NY AEIC 2003 PREPRINT Al-Azhar Engineering 7th International Conference Cairo 7-10 April 2003ae AEIC 2003 CD Code Co2/02 MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF HIGH STRENGTH CONCRETE REINFORCED BY DIFFERENT TYPES OF FIBERS M.S.Khalil', A.A.El-Abbasy' and S.S.E.Ahmad? Higher Teehntogcal Ista, Tenth of Ramadan City, Egypt Enginerng Matera Departmen, acl of Engineering, Zari Unive, Zari, Fes? ABSTRACT In this paper, an experimental program was designed to investigate the effect of fiber type and fiber volume fraction on the behavior of 28-day compressive, indirect tensile and flexural strengths of high strength concrete. The behavior of toughness of high strength concrete was, also, examined. Steel, glass and Polypropylene fibers with different volume fractions were used. Two types of Coarse aggregates, gravel and dolomite, were used. The maximum ageregate Sizes were equal to 10 and 16 mm for each type of coarse aggregate. The compressive strength of high strength concrete was enhanced due to the addition of steel fiber by 1%, Moreover, the compressive strength has approximately no effect due to the addition of glass fiber by 0.25 and 0.5%, On other hand, the compressive strength was decreased with the addition of Polypropylene fiber by 0.1 and 0.5%, The indirect tensile and flexural strength of high strength concrete had an improvement by different values due to the addition of steel fiber by 0.5 and 1% and glass fiber by 0.25 and 0.5%, On other hand, they showed remarkable decreasing with the addition of polypropylene fiber by 0.1 and 0.5%. It has been found that the addition of these fibers to the high strength concrete results in beneficial flexural toughness performance more than other mechanical properties KEY WORDS Steel, glass and polypropylene fibers; high strength concrete: mechanical behavior; fiber volume fractionINTRODUCTION Research on fiber reinforced concrete, FRC, using different types of fibers has been carried out in the past two decades and great progress has been achieved Fibers such as steel, glass, nylon, polypropylene, aramid, carbon, and various natural fibers, have been used in normal strength concrete and some of these materials are in commercial production. FRC has been used for a wide variety of application, namely, pavement and overlays, industrial floors, hydraulic and marine structure, repairing and rehabilitation works. Moreover, FRC. has advantages over conventional concrete including lightweightness, improved loading carrying capacity and improved impact energy absorption and wear durability [1] In recent years, the demand for high strength concrete, HSC, has been growing at_an increasing rate and many new structures have been built using a concrete with compressive strength as high as 50 MPa, It is, however, well known that concrete becomes more brittle as its strength increases. When fibers re-added to concrete mix, they are randomly distributed and act as. cr arrestors. Debonding and pulling out of fibers require more energy, giving a substantial imcrease in toughness and resistance to cyclic and dynamic load. Recent studies have shown that the brittle nature of HSC can be overcome by addition of discrete fibers of short length and small diameter in the concrete mix [2,3] The research results and the applications of the FRC provided a better insight into the behavior of these fibrous composites. To have a tough concrete, it has been suggested that the breaking strain of the fibers should be greater than that of the concrete and the fibers should also be sufficiently strong to withstand the load placed upon them after the concrete fails. If both conditions are satisfied and if there are sufficient fibers the cracked member will still tetain some strength since the cracks will now be bridged by the embedded fibers. Based on experimental results, the crack bridging efficiency of fibers depends on their type, length, radius, interfacial properties and strength and ductility [4] The results obtained with uniaxial compression tests with fiber reinforced concrete have revealed a slight increase in the compression strength, stiffness, and strain at peak load and substantial increase in the post peak energy absorption capacity. The magnitude of these changes depends to great extent on the concrete properties and fiber type and content [5]. Although an increase in the tensile strength and ductility of the FRC is evident, Bnathia [6] suggests that the real advantage of the fiber reinforcement is in