Construction and Building Materials 298 (2021) 123732

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Construction and Building Materials

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Mechanical properties of recycled fine aggregate concrete incorporating

different types of fibers
Danying Gao a,b, Zhiqiang Gu a,⇑, Yuyang Pang c,⇑, Lin Yang a
a
School of Water Conservancy Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
b
Henan University of Engineering, Zhengzhou 451191, China
c
School of Civil Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China

h i g h l i g h t s

The mechanical properties of fiber reinforced RFAC were investigated.

The compressive strength of RFAC increased with increasing steel fiber volume fraction.

All types of fibers had the significant effects on the splitting tensile properties of RFAC.

The enhancement effects of micro-fine steel fiber were most significant.

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

Article history: In this paper, the mechanical properties of fiber reinforced recycled fine aggregate concrete (RFAC) were
Received 24 July 2020 investigated. Natural fine aggregate was replaced by recycled fine aggregate, and experimental parame-
Received in revised form 12 April 2021 ters included the fiber type and fiber volume fraction. Two types of steel fibers, namely hooked end steel
Accepted 23 May 2021
fiber (ESF) and micro-fine steel fiber (MSF), and two types of flexible fibers, namely polypropylene fiber
(PPF) and basalt fiber (BF) were selected. The slump, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength,
load-deformation curve under splitting tensile loading and failure mode of the fiber reinforced RFAC were
Keywords:
examined. Results showed that the slump of RFAC decreased with the increase in fiber volume fraction,
Recycled fine aggregate concrete (RFAC)
Fiber types
while the compressive and splitting tensile strength of RFAC increased with the addition of fibers. The
Compressive properties ductility and toughness of RFAC increased with the increase in fiber volume fraction. Compared with flex-
Splitting tensile properties ible fibers, the effects of steel fibers on the mechanical properties of RFAC were more pronounced. Among
Splitting tensile strength prediction the four types of fibers, the MSF showed the most significant improvement for the mechanical properties
of RFAC. Finally, the model to predict the splitting tensile strength of steel fiber reinforced RFAC was pro-
posed and validated by the experimental results.
Ó 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction tially or totally substitute the natural aggregate for the concrete
production, which could promote environmental protection and
Rapid urbanization has a serious effect on the environment due achieve good economic efficiency [2–4]. Indeed, some countries
to the increasing construction and demolition (C&D) wastes. An had introduced relevant regulations to promote the development
investigation revealed that approximate 850 million tons of C&D of the recycled concrete, such as European standard RILEM [5]
wastes were generated in the European Union every year [1]. Cur- and Chinese standard GJG/T204-2011 [6].
rently, the C&D wastes amounted to 30%-40% of the total city solid Existing researches indicated that the recycled aggregates had
wastes in China [2]. In recent years the research on reducing and significant effects on the properties of concrete due to its higher
recycling C&D wastes had become a hotspot in the field of civil absorption rate, lower hardness, and weaker interfacial transition
engineering. As an effective way to deal with C&D wastes, the zones, and the mechanical properties of the recycled aggregate
crushed concrete waste was used as the recycled aggregate to par- concrete decreased gradually as the replacement ratio of recycled
aggregates increased [7–9]. The current researches on recycled
aggregate concrete were mainly focused on the performances
⇑ Corresponding authors.
and engineering applications of recycled coarse aggregate
E-mail addresses: zqgzzu@163.com (Z. Gu), pang122096956@zzu.edu.cn
concrete, and substantial research results had been obtained
(Y. Pang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2021.123732
0950-0618/Ó 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
D. Gao, Z. Gu, Y. Pang et al.
[10–20]. However, the application of recycled fine aggregate (RFA)
in concrete production received much more attentions owing to
the shortage of natural sand in recent years.
The current studies on the workability, mechanical properties,
and durability of recycled fine aggregate concrete (RFAC) showed
that: (1) the slump of fresh RFAC declined with an increase in
RFA replacement ratio due to the rougher surface texture and
greater angularity of RFA [21]; (2) the RFA had a significant nega-
tive effect on the mechanical properties of concrete due to its
higher water absorption and lower hardness [22]. Compared with
normal concrete, the compressive and splitting tensile strength
of RFAC with the RFA replacement ratio of 100% decreased 10.2%
and 30.5%, respectively [23]; (3) the replacement ratio of RFA
should be kept in an appropriate range. The properties of RFAC
showed an obvious decrease if the volumetric replacement ratio
of RFA exceeded 30% [23]; (4) the recycled aggregate also had an
adverse effect on the long-term performance of concrete. Com-
pared with normal concrete, the shrinkage of RFAC with the RFA
replacement ratio of 100% increased 58% at 90 days [24]. And the
carbonation depth of RFAC with the RFA weight replacement ratio
of 40% and 80% was 3.0 and 8.8 times that of the normal concrete
after 28 day exposure test, respectively [25]. Therefore, the RFAC
with a higher substitution ratio of recycled aggregate exhibited
the poor workability, mechanical properties, and durability, which
greatly limited its application in the building structures.
In the past few years, a series of studies have been conducted to
improve the performance of recycled concrete. The main improve-
ment measures were focused on improving the performance of
recycled aggregates and adding additional materials to concrete:
(1) reducing the old mortar content and smoothing the corners
