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Acta Scientiarum. Technology 1806-2563: Issn: Eduem@
Acta Scientiarum. Technology 1806-2563: Issn: Eduem@
Technology
ISSN: 1806-2563
eduem@uem.br
Universidade Estadual de Maringá
Brasil
de Oliveira Júnior, Luiz Álvaro; de Lima Araújo, Daniel; Dias Toledo Filho, Romildo; de
Moraes Rego Fairbairn, Eduardo; Souza de Andrade, Moacir Alexandre
Tension stiffening of steel-fiber-reinforced concrete
Acta Scientiarum. Technology, vol. 38, núm. 4, octubre-diciembre, 2016, pp. 456-463
Universidade Estadual de Maringá
Maringá, Brasil
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ISSN printed: 1806-2563
ISSN on-line: 1807-8664
Doi: 10.4025/actascitechnol.v38i4.28077
ABSTRACT. In this paper, the mechanical behavior of steel-fiber-reinforced concrete was investigated to
analyze the influence of steel fibers on tension stiffening. Using tension tests, the tension stiffening
coefficient was evaluated through the load versus strain responses obtained from strain gages fixed to
reinforcement steels. Moreover, an empirical model is proposed to estimate the tension stiffening
coefficient of steel-fiber-reinforced concrete from reinforcement strains. From the test results, it was
verified that the addition of steel fibers to concrete reduced the reinforcement steel strains and the crack
width and increased the stiffness of cracked concrete, mainly in concretes reinforced with high volumes of
fibers.
Keywords: tension tests, empirical model, crack width.
the cracking becomes stable and no new cracks will Maurel, & Seffo, 1998; Bischoff, 2001). In addition,
form. During the stabilized cracking stage, the crack high-strength concretes present larger shrinkage,
widths increase while the tensile stress and the and larger reductions of tension stiffening are
tension stiffening decrease. However, the tension expected when shrinkage is ignored.
stiffening decreases more slowly due to the loss of In fiber-reinforced concrete, fibers improve the
bonding, which is due to internal micro-cracking mechanical properties of the matrix due to the
near the interface between the steel and concrete bridge effect through the cracks after cracking of the
matrix. Furthermore, fibers improve the tenacity
(Fields & Bischoff, 2004). When the reinforcement
and ductility of the matrix by controlling the
steel yields, the transfer of tensile stresses at the
cracking process and increasing the tensile and bond
steel-concrete interface is damaged, which makes it
strengths between the steel and concrete. The
difficult to transfer loads after the yielding load of
improvement of the bond strength and the ability to
the reinforcement steel is reached. transfer tensile stress through the cracks should
increase the tension stiffening of fiber-reinforced
concrete (Abrishami & Mitchell, 1997; Yang,
Walraven, & Den Uijl, 2009; Deluce & Vecchio,
2013; Lee, Cho, & Vecchio, 2013). Fibers also
control splitting cracks and cracking caused by
shrinkage. Fibers with a high modulus of elasticity
are more efficient in limiting the shrinkage of the
matrix because of the greater difference between the
modulus of elasticity of the fiber and that of the
matrix (Zhang & Li, 2001).
This paper aims to show the influence of steel
fibers on the tension stiffening effect and proposes
an empiric model for predicting the tension
stiffening coefficient from the fiber content. In
addition, this paper shows that the partial
substitution of cement for less reactive materials,
such as fly ash, is a possible strategy to reduce the
consumption of cement because no changes in the
tension stiffening of concrete due to mineral
additions were observed.
maximu um size of 25 mm, steel fibers, and a T characterizee the concretess, compression
To n tests
superpllasticizer admmixture (1.0%)). The concrretes and splitting tensile tests weree carried outt after
with mineral
m additio
ons were pro oduced by add ding 28 daays. For these tests, cylindriical specimenss with
10% siilica fume to o provide wo orkability and by diameters of 150 mmm and heigh hts of 300 mm m were
replacement of 30% % of the cemeent with fly ash. used.. In addition,, four-point b bending tests were
Dramixx® RC 65/60 BN (called F65 F in this paaper carrieed out to deteermine the tooughness facto or and
®
becausee its aspect ratiio is 65) and Dramix
D RC 800/60 the flexure
f he SFRCs by Japan
tensile strength of th
BN (caalled F80 is th his paper becau use its aspect rratio Socieety of Civil En CE, 1984). For these
ngineers (JSC
is 80) steel
s fibers witth hooked end ds were used. T The tests, prismatic speecimens that wwere 600 mm long,
fibers were
w 60 mm lo ong and had a tensile strengtth of 150 mm
m high, and 150 mm wide were used.
1,000 MPa
M and a mo odulus of elastticity of 200 GGPa.
