Available online at www.sciencedirect.

com

ScienceDirect
Procedia Engineering 193 (2017) 218 – 225

International Conference on Analytical Models and New Concepts in Concrete and Masonry
Structures AMCM’2017

Experimental investigation on hybrid steel fibers reinforced

self-compacting concrete under flexure
Maágorzata Pająka*, Tomasz Ponikiewskib
a
Silesian University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Structural Engineering, Akademicka 5, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
b
Silesian University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Building Materials and Processes Engineering, Akademicka 5,
44-100 Gliwice, Poland

Abstract

Using the self-compacting concrete (SCC) can shorten the time and decrease the costs of the building process. The incorporation
of the randomly distributed steel fibers into brittle SCC improves its tensile parameters. The steel fibers can be effective in
delaying propagation of micro- or macro-cracks according to geometrical parameters of fibers. To attract all types of cracks the
fibers with different geometrical parameters should be used simultaneously. In the present paper, the influence of the
combinations of straight and corrugated steel fibers with different lengths (6 mm, 35 mm) and cross-sectional shape on the
compressive strength and flexural behavior of SCC was investigated. The total fibers volume ratio varied from 1.0 % to 3.0 %.
Among the rheological parameters of self-compacting concrete, the hybrid fibers reinforcement did not influence workability but
pronouncedly decreased passing ability. Thus, the mixes reinforced with the highest fibers volume ratios did not satisfy the
requirements for the SCC. Based on the mechanical test results no apparent difference in the compressive strength was noted.
The results showed that the flexural parameters were pronouncedly enhanced in the HFR-SCC due to the hybrid fiber addition
and at low dosage rates depended on the proportions between the two applied types of fibers. However, using the highest
summary amounts of fibers did not cause further increase in flexural parameters.
©2017
© 2017TheTheAuthors.
Authors. Published
Published by Elsevier
by Elsevier Ltd.is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Ltd. This
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Analytical Models and New
Peer-review
Concepts inunder responsibility
Concrete of the scientific
and Masonry committee of the International Conference on Analytical Models and New Concepts in
Structures.
Concrete and Masonry Structures
Keywords: self-compacting concrete, hybrid mix of steel fibers, flexural tensile strength

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +48-32-237-15-98; fax: +48-32-237-22-88.

E-mail address: malgorzata.pajak@polsl.pl

1877-7058 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Analytical Models and New Concepts in Concrete and
Masonry Structures
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2017.06.207
 Małgorzata Pająk and Tomasz Ponikiewski / Procedia Engineering 193 (2017) 218 – 225 219

1. Introduction

Concrete is the most popular material used for structural applications, which parameters are being constantly
modified to satisfy the requirements of the market. Nowadays, shortening of the time of the building process and
decrease of the costs are desired from the economical point of view. It can be obtained by using the self-compacting
concrete (SCC), which production is enabled by the application of superplasticizing chemical additives and/or
mineral admixtures (e.g. fly ash). This kind of concrete fills the framework in a natural manner, passes through the
obstacles and consolidates under its own weight with no need for vibration. The labor needed for placing and
finishing the concrete is also minimalized as is the noise connected to the vibration [1-4]. The further improvements
of concrete concerns its low tensile parameters, which are the major barrier to many applications [5]. The tensile
strength, dynamic parameters and toughness of the self-compacting concrete can be considerably improved by
application of short randomly distributed fibers. The effectiveness of the fibers in the matrix depends on their
material, geometrical parameters (length, diameter, longitudinal profile, cross-sectional shape) and amount used [6].
The fibers are most effective in improving the post-cracking parameters of the matrix. Single type of fiber works
only in some range of cracks. The micro fiber acts as a bridge to prevent the formation of micro-cracks, while longer
ones are more effective in arresting macro-cracks. Combining the benefits of the fibers with various length should
bring the significant effect in improving tensile parameters (synergy effect) [7]. Considering the material, the most
effective in improving the parameters of concrete among steel, synthetic and organic fibers are the steel ones [6].
The mechanical parameters of concrete strongly depend on the amount of fibers, which in turn influences the
rheological parameters of SCC. The workability and passing ability of SCC can be pronouncedly reduced by high
amount of fibers. From that reason, to find an optimal combination of different types of fibers in self-compacting
concrete the mechanical parameters should be analyzed in parallel to the rheological parameters.
The present paper deals with the hybrid fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete (HFR-SCC) which combines
short and long steel fibers of a different shape to attract the cracks at different levels. The combination of exactly
these types of fibers was not investigated before. Some attempts to compare the test results with the one in the
literature were made. However, all of the researchers combined the different types of steel fibers in order to improve
the parameters of concrete [1,3,5,7-9]. The total amount of fibers analyzed in the literature did not exceed 2 % and
in the present research it was equal to 3 %.