of recycled aggregates through the secondary crushing process
[21]; (2) filling the pores of recycled aggregates by the action of
chemical solutions and biodeposition [26–28]; (3) adding active
materials such as nanoparticles, fly ash, and slag to promote the
secondary hydration of cementitious materials [29,30]; (4) adding
fibers to improve the tensile properties and durability of recycled
concrete [31–33]. Among these methods, adding fibers was consid-
ered as one of the most effective way.
Fiber reinforced concrete had been widely used in engineering
owing to its good ductility, toughness, and durability [34,35]. Sev-
eral studies indicated that the fibers could improve the mechanical
properties of recycled aggregate concrete as well. Carneiro [31]
evaluated the compressive stress–strain behavior of steel fiber
reinforced recycled concrete and found that the steel fibers could
significantly improve the toughness of recycled concrete. Gao
et al. [36–38] systematically studied the mechanical properties
and durability of steel fibers reinforced recycled coarse aggregate
concrete. Results showed that the mechanical properties of recy-
cled coarse aggregate concrete improved with the increase in steel
fiber volume fraction. The durability of recycled coarse aggregate
concrete increased as the fiber volume fraction increased from 0%
to 1.5% and decreased slightly as fiber volume fraction increased
from 1.5% to 2.0%. Kachouh’s study [39] indicated that with the
addition of 1% volume fraction of steel fibers, the compressive
strength of recycled aggregate concrete with a recycled coarse
aggregate replacement ratio of 70% was only 5% lower than that
of ordinary concrete. Akça [32] and Das [40] investigated the
effects of polypropylene fiber (PPF) on the mechanical properties
of recycled coarse aggregate concrete. Both of them found that
the flexural and splitting tensile strength of recycled coarse aggre-
gate concrete increased with increasing PPF volume fraction, while
no significant improvement was observed on the compressive
strength. Ahmed [41] found that the PPF could significantly
improve the compressive strength of recycled concrete. From the
researches mentioned above, it could be concluded that the fibers
could significantly improve the mechanical properties of recycled
2
Construction and Building Materials 298 (2021) 123732
concrete. However, most of the researches were focused on the
recycled coarse aggregate concrete. To the best of the authors’
knowledge, the studies on the properties of RFAC with fibers are
rarely reported to date in the literature. Therefore, more studies
need to be conducted to reveal the enhancement mechanism of
fibers on the properties of RFAC.
In this study, the mechanical properties of fiber reinforced RFAC
with the RFA replacement ratio of 100% were evaluated. Four com-
monly used fibers, including hooked end steel fiber (ESF), micro-
fine steel fiber (MSF), polypropylene fiber (PPF), and basalt fiber
(BF), were added to RFAC. The fiber volume fractions for ESF and
MSF were 0.5%, 1.0% and 1.5%, PPF were 0.066%, 0.132% and
0.198%, and BF were 0.05%, 0.10% and 0.15%. The main properties
of the fiber reinforced RFAC were examined, including the slump,
compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, load-deformation
curve under splitting tensile loading and failure mode. Finally,
the splitting tensile strength of steel fiber reinforced RFAC was pre-
dicted through an analytical model.
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
The ordinary Portland cement labeled P.O 42.5 was used in this
study. The crushed limestone and river sand with a maximum par-
ticle size of 20 mm and 5 mm were used as the natural coarse
aggregate and fine aggregate for normal concrete, respectively.
The RFA used in this study was from the abandoned concrete block
of the demolished buildings, which had a compressive strength
ranging from 30 to 50 MPa. The waste concrete was first crushed
by the jaw crusher, and then the crushed aggregates were put into
the hammer crusher for secondary crushing. After that, the crushed
aggregates were passed through a sieve machine to obtain the RFA
with different particle sizes. Finally, the RFA with the same particle
size distributions as natural fine aggregate (NFA) was obtained by
weighing the crushed aggregates with different particle sizes. The
particle size distributions of coarse aggregate, NFA and RFA are
presented in Fig. 1(a) and (b), respectively. Both of them satisfied
the JGJ52-2006 limitation [42]. Super plasticizer with a water-
reducing rate of 20% was used to improve the workability of con-
crete. Four types of fibers, including hooked end steel fiber (ESF)
with the fiber volume fractions of 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5%, micro-fine
steel fiber (MSF) with the fiber volume fractions of 0.5%, 1.0%,
and 1.5%, polypropylene fiber (PPF) with the fiber volume fractions
of 0.066%, 0.132%, and 0.198%, and basalt fiber (BF) with the fiber
volume fractions of 0.05%, 0.10%, and 0.15%, were added into con-
crete, respectively. Due to the poor disperse of flexible fibers in
concrete [43], the fiber volume fractions of PPF and BF did not
exceed 0.2% in this study to prevent the fiber cluster. The proper-
ties of each type of fiber are listed in Table 1. The image of each
type of fiber is presented in Fig. 2.
2.2. Characterization of fine aggregates
The detailed properties of RFA and NFA are listed in Table 2. It
can be seen that RFA had the lower specific gravity, higher water
absorption, higher crushing index, and higher internal porosity.
To reveal the influence factors that induced the poor performance
of RFA, the surface morphological features of NFA and RFA were
scanned by X-ray computed tomography (CT) (Xradia 410 Versa,
ZEISS, Germany), as shown in Fig. 3. It could be observed that the
NFA had a good homogeneity, high compactness, and smooth sur-
face, while RFA exhibited a rough and porous surface due to the
composition including the natural aggregates, cement paste,
micro-cracks, and pores, which induced the lower specific gravity
D. Gao, Z. Gu, Y. Pang et al. Construction and Building Materials 298 (2021) 123732