The fo ollowing fiberr contents were w used: 0.775% Tensio
on specimens
(58.87 kg m-3), 1.000% (78.50 kg m-3), and 1.550% T
The RILEM Technical
T Coommittee FMB-147
(117.755 kg m-3). How wever, the addition of fiber w with (Elfgren & Noghaabai, 2002) an nnounced a ro ound-
a high aspect ratio too fresh concrette is very difficcult, robinn test and an nalysis of bon nding in whicch the
even when
w using a h
high amount of o superplasticiizer. dimeensions and pro oduction of thhe test specimeens, as
Thus, the
t greatest vo olume fraction n of the F80 ffiber well asa the experimmental setup an nd procedures, were
was deccreased from 1.50% to 1.25% (98.13 kg m-3), specified. The expeeriments reporrted here follo ow the
which was
w possible b because the reinforcement in ndex recommmendations of this comm mittee, although h only
obtaineed for each typpe of fiber was very similar. concrrete mixtures without fiberrs were presccribed.
Thee composition n of the co oncretes with hout All teension specim mens had squaare cross-sectio ons of
mineral additions is presented in Table 1 and that 150 mmm on each side s and weree 800 mm in length l
with mineral
m additio
ons in Table 2. 2 The amoun nt of and reinforced with a singgle bar of steel
cementt and aggregattes in the mixxtures varied w with (see Figure
F 2) withh a yielding sttrength of 4944 MPa
fiber coontent as a reesult of the adjustment
a off the and a modulus of elasticity of 210 GPa. The cross-
plain concrete comp position due to the addition n of sectio
on was cho osen to enssure the raandom
steel fiibers. Howeveer, this adjusstment was sm mall distriibution of fibers in concrete,, that is, to avo
oid the
becausee a low volum me fraction off fibers was u used. prefeerential orientaation of fibers once the specimens
The wo orkability of fr
fresh concrete with and with hout were made in the horizontal
h posiition.
fibers obtained
o from slump tests iss also presented in
these taables. A slightt decrease in the
t workabilityy of
SFRC wasw observed.
Table 1. Composition o
of concretes witho
out mineral addiitions
(kg m-3).
Steel fiber--reinforced concrete
Material Plain concreete Dramix RC 65/60 0 BN Dramix RC 80/660 BN
0.75% 1.00% 1.5 50% 0.75% 1.00% 11.25%
Cement 439.05 425.68 428.69 423 3.01 424.68 429.61 4430.70
Natural saand 870.10 849.37 857.38 846.02 849.37 859.21 8861.39
Coarse agggregate 870.10 849.37 857.38 846.02 849.37 859.21 8861.39
Water 173.50 167.24 168.82 166.58 167.24 169.18 169.61
Steel fiberr 0.00 58.87 78.50 117 7.75 58.88 78.50 998.13
Superplastticizer 3.29 4.25 4.29 4.23 4.25 4.30 4.31
Workabilitty (mm) 210 135 130 85
8 40 120 85
length, test setup, and measuring and evaluation splitting (fctm) tensile strengths were also affected by
techniques were used in both cases. The strain of fibers, and these properties increased as the fiber
the bare bar was measured by three electrical strain content increased. The same is true for the
gages fixed to the same position of the tension toughness factor. By comparing the results in Tables
specimens. 3 and 4, it can also be observed that the mechanical
Testing procedure properties of the SFRC were reduced by the 30%
replacement of the cement by fly ash.
The tension tests were carried out under
displacement control in an electrical-mechanical Table 3. Mechanical properties of concretes without mineral
universal testing machine with a capacity of 300 kN additions.
(see Figure 3). The rate of the displacements used Steel fiber-reinforced concrete
during all tests was 0.3 mm min-1. The Plain Dramix RC 65/60 BN Dramix RC 80/60 BN
Vf (%)
reinforcement steel strains were measured by three concrete 0.75% 1.00% 1.50% 0.75% 1.00% 1.25%
(0.49)A (0.65)A (0.98)A (0.60)A (0.80)A (1.00)a
strain gages spaced 102 mm apart. The first strain fcm, MPa 44.37 56.90 45.48 52.17 52.31 51.80 56.37
gage was placed at 92 mm from the superior end of a fctm, MPa 4.20 6.15 6.12 8.28 6.46 6.85 7.75
fctm,f, MPa – 8.14 8.80 9.22 9.10 9.50 7.01
concrete prism of 800 mm. The steel strains were Toughness
– 7.13 7.91 8.25 7.35 7.95 5.56
measured at each 5 kN load increment. factor, MPa
Crack width
The crack patterns in tension specimens were
observed during tension tests. The plain concrete
specimens showed a small number of transverse
cracks. With the addition of steel fibers, multiple
cracks were observed, which demonstrated that the
best control of the cracking process was provided by
the fibers.