2. Experimental study

The components of self-compacting concrete and their proportions used in the investigation are given in
Table 1. The Glenium SKY 592 Superplasticizer was applied in the amount of 3.5 % of the mass of cement.
The superplasticizer was based on polycarboxylate ether (concentration 20 %) and characterized by density of 1.07
g/cm3. The 0.4 % of the mass of cement of stabilizer RheoMATRIX 100 with a density equal to 1.01 g/cm3 were
also used in the mix. The detailed procedure of preparation of self-compacting concrete can be found in [4].

Table 1. Composition of HFR-SCC mix.

Cement Natural sand Coarse aggregate Steel fibers
Water Superplasticizer Stabilizer
CEM I 42.5R (0–2 mm) (2–8 mm) / (8–16 mm) (%) W/C
3
(kg/m ) (kg/m3) (kg/m3)
(kg/m3) (kg/m3) (kg/m3) by volume
450 750 570 / 300 200 1.0÷3.0 15.75 1.8 0.44

Two types of fibers with a different length (6 mm, 35 mm), longitudinal shape (straight, corrugated) and cross-
sectional shape (circle, part of a circle) were used in the investigation (Table 2). Nine mixes contained combination
of each fiber type with the amount equal to 0.5 %, 1.0 % and 1.5 %, which is the dosage weight of 39.25, 78.5 and
117.8 kg/m3, respectively. The detailed proportions between the fibers in each mix and their designation are
summarized in Table 3. The total volume ratio of fibers in the nine mixes was in a range of 1 ÷ 3 %. The research
programme included the investigation of the properties of the mixes in a fresh state (L-Box tests, Slump flow tests).
The analysis was focused on determination of the compressive and flexural parameters of HFR-SCC mixes at the
220 Małgorzata Pająk and Tomasz Ponikiewski / Procedia Engineering 193 (2017) 218 – 225

age of 28-days. For each mixture, six cubes with the dimensions of 150 × 150 × 150 mm3 were tested in
compression according to PN-EN 12390-3. The tests were performed using a testing machine with the maximum
load capacity of 3000 kN with a constant strain rate. The flexural parameters were investigated in four-point bending
tests on beams with the dimensions of 100 × 100 × 400 mm3 (Fig. 1). During the tests the mid-span deflection
increased constantly with the rate of deflection equal to 0.2 mm/min until the deflection reached 2 mm.

Table 2. Properties of steel fibers.

Designation DG SW
Length [mm] 6 ± 10 % 35 ± 3.5
Width [mm] - 2.30 ÷ 2.95
Depth [mm] - 0.7 ± 0.07
Effective diameter 0.15 ± 10 % 1.28
Aspect ratio (length/d) 32 27
Fiber shape straight corrugated
Tensile strength [MPa] 1250 ± 15 % 800 ± 120
E (GPa) 210 201

b)

a)

c)

Fig. 1. Testing setup for flexural tests according to ASTM C1609: a) during the test; b) specimen before the test;
c) specimen after the test.
 Małgorzata Pająk and Tomasz Ponikiewski / Procedia Engineering 193 (2017) 218 – 225 221

3. Test results and discussion

3.1. Properties of fresh HFR-SCC

The results of the rheological tests were summarized in Table 3. All mixes were able to flow into and fill the
framework, which was reaffirmed in slump flow tests. However, not all mixes were able to appropriately pass the
reinforcement bars. The passing ability was investigated in the L-box test. The blocking ratio (H2/H1) in case of all
mixes containing 2 % or more than 2 % of fibers was lower than 0.8, so did not satisfy the requirements for SCC
(underlined in Table 3).
The conclusions are consistent with the findings reported by Akcay et al. [1] and Rambo et al. [3]. In works [1,3]
no negative influence on workability of SCC of hybrid steel fibers up to 1.5 % was noted. Mohammadi et al. [8]
claimed that the high amount of short fibers is responsible for good workability parameters. Further, Yu et al. [9]
noticed that the workability of mixes with single type of fibers is worse than the one with the hybrid fibers.
Meanwhile, the passing ability was also pronouncedly decreased by the inclusion of 1.5 % of hybrid fibers [3].