100 100
Overall limits Overall limits
Corse aggregate NFA RFA
Percentage passing/%
80 80

Percentage passing/%
60 60

40 40

20 20

0 0
2.36 4.75 9.5 19 26.5 0.16 0.315 0.63 1.25 2.5 5
Sieve size/mm Sieve size/mm
(a) coarse aggregate (b) NFA and RFA
Fig. 1. Particle size distributions of aggregates: (a) coarse aggregate; (b) NFA and RFA.

Table 1 X-ray CT. The internal porosity of RFA was significantly higher than
Properties of fibers. that of NFA, as shown in Fig. 4. Therefore, RFA had the higher water
Fiber Length Monofilament Aspect Density Elastic Tensile absorption.
type (mm) diameter (lm) ratio (kg/m3) modulus strength In this study, the phase analysis of NFA and RFA was conducted
(GPa) (MPa) by X-ray diffraction (XRD) (PANalytical X’Pert3 Powder, Nether-
ESF 35 550 65 7800 200 1345 lands, Cu-Ka, voltage 40 kV, current 40 mA, scan speed 0.04 s/step,
MSF 13 217 60 7800 200 2850 step size 0.013°). The XRD patterns are presented in Fig. 5. The
PPF 19 15 1267 910 3.79 276
main components of NFA were SiO2 and part of CaAl2Si2O8. In addi-
BF 18 13 1385 2650 85 2900
tion to SiO2 and CaAl2Si2O8, CaCO3 and CaMg(CO3)2 could also be
observed for RFA, which were introduced by the natural coarse
aggregates existed in RFA. The XRD patterns of NFA and RFA corre-
sponded well with the CT images.
ESF MSF

2.3. Mix proportion and specimen preparation

In this study, the additional water method [44] was used to

ensure that the final state of the fine aggregates was saturated dur-
ing the concrete casting, and the effective water consumption par-
ticipated in the hydration reaction was unchanged. The effective
PPF BF water-cement ratio of each type of concrete mix proportion was
maintained at 0.38, and the detailed mix proportion of each type
of concrete is listed in Table 3. The concrete was manufactured
by using a shaft mixer. First, the aggregates and fibers were mixed
for 2 min to ensure the fibers were uniformly dispersed. Then, the
cement was added and mixed for 1 min. Finally, the water and
super plasticizer were added together and mixed for another
2 min. Subsequently, the slump of the fresh concrete was tested
after the mixing process.
Fig. 2. Image of each type of fiber.
Fresh concrete was poured into the steel mold and vibrated on a
vibration table for 30 s to ensure compaction. For each type of con-
crete, a total of six cubic specimens with the dimension of
Table 2
Physical properties of the NFA and RFA. 150 mm  150 mm  150 mm were cast, in which three for com-
pression test and three for splitting tensile test. The results of com-
Aggregate Apparent Bulk Water Crush Internal
pressive and splitting tensile strength were averaged from three
type density (kg/ density absorption index porosity
m3) (kg/m3) (wt%) (%) (%) specimens. All specimens were demolded after 24 h and then cured
in a moisture room with a temperature of 20 °C ± 2 °C and a rela-
NFA 2617 1479 1.20 13.80 0.25
RFA 2569 1221 7.10 20.01 4.02
tive humidity of 95% for 28 days. The specimen ID corresponding to
each concrete mix proportion is listed in Table 3. NC means the
normal concrete, R100 means the recycled concrete with RFA
replacement ratio of 100%, and R100ESF0.5 means the recycled
and higher crushing index. Furthermore, the internal pore distribu- concrete with RFA replacement ratio of 100% and ESF volume frac-
tions of NFA and RFA with the same particle size were scanned by tion of 0.5%.
3
D. Gao, Z. Gu, Y. Pang et al. Construction and Building Materials 298 (2021) 123732

1mm 1mm

Micro-crack
Natural
aggregates
Cement
paste

Pores

(a) (b)
Fig. 3. X-ray CT images of fine aggregate: (a) NFA; (b) RFA.

Fig. 4. Internal pore distributions of fine aggregates: (a) NFA; (b) RFA.

0.5 MPa/s in accordance with Chinese Standard GB/T 50081–

2002 [45]. The splitting tensile test was conducted by the displace-
ment control at a rate of 0.1 mm/min. Two linear variable differen-
tial transformers (LVDTs) were placed on the opposite side of the
specimen to obtain the lateral displacement. The data of load and
deformation were collected using a data acquisition device. The
splitting tensile test stopped when the lateral displacement of
specimen reached 3 mm. The setup of splitting tensile test is
shown in Fig. 6. The black line on the specimen is the central line
that easy for alignment during the loading process.

NFA
3. Results and discussion

3.1. Slump

RFA Fig. 7 shows the slump results for each type of concrete. It could
be seen that the fibers had a significant influence on the flowability
of RFAC. The slumps of all types of fiber reinforced RFAC were
lower than that of the RFAC without fibers, and decreased signifi-
cantly with the increase in fiber volume fraction. Compared with
the flexible fibers, the influence of steel fibers on the flowability
Fig. 5. XRD patterns of NFA and RFA. of RFAC was more severely. Steel fibers could form a skeleton
frame in the mixture due to the longer length and higher hardness,
which limited the slippage of the aggregates and resulted in the
2.4. Test procedure decreasing slump of the mixture. The larger surface area of PPF
and BF required more mortar to cover, and the slump of RFAC
All tests were conducted using a servo-hydraulic closed-loop decreased as well [46]. It should be noted that the R100 had the
testing machine with the capacity of 3000kN. The compressive same slump of 200 mm as the normal concrete. The main reason
strength of specimen was tested by the stress control at a rate of was that the effective water participating in the hydration reaction
4
D. Gao, Z. Gu, Y. Pang et al. Construction and Building Materials 298 (2021) 123732

Table 3
Details of concrete mix proportion (kg/m3).

Specimen ID CA NFA RFA Cement Water Fiber Super plasticizer

NC 1134.00 558.00 0.00 513.00 195.00 0.00 4.62
R100 1134.00 0.00 558.00 513.00 227.00 0.00 4.62
R100ESF0.5 1134.00 0.00 558.00 513.00 227.00 39.00 4.62
R100ESF1.0 1134.00 0.00 558.00 513.00 227.00 78.00 4.62
R100ESF1.5 1134.00 0.00 558.00 513.00 227.00 117.00 4.62
R100MSF0.5 1134.00 0.00 558.00 513.00 227.00 39.00 4.62
R100MSF1.0 1134.00 0.00 558.00 513.00 227.00 78.00 4.62
R100MSF1.5 1134.00 0.00 558.00 513.00 227.00 117.00 4.62
R100PPF0.066 1134.00 0.00 558.00 513.00 227.00 0.60 4.62
R100PPF0.132 1134.00 0.00 558.00 513.00 227.00 1.20 4.62
R100PPF0.198 1134.00 0.00 558.00 513.00 227.00 1.80 4.62
R100BF0.05 1134.00 0.00 558.00 513.00 227.00 1.33 4.62
R100BF0.10 1134.00 0.00 558.00 513.00 227.00 2.65 4.62
R100BF0.15 1134.00 0.00 558.00 513.00 227.00 3.98 4.62

Steel plate

Steel frame

150mm
LVDT

Specimen

Fig. 6. Test setup.