Figure 4 shows how the average main crack
width (wm) varied as the load increased. The values
presented in these figures refer to the mean of
measurements carried out at several points of the
crack (mainly in corners), which means that the
crack width was not uniform along its path. The
Figure 3. Test setup. same figure shows the maximum limit of cracking
recommended by the American Concrete Institute
Results and discussion (ACI, 2005) for concretes without fibers, which in
Concrete properties this case was 0.329 mm. A significant reduction in
the crack width due to the addition of fibers was
The mechanical properties of concretes without observed, and this reduction increased as the
mineral additions are given in Table 3 and concretes amount of fiber increased. In some cases, this
with mineral additions are given in Table 4. reduction reached 75% compared to the crack width
These tables show that the mechanical properties in the tension specimen made of plain concrete.
of the SFRC were positively affected by the presence Comparing the crack width to the maximum limit
of fibers. The compressive strength (fcm) had a prescribed by the ACI 224R, it was noted that in
maximum increase of 28%. The flexure (fctm,f) and tension specimens made of SFRC this limit was
Acta Scientiarum. Technology Maringá, v. 38, n. 4, p. 455-463, Oct.-Dec., 2016
Tension
n stiffening of SFRC 459
reached
d for loads n near the yieldding load of the
reinforccement or, in some cases, was not reached
d.
Figure
F 6. Influennce of the F80 fib
ber content on th
he load–strain
relation
r of a tensio
on specimen. Figure 7. Com mparison of the tension stiffeningg coefficients of
plain concretee obtained from m the tests withh the analytical
equations preseented in the literatture.
The strain n along the llength of thee steel bar
embedded in the concretee prism was assumed a to Proposed empirical model to o estimate the teension
have
h uniform m distribution n, and it wass obtained stiffening coeefficient for SFRC
from
f the averraged value o of the three sttrain gages To estimmate the tensioon stiffening coefficient for
glued
g to thet bar. Allthough thiss was a SFRC, an empiric model based on n regression
simplification n, the errorss generated were not analysis was w proposedd using thee following
significant (Fischer & Li, 22002; Fantillii, Mihashi, parameters: strains ( ε ) annd the reinforccement index
& Vallini, 2005). This meethodology was initially ( R I ) obtainned by multipllying the fiberr aspect ratio
applied to tension
t speciimens made of plain ( L / D ) by th
he fiber conten
nt ( Vf ). For an
n overview of
concrete (Figure 7), and itss viability wass evaluated
the tension n stiffening parameters
p an
nd modeling
by
b comparing these resu ults with the analytical
approaches, refer to Fieldss and Bischofff (2004). The
equations avaailable in thee literature to o evaluate
average curvves of the ten nsion stiffeninng coefficient
tension
t stiffenning, that is: Belarbi and Hsu
H (1994) versus the strain
s bar obtained from th he tests were
[1], Collins and Mitchell (1991) [2], Arcchitectural used withou ut making anyy distinction rregarding the
Institute of Japan (AIJ, 1986) [3], Fédération F presence off mineral addittions because they did not
Internationalee du Béton (FIB, 2012) [4], and significantlyy change the tension stiffeening of the
Fields and Bischoff (2004) [5] for a concrete. Liinear regressio ons were perrformed over
stabilized crack king stage with long-term load
ding. This individual average
av curves obtained from m the tests to
comparison showed s that the values of o tension obtain the coefficients
c of the linear mo odel that best
stiffening obttained from b both tension specimens describes th he experimen ntal behavior. For SFRC,
with
w and without
w minerral additions were in the reinforceement index sh hould be inclu uded in the
agreement with w the valu ues generated by the regression model
m to accou
unt for the inflfluence of the
analytical equ uations mentio oned. steel fibers on
o tension stiff
ffening.
Acta
A Scientiarum
m. Technology M
Maringá, v. 38, n.. 4, p. 455-463, O
Oct.-Dec., 2016
Tension
n stiffening of SFRC 461
Figuure 8 shows the proposed model for p plain fiberss. A good agreeement betweeen the experim mental
concrette and compares it to the average curves data and the propo osed model w was observed. AsA the
obtaineed from the tests. This co omparison sh hows fiber content inccreases, the tension stiff ffening
ween the averaage curve and the
good aggreement betw coeffficient also inccreases. Moreeover, for con ncretes
proposeed model, whiich is given by Equation 2. with fiber contentss of 1.50%, th he tension stiff
ffening
coeffficient does not
n show anyy decrease. On O the
00+ (− 421.1844±15.530)ε forr Vf = 0.00% (2)
β = 1.00 otherr hand, it in ncreases sudd denly as the strain
increases. Thus, with
w this fiber content, the SFRC
showws an elastic-p plastic behavior in tension n. For
fiber contents of leess than 1.50% %, a decrease in the
tensioon stiffening coefficient
c witth an increase of the
concrrete strain wass observed, bu ut this decreasse was
much h less than thatt observed for plain concretee.
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(ECC). ACI Structural Journal, 99(1), 104-111. and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.