Table 3. Properties of HFR-SCC in a fresh and hardened state.

Vf of fibers [%] Slump flow test Flexural parameters
Peak Net Flexural Tough-
L-box Density Compressive
Mix SFD T500 load PP deflection tensile ness
SW DG Σ (H2/H1) [kg/m3] strength [MPa]
[mm] [s] (kN) dP (mm) strength T100,2
fts (MPa) (Nm)

SCC - - - 800 1 1.00 2.293 42.03 (4) 17.44 0.039 5.23 -

0.5SW +0.5DG 0.5 0.5 1 775 1 0.95 2.313 41.23 (5) 18.52 0.036 5.56 19.64
0.5SW +1.0DG 0.5 1 1.5 765 1 0.87 2.360 47.67 (7) 22.57 0.035 6.77 28.43
0.5SW +1.5DG 0.5 1.5 2 715 1.2 0.56 2.360 47.10 (4) 23.63 0.062 7.09 31.44
1.0SW+0.5DG 1 0.5 1.5 790 1 0.97 2.340 40.47 (2) 19.18 0.070 5.75 29.27
1.0SW+1.0DG 1 1 2 770 1 0.60 2.393 42.03 (7) 22.00 0.101 6.60 35.48
1.0SW+1.5DG 1 1.5 2.5 715 1.2 0.06 2.380 42.10 (7) 22.77 0.137 6.83 33.11
1.5SW+0.5DG 1.5 0.5 2 775 1 0.17 2.360 40.43 (10) 21.58 0.110 6.47 34.76
1.5SW+1.0DG 1.5 1 2.5 725 1.1 0.13 2.420 39.07 (10) 21.10 0.162 6.33 33.96
1.5SW+1.5DG 1.5 1.5 3 700 1.1 0.09 2.440 43.43 (1) 22.79 0.134 6.84 36.95

3.2. Compressive behavior of HFR-SCC

The values of compressive strength of all mixes are graphically presented in Fig. 2 and described in the
Table 3. The compressive strength of the self-compacting concrete matrix was equal to 42.03 MPa.
The improvement of this mechanical parameter was observed only in case of combination of 0.5 % of SW fibers
with 1.0 % or 1.5 % of DG fibers (Fig. 2). In all other mixes the slight variation of fc comparing to the reference mix
was noted. The observed impact of fibers on compressive strength can be due to difficulties in providing
a homogeneous distribution of fibers in the mix but also increasing cracking resistance of SCC by adding the fibers
[1,6]. Additionally, the fibers are some perturbation which causes higher amount of voids in the matrix. Explaining
the obtained results it can be concluded that the lower amount of long fibers (0.5 % of SW fibers) was better
distributed in the matrix. Further complementing the mix with short fibers (1.0 % and 1.5 % of DG fibers) gave in
summary the best performance of fc. It could be caused by a huge number of the short fibers in comparison to long
ones. The short fibers are light, so for the same volume ratio their number in the matrix is significantly bigger than
the long fibers.
No apparent difference in compressive strength of the tested matrix due to hybrid (steel-steel) or hybrid (steel-
polypropylene) fiber addition was also observed in works [1,5,7] and [2], respectively. Meanwhile, Mohammadi
et al. [8] and Yu et al. [9] reported an increase in compressive strength caused by the application of fibers. In work
222 Małgorzata Pająk and Tomasz Ponikiewski / Procedia Engineering 193 (2017) 218 – 225

[8] the increase in the amount of fibers, keeping the same proportions between the 25 mm and 50 mm long fibers,
resulted in an enhance of the fc even to 26 %. Yu et al. [9] claimed that the longer fibers (13 mm) were more
effective in improving the compressive strength than the short ones (6 mm). The hybrid mixes containing
combination of 1.5 % of the longer type of fibers with the 0.5 % of shorter fibers gave the best compressive strength.
This conclusion is with the opposite to the one presented in the present paper. However, it can be explained by the
difference between the length and slenderness ratio of the fibers used in the research [9], which is quite small
comparing to the one investigated by the authors.