250 normalized slump value of each type of fiber reinforced RFAC

NC R100 and the fiber volume fractions are plotted in Fig. 8. From outside
ESF series MSF series to inside, the closed lines represent the fiber volume fractions of
200 each type of fiber reinforced RFAC from 0 to maximum. The inter-
PPF series BF series
section of the closed line and coordinate axis was the normalized
slump value of each type of RFAC. For instance, the red dots a, b,
c, and d represented the normalized slumps of ESF, MSF, PPF, and
150
Slump/mm

BF reinforced RFAC with the fiber volume fractions of 0.5%, 0.5%,

0.066%, and 0.05%, respectively. It could be observed that the
slump of ESF reinforced RFAC presented the most obvious decline
100 with the increase in fiber volume fraction. The negative effects of
fiber types on the flowability of RFAC were sorted as:
ESF > MSF > PPF > BF. Besides, the steel fibers had more signifi-
50 cantly detrimental effects on the slump compared to that of the
flexible fibers. The main reason was that the elastic modulus of
steel fibers was obviously higher than that of flexible fibers, and
0 most of the steel fibers remained straightly during the concrete
8
0. 6
0. 32

0. 0
15
05
5
5
0
5
0
5

mixing and formed skeleton frame in the fresh concrete. These

19
0
0

06

1
1.
0.
1.
0.
1.
1.

0.
0.
0.

straight steel fibers decreased the flowability of RFAC and the

Fiber volume fraction/% slump of steel fiber reinforced RFAC decreased accordingly.
Fig. 7. Slumps of each type of concrete.
3.2. Compressive strength

and the additional water keeping the FRA saturated were added
together during the RFAC casting. However, part of water could
not enter the interior of FRA during concrete mixing, the main rea-
son was that part of pores in FRA was filled by cement particles,
and the real water-cement ratio of RFAC was increased, which off-
sets the friction effect caused by the sharpness of FRA [23]. There-
fore, the slump of R100 was not decreased.
To more intuitively evaluate the effect of fiber type on the
flowability of FRAC, the slumps of all types of RFAC were normal-
ized based on the slump of R100. The relationship between the
5
The compressive strength of each type of concrete is shown in
Fig. 9. The standard deviation and coefficient of variation (COV)
of the compressive strength of each type of concrete are listed in
Table 4. In general, the compressive strength of R100 was 14.5%
lower than that of the normal concrete. For the RFAC with ESF
and MSF, the compressive strength increased with increasing fiber
volume fraction; for the RFAC with PPF and BF, the compressive
strength remained basically unchanged with increasing fiber vol-
ume fraction. The compressive strength of all types of RFAC were
normalized based on the compressive strength of R100, and the
D. Gao, Z. Gu, Y. Pang et al. Construction and Building Materials 298 (2021) 123732

MSF matrix. As the load increased, the micro-cracks gradually propa-

1 gated and penetrated the whole section of the specimen until the
b the influence of porosity on the compressive strength of fiber rein-
0.5
c a
PPF
1 0.5 0 0.5
0.5
d was observed, which indicated that adding fibers to RFAC had no
1 study indicated that the compressive strength of concrete was clo-
BF
Fig. 8. Normalized slump of each type of fiber reinforced RFAC with different fiber
volume fractions.
relationship between the normalized compressive strength of each
type of fiber reinforced RFAC and the fiber volume fractions is plot-
ted in Fig. 10. From inside to outside, the closed lines represent the
fiber volume fractions of each type of fiber reinforced RFAC from 0
to maximum. The strengthening effects of fiber types on the com-
pressive strength of RFAC are sorted as: MSF > ESF > PPF > BF. Exist-
ing researches reported that the fiber reinforcing index (RI = Vf  As,
where Vf is the fiber volume fraction and As is the fiber aspect ratio
as shown in Table 1) could be used to express the influence of
fibers on the mechanical properties of fiber reinforced concrete.
The specimen with a lower steel fiber aspect ratio presented a
higher compressive strength than that of the specimen reinforced
with longer steel fibers under the same fiber volume fraction
[47]. In this study, the aspect ratio of MSF was lower than that of
the ESF, and the strengthening effect of MSF was better than that
of the ESF. The aspect ratio of PPF was lower than that of the BF,
and the strengthening effect of PPF was better than that of the BF.
Under compressive loading, the micro-cracks generated from
the weak zone owing to the existence of pores in the concrete
failure of specimen occurred. In this study, the density and pore
size distribution of the specimen were analyzed to investigate
forced RFAC. Assume that no extra air was introduced by adding
fibers during the concrete pouring, the theoretical density of fiber
reinforced RFAC could be calculated as follows:


qt ¼ qr 1  V f þ qf  V f ð1Þ
ESF
1
where qr is the density of R100 specimen; Vf is the fiber volume
fraction; qf is the fiber density.
The experimental and theoretical densities for each type of con-
crete are listed in Table 5. No obvious difference between the
experimental and theoretical density for fiber reinforced RFAC
significant influence on the porosity of RFAC. However, existing
sely related to the porosity and the pore size distribution of the
specimen [48]. Therefore, the RFAC specimens with different fiber
volume fractions were scanned by using the X-ray CT to test the
pore size distribution. The pores with different sizes in the speci-
men were counted according to the scanning results. The cumula-
tive percentages of the pores with a size greater than 3  109 lm3
of R100, R100ESF1.0, R100MSF1.0, R100PPF0.132, and R100BF0.10
specimens are listed in Table 6. It could be seen that the pores with
a size greater than 3  109 lm3 were significantly decreased for the
RFAC reinforced with MSF. Previous studies [49] indicated that
under the condition of similar total porosity, a decrease in the per-
centage of pores with the size ranging from 200 lm to 1600 lm
and an increase in the percentage of pores with the size ranging
from 10 lm to 200 lm results in an increase in the compressive
strength of concrete, which was consistent with the results of this
study. The pores with a size greater than 3  109 lm3 had a signif-
icant adverse effect on the compressive strength of concrete. Add-
ing MSF could improve the pore size distribution and reduce the
percentage of the large pores. Therefore, the MSF showed the most
significant strengthening effects on the compressive strength of
RFAC. However, for the specimen with PPF and BF, no significant
improvement of the pore size distribution was found, which could
be used to explain the insignificant enhancement effect of PPF and
BF on the compressive strength of RFAC.