inhibiting crack growth and the subsequent widening of the crack in a stressed state. The increase in the tensile strength and toughness of concrete due to addition of fiber is, also,w dependent on the mechanical Properties of concrete and fiber type and content {7} Although a number of researchers investigated the effect of inclusion of discrete fibers on the mechanical behavior of concrete, research on HSC where fibers may play a more useful role is particularly lacking especially for the role of different types of fibers. This paper presents the results of a test program that evaluated the effect of fiber type and fiber volume fraction on the behavior of 28-day compressive, indirect tensile and flexural strengths of HSC. The behavior of toughness of HSC was also examined. Steel, glass and polypropylene fibers were used, Two types of coarse aggrepates, gravel and dolomite, with maximum ageregate size equal to 10 and 16 mm for each type were used to investigate the effect of type and maximum size of aggregate. EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM ‘The ingredients of the reference mixes in this study are cemeat, fine aggregate, Coarse aggregate, water, high range water reducing admixture (superplasticizer) and silica fume. The fiber was added to the control mix by the given ratios in Table 1. The properties of each type of fiber as recommended by producer are, also, given in Table | Commercially -available Ordinary Portland Cement, Type I, meeting Egyptian standard specification, ESS 337-1991 was used. Silica fume with 95 percent SiO, content and 18 m/em specific surface area was added to each mix by 10% of cement weight employed in the reference mix Natural silica sand with 2.67 fineness modulus as a fine aggregate and two types of coarse aggregates (gravel and dolomite) were used. One coarse aggregate was ound and smooth particles of siliceous gravel. The other was a crushed particle with rough surface, dolomite. The maximum aggregate sizes were 10 and 16 mm for each type. The physical properties and grading of the aggregates are given in Tables 2 and 3. In all mixes, the water-cement ratio (w/c) is based on the total cementitious materials, ic. cement + silica fume. The water cementitious ratio was kept constant and equal to 0.39. The reference concrete (without fiber) was designed with the aims of producing concrete with 28-day compressive strength of at least 50 MPa, The quantities of materials for the reference mixes are given in Table 4, Fiber reinforced mixes Were formed by first mixing cementitious materials (cement +silica fume), sand, coarse aggregate, and water in conerete mixer for few minutes, then adding fibers and continuing mixing for another few minutes. The slump was varied from 10 to 50 mm, for fiber reinforced and reference mixes, by varying the dosage of superplasticizerTable I. Properties and volume fraction of the used fiber iber 1 Tensile Volume | Fiber Type Strength | traction % MPa | Steel 1800 Glass 1400 ‘Polypropylene 500 Sand wel, | | 10mm | 16mm | Unit weight, kg/m 16 17 1.76 Specific Gravity | 252 | 256 | 256 Crushing value % - | 161 15 Impact value % - 10.0 ol Absorption% | 1 | o8 | os - | Table 3. Grading of fine and coarse aggregate Sieve size, % Passing mm Sand | Gravel, [ Gravel, | Dolomite, | Dolomite, 1omm__|16mm_| 10mm —_| 16mm 16 100 | 100 100 100 100 14 100 | 100 70 100 65 95 100} 97 30 96 33 4.75 | 100 10 2 8 5 236 [9s] 0 0 0 0 1s} 8i3} 0 0 0 0 06 | so6} 0 0 0 0 03 64 0 0 0 0 1s 1 0 0 0 | Table 4. Mix proportions for each coarse aggregate type Concrete type | Cement cantent, | Fine aggregate. | Coarse anayeznt, kg/m’ Ke/m? ca Gravel, 10 mm 450 578.6 T1S7.2 Gravel, 16 mm 450 594.8 1189.8 Dolomite, 10 mm 450 569.5 1139.03 Dolomite, 16 mm 450 588.5 1165.3 Compression tests for cubic specimens of 150x150x150 mm dimensions were carried out to measure the compressive strength of concrete. Cylinder specimens with dimensions 150 mm diameter and 300 mm height are used to measure i |splitting tensile strengtlt of concrete, Beams of 102 x 102 x 356 mm in dimensions, which was suggested by ACI Committee 544 for fiber reinforced concrete [8], were used to test the flexural strength and toughness of concrete. All specimens were prepared in steel moulds. All specimens are mechanically compacted and vibrated and stored in moulds for 24 hrs at ambient temperature. The specimens are demoulded after 24 hrs and cured in normal clean water until test age (28 days). For each test three specimens were prepared. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ~ The results of the compressive, f,, indirect tensile, f, flexural, f, strengths and flexural toughness, T, for reference concrete mixes are presented in Table 5 Each value represents the average value of three specimens after 28- days of water curing. As seen from this table, the compressive strength ranges from 50.22 MPa to 63.37 MPa (high strength concrete). These different grades of concrete compressive strength are due to the difference in the maximum aggregate size and the type of coarse aggregate, A similar result was reported in 9] and was attributed to the effect of shape and roughness of crushed aggregate, dolomite, The crushed rough aggregate cause a little evidence of aggregate cement past debonding, but frequent occurrences of transgranular fracture, On the other hand the gravel-aggregate (smooth and round) concrete has numerous: cases of aggregate-cement paste debonding due to the weakness in transition zone, Table 5: Mechanical Properties of reference concrete Mixes. Concrete type Mpa | T,N.mm | [- Griomm | 470 Gr_16 mm 5.10 Dol. 10 mm 5.50 Dol. 16 mm. 5.99 The effect of fiber type and volume fraction, Vs, on the compressive strength may be evaluated from Figs. 1a, b and c. In those figures the compressive strength, after 28 days, for fibrous concrete mixes was normalized by the compressive strength of reference mixes and plotted against volume fraction of steel, glass and polypropylene fibers respectively. Fig. la gives the results of steel fiber concrete. It is clear from this figure that the compressive strength of all mixes was enhanced due to the addition of steel fiber. The value of enhancement is negligible at V; = 0.5%, while it reaches about 14% for gravel concrete and about 10% for dolomite concrete at V;= 1%. Similar observations have also been reported by other researchers [3, 10, 11], where they reported an increase in compressive strength of steel fiber concrete ranging from 5% to 20% for Vi= 1%.28 days compressive Strength, fe/ f. (0%) Los 100 0.00 02s 030 0.75 1.00 4.08 -——__— AO Cte 1.04 a8 t mde mts oe 100 0.96 oo. Lt 0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 aso 100 0.96 0.92 | --@-- cetémm FAR Dab mm dhe= Dat 6am (©) polypropytene fiber ogg VE 0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 oo oso Fiber volume fraction, % Fig. 1 Effect of fiber content on 28-days compressive strength of concrete for, (a) steel fiber, (b) glass fiber, and (c) polypropylene fiberPo ~ Fig. 1b gives the effect of glass fiber on the concrete compressive strength. The data in that figure clearly indicate that the compressive strength of gravel concrete does not change due to the addition of glass fiber by 0.25 and 0.5%. On other hand, the compressive strength of the dolomite concrete showed a slight decrease, about 5%, due to the incorporation of glass fiber by the same percent This finding is similar to that reported in [12], where a slight decrease or increase in the compressive strength of concrete was recorded at the given fiber volume fraction. As seen in Fig. Ic, the compressive strength of concrete was decreased with the addition of polypropylene fiber by 0.1 and 0.5%. This behavior is true for all concrete mixes. It may be seen that inclusion of this fiber in concrete by 0.1% results in negligible decrease in compressive strength. On the other side, a remarkable reduction in the compressive strength was reported in case of Vr = 0.5% especially for dolomite concrete (about 10%). The compressive strength depends on the response of the specimen at or near the ultimate load, At this stage, cracks will form in the specimen due to lateral expansion of concrete. These cracks will be directed parallel to the direction of the loading. Fibers which may be aligned normal to the loading direction will therefore be intercepted by these cracks and offer some resistance to their growth, Consequently, the compressive strength increases if the fiber strength is quite high and there is a good bond between fiber and concrete matrix, i., steel fiber. The effect of fiber type and volume fraction, Vs, on the indirect tensile strength is given in Figs. 2a, b and c. In those figures the indirect tensile strength of fibrous concrete mixes was normalized by the indirect tensile strength of reference mixes and plotted against volume fraction of steel, glass and polypropylene fibers respectively. Fig. 2a illustrates the results of steel fiber concrete. It is clear from this