Fig. 2. The variation of compressive strength of HFR-SCC according Fig. 3. The variation of flexural tensile strength of HFR-SCC
to amount of SW steel fibers. according to amount of SW steel fibers.

3.3. Flexural behavior of HFR-SCC

The flexural parameters obtained in the four-point bending tests were calculated according to the ASTM C1609
recommendation and are summarized in Table 3. The toughness (T100,2) was defined as the area under the load-
deflection curve up to deflection of L/150 of the span, which is 2 mm. The flexural tensile strength (fts) was
additionally depicted in Fig. 3. The average load-deflection diagrams up to deflection equal to 2 mm were presented
in Figs. 4-7. The typical failure pattern with a single crack was observed in case of all investigated mixes (Fig. 1b,c).
As expected, the incorporation of hybrid fibers provided higher flexural tensile strength of SCC. The increase of
this parameter was rather proportional to the total fiber volume ratio (Fig. 3). However, the highest values of fts were
obtained for the same mixes as for compressive strength. It only reaffirms the conclusions about the most
homogeneous distribution of the fibers in this matrix presented in the point 3.2. The net deflection at the ultimate
load (dP) increased proportionally to the total amount of fibers (Table 3).
Figure 4 and Figure 5 presents the comparison of the load-deflection curves, where the SW and DG fibers were
chosen as a base, respectively. These results reaffirm different role of the short and long fibers in attracting the
cracks in the concrete matrix. The long fibers (SW) provide an improvement of the flexural parameters of HFR-SCC
in higher level that the short fibers. The small straight fibers (DG) attract the micro-cracks, while the big fibers with
good anchorage (SW) are responsible for carrying the loads after achieving the peak load and delaying the
appearance of the macro-cracks. The presence of SW fibers decided about the load capacity of the samples. It can be
seen in Fig. 5a,c, where the flexural parameters of mixes containing DG fibers increased proportionally to the
additional amount of SW fibers. In case of 1.0 % of DG fibers (Fig. 5b) this relationship was a little bit interfered.
The importance of SW fibers in carrying the loads is also clearly seen in the shape of the load-deflection curves
obtained from the tests with the 1.5 % of SW steel fibers, which were almost the same regardless of the amount of
DG fibers (Fig. 4c). This trend decreased with the drop of the amount of SW fibers (Fig. 4a,b). Considering the
flexural behavior, the SW steel fibers produced an improvement of the post-peak parameters, while the DG fibers of
the peak load.
 Małgorzata Pająk and Tomasz Ponikiewski / Procedia Engineering 193 (2017) 218 – 225 223

Referring to Fig. 6, where the shape of the load-deflection curves according to the total amount of fibers were
presented, some more conclusions can be drown. For the total amount of fibers not higher than the 1.5 % the
flexural parameters depended on the proportions between the fibers (Fig. 6a). Meanwhile, in case of the fibers
volume ratio equal to 2 % only the mix containing 0.5 % of SW steel fibers diverged from other diagrams (Fig. 6b).
The shape of the load-deflection curves obtained for mixes with the highest tested amounts of fibers were
comparable (Fig. 6c). From the presented research the fiber mix configurations which gave a similar effect on the
flexural behavior (load-deflection curve, toughness) could be selected (Figure 7). It seems that in the series
containing from 2 % to 3 % of two types of steel fibers their effectiveness in the matrix did not depend on the
proportions between the fibers. The only condition was to provide not less than 1 % of the amount of the SW fibers.
From the economical point of view, it is the best to mix 1.0 % of SW and 1.0 % of DG steel fibers, which gives the
same effect as other mixes with the higher amounts of fibers.

a) b) c)

Fig. 4. Average load–deflection curves from flexural tests of SCC reinforced with various amounts of DG fibers and an amount of SW fibers
equal to: (a) 0.5 %; (b) 1.0 %; (c) 1.5 %.

a) b) c)

Fig. 5. Average load–deflection curves from flexural tests of SCC reinforced with various amounts of SW fibers and an amount of DG fibers
equal to: (a) 0.5 %; (b) 1.0 %; (c) 1.5 %.