3.3. Failure mode, steel fiber distribution, and splitting tensile

100 properties
NC R100
ESF series MSF series 3.3.1. Failure mode
80 PPF series BF series The finally failure pictures of the R100, R100ESF1.0,
Compressive strength/MPa

R100MSF1.0, R100PPF0.132, and R100BF0.10 specimens under

splitting tensile loading are presented in Fig. 11. The R100 speci-
60 men exhibited a typical brittle failure with a single crack pene-
trates the entire section, and the specimen was split into two
parts, as shown in Fig. 11(a). Fig. 11(b) and (c) shows the failure
40 modes of RFAC reinforced with 1.0% volume fraction of ESF and
MSF, respectively. The specimen presented the typical multiple
cracking and the failure mode changed from brittleness to ductil-
20 ity, which was attributed to the bridging stress and the end hook
resistance between steel fibers and concrete matrix.
Although several fine cracks appeared on the surface of
R100PPF0.132 and R100BF0.10 specimens, the failure of these
0
specimens occurred due to the penetration of the main crack, as
8
0. 6
0. 32

0. 0
15
05
5
5
0
5
0
5

19
0
0

06

1
1.
0.
1.
0.
1.
1.

shown in Fig. 11(d) and (e). The main reason was that the flexible
0.
0.
0.

Fiber volume fraction/% fibers could not resist the bond stress between the fiber and con-
crete matrix during crack propagation, and most of the flexible
Fig. 9. Compressive strength of each type of concrete. fibers were broken in the cracked section. Due to the lower elastic
6
D. Gao, Z. Gu, Y. Pang et al. Construction and Building Materials 298 (2021) 123732

Table 4
Standard deviation and COV of the compressive strength of each type of concrete.

Specimen ID NC R100 R100ESF-0.5 R100ESF-1.0 R100ESF-1.5 R100MSF-0.5 R100MSF-1.0

Standard deviation/MPa 1.32 0.73 2.10 0.89 0.93 0.71 0.81
COV 0.024 0.015 0.042 0.017 0.018 0.012 0.012
Specimen ID R100MSF-1.5 R100PPF-0.066 R100PPF-0.132 R100PPF-0.198 R100BF-0.05 R100BF-0.10 R100BF-0.15
Standard deviation/MPa 0.72 1.79 0.89 2.20 1.35 0.97 2.49
COV 0.010 0.036 0.018 0.043 0.027 0.020 0.050

3.3.2. Steel fiber distribution in the RFAC

It had been confirmed that the steel fiber distribution in con-
MSF crete was an important factor that affecting the mechanical prop-
1.5 erties of concrete [50]. To study the steel fiber distribution in
RFAC, the cubic specimen with a dimension of
40 mm  40 mm  40 mm, which was cut from the
1
150 mm  150 mm  150 mm cubic specimen reinforced with
1.0% steel fiber in this experiment, was scanned by the X-ray CT.
0.5 Fig. 12 shows the steel fiber distributions of R100ESF1.0 and
R100MSF1.0 specimens. The steel fibers were randomly distributed
in the RFAC with different angles, and the distribution of MSF was
PPF ESF obviously denser than that of ESF due to the smaller size.
1.5 1 0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
0.5 3.3.3. Load-deformation curves
The splitting tensile load-deformation curves of NC and R100
are plotted in Fig. 13. Compared to NC, the peak splitting tensile
1 load of R100 decreased 13.9%, while the toughness was basically
unchanged. The brittle failure with a smaller lateral deformation
could be observed for each specimen.
1.5 The splitting tensile load-deformation curves of different types
BF of fiber reinforced RFAC are plotted in Fig. 14. The peak splitting
tensile load and ductility of RFAC with different types of fibers
Fig. 10. Normalized compressive strength of each type of fiber reinforced RFAC
with different fiber volume fractions.
increased with the increase in fiber volume fraction. Compared
with flexible fibers, the reinforcing and toughening effects of steel
fibers on RFAC were more pronounced. The MSF showed a better
reinforcing and toughening effects on RFAC than that of the ESF.
This could be explained by the increased fiber RI of the MSF rein-
Table 5
forced specimen. Due to the smaller diameter and lower aspect
Experimental and theoretical densities of each type of concrete.
ratio of MSF, the number of MSF was more than that of ESF at
Specimen ID Experimental density qe Theoretical density qt qe/qt the same fiber volume fraction, which leading to an increased like-
(kg/m3) (kg/m3) (%)
lihood for the path of cracks to cross through the MSF [51]. There-
NC 2402.70   fore, the MSF reinforced RFAC showed a better splitting tensile
R100 2342.02   properties than that of the ESF reinforced RFAC. Additionally, Gao
R100ESF0.5 2353.44 2369.31 99.33
R100ESF1.0 2368.80 2396.60 98.84
[36] studied the load-deformation behavior of steel fiber reinforced
R100ESF1.5 2400.62 2423.89 99.04 recycled coarse aggregate concrete under direct shear. Results
R100MSF0.5 2370.77 2369.31 100.06 showed that both peak load and critical deformation of the shear
R100MSF1.0 2400.30 2396.60 100.15 load-deformation curve increase significantly with the increase in
R100MSF1.5 2419.16 2423.89 99.80
steel fiber volume fraction. After peak load, the load drops dramat-
R100PPF0.066 2305.48 2341.08 98.48
R100PPF0.132 2329.48 2340.13 99.54 ically for the recycled concrete without steel fiber, while the load
R100PPF0.198 2341.23 2339.19 100.09 drops obviously slower for the specimens reinforced with steel
R100BF0.05 2353.09 2342.17 100.47 fibers. The shear load-deformation behavior of steel fiber rein-
R100BF0.10 2305.48 2342.33 98.43 forced recycled concrete was similar to that of the splitting tensile
R100BF0.15 2316.74 2342.48 98.90
load-deformation behavior in this study, which could be used to
explain the superior reinforcing and toughening effects of steel
fibers on the recycle concrete.
modulus and higher elongation, some PPF fibers at the cracked sec- In general, the splitting tensile load-deformation curves of fiber
tion were still in the elastic stage, therefore, the R100PPF0.132 reinforced RFAC could be characterized by three stages: (1) the
specimen was not split into two parts, as shown in Fig. 11(d). elastic stage, the load increased linearly as the lateral displacement

Table 6
Cumulative percentages of the pores of different fiber reinforced RFAC specimens.