figure that the indirect tensile strength of all mixes was enhanced due to the addition of steel fiber. The value of enhancement is about 25% for gravel concrete and about 20% for dolomite concrete when Ve = 0.5%. As Ve increases to 1%, the enhancement reaches to about 50% for gravel concrete and about 30% for dolomite concrete Fig. 2b presents the effect of glass fiber on the indirect tensile strength of concrete. The data in that figure clearly indicate that the indirect tensile strength of concrete has an improvement by about 10% for gravel concrete and about 5% for dolomite concrete due to the addition of glass fiber by 0.25%. When the content of fiber increased to 0.5%, the indirect tensile strength increased by about 25% for gravel concrete and about 15% for dolomite concrete. A similar result was presented in [13], where the variation of indirect tensile strength with the change in fiber volume fraction of glass fiber and silica fume content was illustrated. One can notice from Fig. 2c that, the indirect tensile strength of concrete was decreased with the addition of polypropylene fiber by 0.1 andjirect tensile Strength, f/f; (0%) 28d = Grete the at ee 8 he oo ye (h) glass fib an - poe been 4 es Bot sim 0.96 092 a 0.88 + pa bSeces Sn + a (©) polypropylene fiber ogg Lt a ee 0.00 0.0 020 030 0.0 oso Fiber volume fraction, % Fig. 2 Effect of fiber content on 28-days indirect tensile strength of concrete for, (a) steel fiber, (b) glass fiber, and (c) polypropylene fibera 0.5%. This behavior existed for all concrete mixes. It may be seen that inclusion of this fiber in concrete by 0.1% results in a decrease in the indirect tensile strength by about 10% for gravel concrete and about 5% for dolomite conerete Moreover, a remarkable decreasing in the indirect tensile strength was reported in case of Vr = 0.5% especially for gravel concrete (about 15%). In the splitting tensile test, the strength of fiber reinforced concrete was found higher than that of reference concrete in cases of steel and glass fibers. On the other hand, there is some strength reduction for concrete reinforced with Polypropylene fiber. These results were attributed to the higher strength and Stiffness of these fibers compared to those of polypropylene fiber. Moreover. in case of polypropylene fiber, a greater difficulty in achieving completely uniform fiber distribution and wetting of the fiber surface area was found especially at V; = 0.5%, Therefore a reduction in indirect tensile strength was found in case of Polypropylene fiber. A similar behavior was found in [14] The effect of fiber type and volume fraction, Vg on the flexural strength is shown in Figs. 3a, b and c. In those figures the flexural strength of fibrous Concrete mixes was normalized by the flexural strength of reference mixes and Plotted against volume” fraction of steel, glass and polypropylene fibers tespectively. Fig. 3a gives the results of steel fiber conerete. It is clear from this figure that the flexural strength of all mixes was enhanced due to the addition of steel fiber. The value of enhancement is about 35% for gravel concrete and about 15% for dolomite concrete at Ve = 0.5%, while it reaches to about 60% for gravel concrete and to about 17 % for dolomite concrete at V;= 1%. Fig. 3b gives the effect of glass fiber on the flexural strength of concrete. The data in that figure clearly indicate that the flexural strength of concrete has an improvement by about 16% for gravel concrete and by about 20% for dolomite Conerete due to the addition of glass fiber by 0.25%. When the content of fiber Was increased to 0.5%, the flexural strength increases by about 22% for gravel Concrete and about 29% for dolomite concrete. As seen in Fig. 2c, the flexural Strength of conerete was decreased with the addition of polypropylene fiber by 0.1 and 0.5%. This behavior is true for all concrete mixes It may be seen that inclusion of this fiber in concrete by 0.1% results in a decrease in the flexural strength by about 20% for gravel concrete and by about 12% for dolomite Concrete. Moreover, a remarkable decreasing in the indirect tensile strength was teported in case of V¢ = 0.5% especially for gravel concrete (about 20%). The effect of fiber type and volume fraction, Vi, on the flexural toughness of concrete is given in Figs. 4a, b and ¢. In those figures the flexural toughness of fibrous concrete mixes was normalized by the flexural toughness of reference mixes and plotted against volume fraction of steel, glass