetrically placed vertical loads. The tests, were
carried out with controlled displacements, allowing one to
record complete load–deflection curves by means of which
it was possible to deduce information on dissipative
capacity and ductile behavior up to failure. The results
showed that the inclusion of fibers in adequate percentage
can change the brittle mode of failure characterizing shear
collapse into a ductile flexural mechanism, confirming the
possibility of achieving analogous performance by using
reinforcing fibers instead of increasing the amount of
transverse reinforcement. The ultimate values of the shear
stresses recorded experimentally were compared with the
corresponding values deduced by semi empirical expressions
available were found satisfactorily correlated.
II - EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
Experimental work was aimed to study the effect of various
steel fibers on various properties of concrete and its feasibility
in the actual field of construction, especially compressive
strength and flexural strength of modified high strength
concrete after some preliminary trials.
Material Used and Tests Performed
Production of mix (normal concrete of grade M-35) in the
laboratory is carried out by IS method of concrete mix design.
Fiber Reinforced Concrete is produced by adding steel fibers of
different types and aspect ratios and keeping volume fraction
constant as 2.5 % weight of cement in the concrete. Dramix
steel fibers conforming to ASTM A 820 type-I are used for
experimental work. It is high tensile steel cold drawn wire with
hooked ends, glued in bundles & specially engineered for use in
concrete. The different type sof fibers and suppliers are shown
in Table I.
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 J. Eng. Sci. Manage. Educ. Vol-9 (I) 45-51, 2016

Table 1: Types of Fibers

Sr. No. Type of fibers Suppliers
1 Dramix HK - 80/60 Shakti Commodities Pvt.
(Figure-1 and 6) Ltd., New Delhi
2 Dramix HK - 50/30 Kasturi Composite Pvt.
(Figure-2) Ltd., Amravati
3 Crimped Type Steel Kasturi Composite Pvt.
Fiber: (CR 50/30) Ltd., Amravati
(Figure-3 and 7) (Maharashtra)
4 Round Steel Fiber: Kasturi Composite Pvt.
(RD- 50/80 ) Ltd., Amravati
(Figure-4 and 8) (Maharashtra) Figure 6: Hook Ended Steel fiber : (HK - 50/30)
5 Round Steel Fiber: Kasturi Composite Pvt.
(RD- 80/130) Ltd., Amravati
(Figure-5) (Maharashtra)

Figure 1: Hook Ended steel fiber HK-80/60

Figure 7: Crimped Type Steel Fiber : (CR 50/30)

Figure 2: Hook Ended steel fiber HK-50/30

Figure 3: Crimped Types Steel Fiber CR-50/30

Figure 8: Round Steel Fiber : (RD- 50/80)
Table 2: Physical Properties of Hook Ended Steel Fiber HK-80/60
Sr. No. Property Values
1 Diameter 0.75 mm
2 Length of fiber 60 mm
Figure 4: Straight type round steel fiber SF-50/80
3 Appearance Bright in clean wire
4 Average aspect ratio 80
5 Deformation Continuously deformed
Circular segment
6 Tensile strength 1050 Mpa
7 Modulus of Elasticity 200 Gpa
8 Specific Gravity 7.8
Figure 5: Straight type round steel fiber SF-80/130

© NITTTR, Bhopal, India (48)