Specimen ID R100 R100ESF1.0 R100MSF1.0 R100PPF0.132 R100BF0.10

Pores larger than 3  109 lm3 (%) 25.7 24.1 16.5 27.0 24.6

7
D. Gao, Z. Gu, Y. Pang et al. Construction and Building Materials 298 (2021) 123732

Fine crack
Fine crack

Multiple
cracking

Multiple
cracking

Main crack

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)

Fig. 11. Finally failure pictures of different types of specimens: (a) R100; (b) R100ESF1.0; (c) R100MSF1.0; (d) R100PPF0.132; (e) R100BF0.10.

Fig. 12. Steel fiber distribution in RFAC with 1.0% fiber volume fraction: (a) ESF; (b) MSF.

120 passing through the cracked section of specimen were gradually

pulled out; (3) the softening stage, the load gradually decreased
100 as the lateral displacement increased and the cracks of the speci-
men grew rapidly until the failure occurred. The typical splitting
Splitting tensile load/kN

tensile load-deformation curve of the fiber reinforced RFAC is

80 shown in Fig. 15. dtp represented the deformation corresponding
to the peak splitting tensile load of the curve. To explore the effects
60 of fiber types on the toughness of RFAC, the area under the load-
deformation curve from 0 to dtp and dtp to 3 mm were defined as
the peak toughness (Tp) and residual toughness (Tr) of the speci-
40 men, respectively.
Table 7 lists the characteristic parameters of the splitting tensile
20 NC load-deformation curve, including the cracking load, peak splitting
tensile load, deformation corresponding to the peak splitting ten-
R100
sile load, peak toughness, and residual toughness of each type of
0 concrete. The standard deviation and COV of the splitting tensile
0.000 0.025 0.050 0.075 0.100 0.125
strength of each type of concrete are listed in Table 7 as well. By
Lateral deformation/mm analyzing the cracking load of each type of concrete, it was found
that the developing trend of the cracking load was consistent with
Fig. 13. Splitting tensile load-deformation curves of NC and R100. the ultimate compressive load. The main reason was that the spec-
imen was in the elastic stage before cracking, and the damage
accumulation mechanism under splitting tensile loading was sim-
increased within a very small range until the cracking load (Ftc) ilar to that under compressive loading. A linear relationship
was reached; (2) the elastic–plastic stage, the load increased non- between the cracking load and ultimate compressive load for each
linearly with increasing lateral displacement until the peak load type of concrete was established and presented in Fig. 16. It could
(Ftp) was reached. In this stage, the cracks of specimen appeared be seen that the fitting curve agreed well with the experimental
and gradually propagated with the increase in load, and the fibers results.
8
D. Gao, Z. Gu, Y. Pang et al. Construction and Building Materials 298 (2021) 123732

150 250
R100 R100
R100ESF0.5 R100MSF0.5

Splitting tensile load/kN

200
Splitting tensile load/kN
R100ESF1.0 R100MSF1.0
100 R100ESF1.5 R100MSF1.5
150

100
50

50

0 0
0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3
(a) Lateral defromation/mm (b) Lateral deformation/mm
150 150
R100 R100
R100PPF0.066 R100BF0.05
Splitting tensile load/kN

Splitting tensile load/kN

R100PPF0.132 R100BF0.10
100 R100PPF0.198 100 R100BF0.15

50 50

0 0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5
(c) Lateral deformation/mm (d) Lateral deformation/mm

Fig. 14. Splitting tensile load-deformation curves of different types of fiber reinforced RFAC: (a) ESF; (b) MSF; (c) PPF; (d) BF.

with increasing fiber volume fraction, and all types of fibers could
significantly improve the splitting tensile properties of RFAC.
Fig. 17(a) and (b) shows the effects of fiber types on the normal-
Ftp
ized cracking load and peak splitting tensile load of RFAC with dif-
Splitting tensile load/kN

ferent fiber volume fractions, respectively. It could be observed

Ftc
that the RFAC reinforced with MSF exhibited the most significant
improvements for both cracking and peak splitting tensile loads.
For the specimen with a MSF volume fraction of 1.0%, the cracking
and peak splitting tensile loads were 1.52 and 2.1 times that of
R100, respectively. The peak splitting tensile load of RFAC rein-
Tp forced with 1.0% volume fraction of ESF increased 32.3% compared
to that of R100. Carneiro’s results [31] showed that adding 0.75%
volume fraction of ESF could increase the splitting tensile strength
Tr of recycled concrete by 26.9%. Compared with non-fiber reinforced
recycled coarse concrete, the splitting tensile strength of recycled
coarse concrete reinforced with 1.0% and 2.0% volume fraction of
o δtp ESF increased 101.1% and 174.7%, respectively [37]. In addition,
Ahmed [41] found that the splitting tensile strength of recycled
Lateral displacement/mm
concrete reinforced with 0.60% volume fraction of PPF increased
Fig. 15. Typical load-deformation curve of the fiber reinforced RFAC. 23.2% compared to that of non-fiber reinforced recycled concrete,
while a decrement in splitting tensile strength was observed if
the PPF volume fraction exceeds 0.6%. Das [40] also found that
3.3.4. Characteristic parameter analysis the splitting tensile strength of recycled concrete decreased if the
Fig. 17 presents the relationships between the normalized char- PPF volume fraction exceeds 0.5%, the maximum improvement
acteristic parameters of the splitting tensile load-deformation observed in recycled concrete with 0.5% volume fraction of PPF
curve and the fiber volume fractions for each type of fiber rein- as compared to non-fiber reinforced recycled concrete is 12.01%.
forced RFAC, and all characteristic values are normalized against In this study, the peak splitting tensile load of RFAC reinforced with
those of R100. From inside to outside, the closed lines represent 0.198% volume fraction of PPF increased 15.5% compared to that of
the fiber volume fractions of each type of fiber reinforced RFAC R100. All above researches indicated that the fibers could improve
from 0 to maximum. It could be seen that all parameters increased the splitting tensile strength of RFAC, and the volume fraction of
9
D. Gao, Z. Gu, Y. Pang et al. Construction and Building Materials 298 (2021) 123732

Table 7
Characteristic parameters and splitting tensile strength of each type of concrete.