and polypropylene fibers respectively. Fig. 4a gives the results of steel fiber concrete. It is clear from this figure that the flexural toughness of all mixes was enhanced due to theww a 24 Grt6mm (a) steel fiber 16 PHAR a tom s flexural Strength, f/f, (0%) 28 day: 1.00 0.90 0.80 the Dat te A= dab tom ihe a em (©) polypropylene finer 0.10 0.20 030 0.40 aso Fiber volume fraction, % Fig, 3 Effect of fiber content on 28-days flexural strength of concrete for, (a) steel fiber, (b) glass fiber, and (c) polypropylene fiberw addition of steel fiber. The value of enhancement is about 120% for gravel concrete and about 79% for dolomite concrete at Vr = 0.5%, while it reaches about 350% for gravel concrete and about 113% for dolomite concrete at V; 1% Fig. 4b gives the effect of glass fiber on the flexural toughness of concrete. The data in that figure clearly indicate that the flexural toughness of concrete has an improvement by about 60% for gravel concrete and by about 50% for dolomite concrete due to the addition of glass fiber by 0.25%, When the content of fiber was increased to 0.5%, the flexural toughness increased by about 100% for gravel concrete and by about 90% for dolomite concrete As seen in Fig. 4c, the flexural toughness of concrete was increased with the addition of polypropylene fiber by 0.1 and 0.5%. This behavior is true for all concrete mixes. It may be seen that inclusion of this fiber in concrete by 0.1% results in an increase in the flexural toughness by about 37% for gravel concrete and about 15% for dolomite concrete. Moreover, as the fiber content increases to 0.5%, the flexural toughness increases by about 50% for gravel concrete and about 28% for dolomite concrete From the above results, it has been found that the addition of these fibers to the HSC results in beneficial flexural toughness performance more than other mechanical properties. Inclusion of the fibers imparts pseudo-ductility to. the otherwise brittle HSC with an increase in the tensile strain capacity. Consequently, improvement in cracking resistance and toughness characteristics may be expected CONCLUSIONS The experimental results presented in this paper reveal the following conclusions: |-The compressive strength of HSC was enhanced due to the addition of steel fiber. The value of enhancement is negligible at V- = 0.5%, while it reaches to about 14% for gravel concrete and to about 10% for dolomite concrete at Vet 1%, Moreover, the compressive strength has approximately no effect due to the addition of glass fiber by 0.25 and 0.5%. On other hand, the compressive strength was decreased with the addition of polypropylene fiber by 0.1 and 0.5%, 2-The indirect tensile and flexural strength of HSC have an improvement by different values due to the addition of steel and glass fiber by the given ratios On other hand, they showed remarkable decreasing with the addition of polypropylene fiber by 0.1 and 0.5%,Flexural toughness ratio, T,/ T, (0%) — =. ete (a) steel fiber os oso os toa (b) glass fiber Lo ot 00 on 02 03 04 mg > Getemm Zé Dat 10mm site~ Dat t6mm (©) polypropylene fiber 160 1.40 1.20 1.00 0.00 0.0 020 0.30 0.40 0.80 Fiber volume fraction, % Fig. 4 Effect of fiber content on flexural toughness of concrete for, (a) steel fiber, (b) glass fiber, and (c) polypropylene fiber‘Y 3-IU has been found that the addition of these fibers to the HSC results in beneficial flexural toughness performance more than other mechanical properties. For steel fiber, the value of enhancement is about 120% for gravel concrete and about 79% for dolomite concrete at Vr = 0.5%, while it reaches about 350% for gravel concrete and about 113% for dolomite concrete at Vp= 1%, 4-The flexural toughness of concrete has an improvement by about 60% for gravel concrete and about 50% for dolomite concrete due to the addition of glass fiber by 0.25%. When the content of fiber was increased to 0.5%, the flexural toughness increased by about 100% for gravel concrete and about 90% for dolomite concrete. 5-The flexural toughness of concrete was increased with the addition of polypropylene fiber by 0.1 and 0.5%. It may be seen that inclusion of this fiber in concrete by 0.1% results in an increase in the flexural toughness by about for gravel concrete and about 15% for dolomite concrete. Moreover, as the fiber content increases to 0.5%, the flexural toughness increases by about % for gravel concrete and about 28% for dolomite concrete REFERENCES 1. 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