 Effect of Steel Fibers on Strength of Concrete

Table 3: Physical Properties of Hook Ended Steel Fiber HK-50/30 Mix Design of Concrete
Sr. No. Property Values ACI method of mix design is used for mix design of M-35
1 Diameter 0.5 mm grade of concrete. The optimum percentage of to give
2 Length of fiber 30 mm maximum compressive strength is achieved by making trial
3 Appearance Bright in clean wire mixes with as cement replacement at a constant interval of
2.5% by weight of cement.
4 Average aspect ratio 50
5 Deformation Continuously deformed Compressive Strength
circular segment A cube compression test is performed on standard cubes of
6 Tensile strength 1050 Mpa plain and SFC of size 150 x 150 x 150 mm after 3, 7 and 28
7 Modulus of Elasticity 200 Gpa days of immersion in water for curing. Results of various
8 Specific Gravity 7.4 steel fiber as shown in Table VII and graphical presentation
of compressive strength is shown in Figure 9. The
compressive strength of specimen is calculated by the
Table 4: Physical Properties of Crimped type Steel Fiber HK-50/30 following formula
f =
cu Pc (1)
Sr. No. Property Values
A
1 Diameter 0.6 mm
2 Length of fiber 30 mm where
3 Appearance Bright in clean wire Pc = Failure load in compression, KN
4 Average aspect ratio 50 A = Loaded area of cube, mm2
5 Deformation Continuously deformed
circular segment Flexural Strength
6 Tensile strength 1025 Mpa Standard beams of size 150 x 150 x 700 mm are supported
7 Modulus of Elasticity 200 Gpa symmetrically over a span of 400mm and subjected two
8 Specific Gravity 7.5 points loading till failure of the specimen. Set up for flexure
test is shown in Figure 8. Experimental results are shown in
Table VII and its variation shown in Figure 10.
Table 5: Physical Properties of Straight type Steel Fiber HK-50/80
Sr. No. Property Values
1 Diameter 1.6 mm
2 Length of fiber 80 mm
3 Appearance Bright in clean wire
4 Average aspect ratio 50
5 Deformation Continuously deformed
circular segment
6 Tensile strength 1050 Mpa
7 Modulus of Elasticity 200 Gpa
8 Specific Gravity 7.15
Figure 8: Two point loading setup in flexure test (All Dimensions
are in mm)
Table 6: Physical Properties of Straight type Steel Fiber HK-80/130
The flexural strength is determined by the formula
Sr. No. Property Values fcr= P fL
1 Diameter 1.6 mm bd (2)
2 Length of fiber 130 mm where fcr = Flexural strength, MPa
3 Appearance Bright in clean wire Pf = Central point through two point loading system, kN
4 Average aspect ratio 80 L = Span of beam, mm
5 Deformation Continuously deformed b = Width of beam, mm
circular segment d = Depth of beam, mm
6 Tensile strength 1050 Mpa
7 Modulus of Elasticity 200 Gpa
8 Specific Gravity 7.15

© NITTTR, Bhopal, India (49)

 J. Eng. Sci. Manage. Educ. Vol-9 (I) 45-51, 2016

III - RESULT AND DISCUSSION

A. Compression and Flexural Strength
Results of compressive strength and flexural strength are
mentioned in Table VII.
Table 7: Compressive Strength and Flexural Strength for
various fibers at 28 days

Sr. Type Sample % of Compress- Flexural

No. of steel Desig- Steel ive strength, strength,
fiber nation fiber Mpa Mpa
1 PCC 0% 0 44.21 7.12
2 HK-80/60 HK-80 2.5 54.95 8.85
3 HK-50/30 HK-50 2.5 53.63 8.424
4 RD-80/130 RD-80 2.5 50.59 7.629
5 RD-50/80 RD-50 2.5 50.59 6.814
6 CR-50/30 CR-50 2.5 46.62 7.603

Figure 10. Variation of Flexural strength at 28 days with respect to

different types of fibers

Figure 9. Variation of Compressive Strength at 28 days with
respect to different fibers
B. Discussion
In general, the significant improvement in various strengths is
observed with the inclusion of hooked end steel fibres in the
plain concrete as compared to crimped and straight types of
steel fiber.
From the variations of Figure 9 and 10 and referring Table VII
for different fibers it is observed that for:
Compressive strength: Addition of steel fiber irrespective of
type and aspect ratio improves the compressive strength of
concrete. Strength comparison between same aspect ratio HK-
80 and RD-80 is 54.95 MPa and 50.59 MPa respectively and
HK-50, RD-50 and CR-50 is 52.30 MPa, 46.62 MPa and 51.79
MPa respectively.
Flexural strength: Flexural strength also enhanced due to
addition of fibers. The reason for this is the fibers arrests micro
crack in concrete. Observations shows, same aspect ratio HK-
80 and RD-80 is 8.85 MPa and 7.63 MPa respectively and HK-
50, RD-50 and CR-50 is 8.42 MPa, 6.814 MPa and 7.603 MPa
respectively.

© NITTTR, Bhopal, India (50)

 Effect of Steel Fibers on Strength of Concrete
IV - CONCLUSIONS
Following conclusion are drawn based on the result. The
mechanical properties of concrete are enhanced with the
addition of steel fibers. All the properties of concrete like
compressive strength and flexural strength is increased. Also
there is reduction in porosity as well as reduction in absorption
capacity of the concrete as compared with normal concrete.
From the results and discussion it shows that for 2.5 % addition
of steel fibers, concrete showing overall improvement.
In general, the significant improvement in various strengths is
observed with the inclusion of hooked end steel fibres in the
plain concrete. However, maximum gain in strength of
concrete is found to depend upon the amount of fibre content.
The optimum fibre content to impart maximum gain in various
strengths varies with type of the strengths.
With increasing fiber content, mode of failure is changed from
brittle to ductile when subjected to compression and bending.
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© NITTTR, Bhopal, India
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