Specimen ID Ftc /kN Ftp /kN dtp /mm Tp /J Tr /J Splitting tensile strength/MPa Standard deviation/MPa COV
NC 106.30 111.84 0.0315 3.34 7.57 3.17 0.16 0.051
R100 91.07 96.26 0.0296 2.81 5.83 2.73 0.18 0.067
R100ESF0.5 93.50 109.97 0.1751 18.34 168.12 3.11 0.13 0.040
R100ESF1.0 94.16 127.34 0.2460 28.97 190.12 3.61 0.04 0.010
R100ESF1.5 101.48 138.16 0.3087 40.15 200.10 3.91 0.17 0.044
R100MSF0.5 108.38 156.51 0.2855 42.49 137.11 4.43 0.08 0.019
R100MSF1.0 138.42 201.87 0.3224 57.72 196.47 5.72 0.18 0.032
R100MSF1.5 147.51 211.57 0.3934 75.18 285.14 5.99 0.19 0.032
R100PPF0.066 91.13 99.38 0.0321 3.09 77.22 2.81 0.18 0.063
R100PPF0.132 92.07 105.17 0.0353 3.39 83.23 2.98 0.27 0.090
R100PPF0.198 94.18 111.15 0.0387 3.85 104.00 3.15 0.18 0.056
R100BF0.05 92.76 109.42 0.0362 3.57 78.08 3.10 0.10 0.033
R100BF0.10 105.42 112.53 0.0386 4.23 86.71 3.19 0.13 0.040
R100BF0.15 104.69 120.01 0.0412 4.81 102.08 3.40 0.17 0.049

Note: Standard deviation and COV correspond to the splitting tensile strength of each type of concrete.

160 weaker than that of steel fibers, the ductility and toughness of
Experimental value RFAC increased with the increase in fiber volume fraction of PPF
Fitted line and BF.
From above discussion, it could be concluded that the enhance-
140
ment effects of steel fibers on the splitting tensile properties of
RFAC were better than that of flexible fibers, and the strengthening
Cracking load (kN)

effects of fiber types on the splitting tensile properties of RFAC

120
y=0.087x, R2=0.878
100
80
60
1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500
Ultimate compressive load (kN)
Fig. 16. Relationship between the cracking load and ultimate compressive load.
PPF should be kept in an appropriate range to obtain the best
enhancements on the splitting tensile strength of recycled
concrete.
Fig. 17(c-e) shows the effects of fiber types on the normalized
deformation corresponding to the peak splitting tensile load, peak
toughness, and residual toughness of RFAC with different fiber vol-
ume fractions, respectively. It could be seen that the deformation
corresponding to the peak splitting tensile load, peak toughness
and residual toughness of RFAC increased with increasing fiber vol-
ume fraction. Compared with the splitting tensile strength, the
enhancement effects of fibers on the ductility and toughness of
RFAC were more significant. For the specimen with a MSF volume
fraction of 1%, the deformation corresponding to the peak splitting
tensile load, peak toughness and residual toughness were 10.89,
20.54, and 33.7 times that of R100, respectively. For the specimen
with an ESF volume fraction of 1%, the deformation corresponding
to the peak splitting tensile load, peak toughness and residual
toughness were 8.31, 10.31, and 32.61 times that of R100, respec-
tively. Besides, from Fig. 17(c) and (d) it could be seen that the
improvement of flexible fibers on the residual toughness was obvi-
ously higher than that on the peak toughness. The main reason was
that the enhancement effect of flexible fibers on the ductility of
RFAC was better than that on the elastic modulus and splitting ten-
sile strength of RFAC [32,41]. Although the enhancement effects of
flexible fibers on the splitting tensile properties of RFAC were
could be sorted as: MSF > ESF > BF > PPF. The main reason was that
the steel fibers had the higher tensile strength and better bonding
properties than that of the flexible fibers. Under splitting tensile
loading, the fibers were gradually pulled out from the concrete
matrix after the cracking of the specimen. With the crack width
increasing, the end hook of the steel fiber was straightened and
then pulled out, while most of the PPF and BF were broken due
to its lower tensile strength. Fig. 18 shows the failure morphology
of different types of fibers under splitting tensile loading. PPF and
BF were scanned by using the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
1600 (EVO HD15, ZEISS, voltage 10 kV). As shown, the end hooks of steel
fibers were straightened, while PPF and BF were breakage.
4. Splitting tensile strength prediction of steel fiber reinforced
RFAC
From Fig. 18 it could be seen that the PPF and BF were breakage
instead of pull out during the splitting tensile loading, and the
bonding force between the flexible fibers and concrete matrix
was not easy to calculate. Therefore, this section only given the
splitting tensile strength prediction model of steel fiber reinforced
RFAC. Under splitting tensile loading, the splitting tensile load of
the steel fiber reinforced RFAC after cracking was mainly provided
by the bonding force of the steel fibers and the resistance of the
concrete matrix. Therefore, the peak splitting tensile load of the
steel fiber reinforced RFAC could be calculated as follows:
F tp ¼ F tc þ F s þ F m ð2Þ
where Ftc is the cracking load of the specimen; Fs and Fm are the
bonding force of steel fibers and resistance of the concrete matrix
after cracking of the specimen, respectively.
According to Fig. 16, the cracking load of the specimen could be
expressed as follows:
F tc ¼ 0:087F cu ð3Þ
where Fcu is the ultimate compressive load of specimen.
In the elastic stage, the bonding force of the steel fibers
decreased with increasing load, and the bonding force of steel
fibers after the cracking of the specimen was mainly caused by
the straightening of the end hook. Therefore, only the end hook
10
D. Gao, Z. Gu, Y. Pang et al. Construction and Building Materials 298 (2021) 123732

MSF MSF
2
2

1
1

PPF ESF PPF ESF

2 1 0 1 2 2 1 0 1 2

1
1

2
2
BF BF
(a) (b)
MSF MSF
15 30

10 20

5
10

PPF ESF
5 0 5 10 15
PPF ESF
5 0 10 20 30
5 5
BF BF
(c) (d)
MSF

40

20

PPF ESF
40 20 0 20 40

20

40

BF
(e)
Fig. 17. Normalized characteristic parameters of the splitting tensile load-deformation curve for each type of fiber reinforced RFAC with different fiber volume fractions: (a)
Ftc; (b) Ftp; (c) dtp; (d) Tp; (d) Tr.

resistance of the steel fibers was considered to calculate the ing. The diagram of the end hook resistance of the steel fiber is pre-
increasing of the splitting tensile load of the specimen after crack- sented in Fig. 19. According to the related literature [52], the force

11
D. Gao, Z. Gu, Y. Pang et al. Construction and Building Materials 298 (2021) 123732

5mm 2mm 50μm 10μm

Breakage
Breakage

End hook End hook

straightened straightened

(a) (b) (c) (d)

Fig. 18. Failure morphology of different types of fibers: (a) ESF; (b) MSF; (c) PPF; (d) BF.

required for end hook to be straightened of the single steel fiber Af

F m ¼ ðF tp;r  F tc;r Þð1  Þ ð8Þ
could be calculated as follows: A
f y  p  r 2f where Ftp,r and Ftc,r are the peak splitting tensile load and cracking
T1 ¼ 2
ð4Þ load of R100 specimen, respectively; Af is the actual section area
3  cosh  ð1  lcosbÞ  1000
of steel fibers distributed on the failure section of the specimen,
where fy is the tensile strength of the steel fiber; rf is the diamater of which could be calculated as follows:
the steel fiber; b is half of the bending angle of the end hook, and
Af ¼ gv  A  V f ð9Þ
b = 67.5° in this paper; h = 2b-90°; l is the friction coefficient and
taken as 0.5. Substituting Eqs (3)–(9) into Eq. (2), the peak splitting tensile
According to Eq. (4), the bonding force of steel fibers from the load of the steel fiber reinforced RFAC could be expressed as
cracking of the specimen to the peak splitting tensile load could follows:
be calculated as follows:
w  f y  A  Vf
F tp ¼ 0:087F cu þ
F s ¼ g0  nf  T 1 ð5Þ 3  cosh  ð1  lcosbÞ2  1000



where g0 is the fiber orientation coefficient, which means the aver- þ F tp;r  F tc;r  1  gv  V f ð10Þ
age ratio between the projected length in the tensile stress direction
and the actual length of the fiber on the failure section; nf is the w ¼ g0  gv ð11Þ
actual number of steel fibers distributed on the failure section of By the regression analysis of the experimental data in this
the specimen, which could be calculated as follows: study, the coefficient w was taken as 0.107, gv was taken as
nf ¼ gv  nt ð6Þ 0.316, and more experimental studies were encouraged to validate
the empirical coefficient. The experimental and predicted peak
where gv is the non-uniform coefficient of fiber distribution; nt is splitting tensile load of each type of steel fiber reinforced RFAC
the theoretical number of steel fibers distributed on the failure sec- are presented in Fig. 20. A good agreement was obtained with an
tion of the specimen assuming that the steel fibers were evenly dis- average ratio of 1.011 and a COV of 0.058.
tributed, which could be calculated as follows:
A  Vf 250
nt ¼ ð7Þ
p  r2f AVG=1.011
where A is the failure section area of the specimen; Vf is the steel
COV=0.058
200
fiber volume fraction.
Predicted results (kN)

The resistance of the concrete matrix from the cracking of the

specimen to the peak splitting tensile load could be calculated as
follows: 150

100
T1
45°
β 50
θ
Peak splitting tensile load
β 0
β 0 50 100 150 200 250
r
45°
f
Experimental results (kN)
Fig. 19. Diagram of the end hook resistance of the steel fiber. Fig. 20. Experimental and predicted peak splitting tensile load.

12
D. Gao, Z. Gu, Y. Pang et al.
5. Conclusions
The experimental studies on the mechanical properties of RFAC
reinforced with different types of fibers were presented in this
paper. According to tests results and analysis, the following conclu-
sions could be drawn:

The RFA had the lower specific gravity, higher water absorption,
and higher crushing index than that of NFA. Compared to nor-
mal concrete, the compressive and splitting tensile strength of
RFAC with the 100% replacement ratio of RFA decreased 14.5%
and 13.9%, respectively.

The slump of the RFAC mixture decreased with the increase
in fiber volume fraction. The effects of steel fibers on the
flowability of RFAC were more obvious than that of flexible
fibers.

The compressive strength of RFAC increased with increasing
steel fiber volume fraction, while the influence of PPF and BF
on the compressive strength of RFAC was insignificant. The
strengthening effects of fiber types on the compressive strength
of RFAC were sorted as: MSF > ESF > PPF > BF.

All types of fibers had the significant effects on the splitting ten-
sile properties of RFAC. The splitting tensile strength, ductility,
and toughness of RFAC increased with increasing fiber volume
fraction. Compared with PPF and BF, the improvements of ESF
and MSF on the splitting tensile properties of RFAC were more
pronounced.

The porosities of the RFAC with different types of fibers
remained basically unchanged, while the pore size distribution
of RFAC with MSF was improved. The distribution of MSF in
RFAC was slightly worse than that of ESF owing to its smaller
volume. A model to predict the splitting tensile strength of steel
fiber reinforced RFAC was proposed.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Danying Gao: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Supervi-
sion, Writing - review & editing. Zhiqiang Gu: Conceptualization,
Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Soft-
ware, Writing - original draft, Visualization, Project administration.
Yuyang Pang: Investigation, Supervision, Writing - review & edit-
ing. Lin Yang: Investigation, Data curation.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgment
This research was partially supported by the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (Grant No. U1704254).
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