Based on this research it is possible to conclude that the increase of the total amount of fibers for 2 % even to 3 %
can be ineffective in enhancing the flexural parameters of hybrid fiber reinforced mixes. It can be pointed out that
the proportions between the short straight and long corrugated fibers are no longer important for such high total
amounts of fibers. The fibers configuration influences only the net deflection in flexure. However, we cannot forget
224 Małgorzata Pająk and Tomasz Ponikiewski / Procedia Engineering 193 (2017) 218 – 225

about reducing the passing ability of all the mixes presented in Fig. 7 . On one hand, the hybrid mixes of fibers gave
a good flexural performance. On the other hand, these mixes should be treated as conventional concrete as the
rheological parameters discriminate the mixes to be self-compacting concrete.
These results are in an agreement with the results reported in [1,3,8,9]. Mohammadi et al. [8] investigated the
impact of corrugated fibers with two lengths (25 mm, 50 mm) on flexural behavior of concrete. Changing
proportions between fibers by replacing the short fibers with the long type resulted in an increase of the flexural
strength and toughness. Similar conclusions can be drawn from the works of Yu et al. [9], Rambo et al. [3] and
Akcay et al. [1]. Referring to the paper [9] the straight fibers with lengths equal to 6 mm and 13 mm were
investigated. The research presented in [1,3] was dealing with straight and hooked fibers of different geometrical
parameters. Thus, it can be concluded that in combination of fibers with different lengths long fibers act the major
role in flexural performance . However, the desired synergy effect was only reported by Yoo et al. [5], who
considered combinations of three types of straight fibers (13 mm, 19.5 mm, 30 mm).
Other approach of hybridization was proposed by Banthia et al. [7]. He analyzed hybrid mixes containing
corrugated fibers with the same lengths (30 mm) but different diameters. It appeared more effective than the hybrid
fibers were mixes containing only single type of small diameter fibers.

a) b) c)

Fig. 6. Average load–deflection curves from flexural tests of SCC reinforced with summary amounts of fibers in a range of: (a) 1.0 %-1.5 %;
(b) 2.0 %; (c) 2.5 %-3.0 %.

Fig. 7. Average load–deflection curves from flexural

tests of mixes providing the similar results.
 Małgorzata Pająk and Tomasz Ponikiewski / Procedia Engineering 193 (2017) 218 – 225 225

4. Concluding remarks

The following conclusions concrete can be drawn from the investigation on nine combinations of two types of
steel fibers as reinforcement of self-compacting:
• The fibers exhibit minor influence on workability of SCC. In case of mixes containing more than 2 % of hybrid
fibers the reduction of the passing ability was noted. These mixes should be concerned as conventional concrete;
• The compressive strength of self-compacting concrete was slightly affected due to incorporation of hybrid fibers.
Only in case of combination of 0.5 % of long fibers with 1.0 % or 1.5 % of short fibers the enhancement of the
compressive strength was noted, which can be attributed to the most homogenous distribution of the short fibers
in the matrix;
• The results of the flexural tests generally reaffirmed the role of the long fibers in attracting the macro-cracks and
short fibers in arresting the micro-cracks. The results showed that the flexural parameters of HFR-SCC were
pronouncedly enhanced due to hybrid fiber addition and at low dosage rates (” 2 %) depended on the proportions
between the two applied types of fibers;
• The increase of the total amount of fibers for 2 % even to 3 % can be ineffective in enhancing the flexural
parameters of hybrid fiber reinforced mixes. The obtained shapes of the load-deflection curves were comparable
in this range regardless of the proportions between the two types of fibers. Thus, the most effective were the
mixes containing 1 % of both long and short fibers. The applied types of fibers mixed even in different
proportions are probably not able to produce the synergy effect.

References

[1] B. Akcay, M.A. Tasdemir, Mechanical behaviour and fibre dispersion of hybrid steel fibre reinforced self-compacting concrete.
Construction and Building Materials. 28 (2012) 287–293.
[2] M. Pająk, The investigation on flexural properties of hybrid fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete. Procedia Engineering. 161 (2016)
121-126.
[3] D.A.S. Rambo, F.A. Silva, R.D.T. Filho, Mechanical behavior of hybrid steel-fiber self-consolidating concrete: Materials and structural
aspects. Materials and Design. 54 (2014) 32–42.
[4] M. Pająk, T. Ponikiewski, The laboratory investigation on the influence of the polypropylene fibers on selected mechanical properties of
hardened self-compacting concrete. Architecture Civil Engineering Environment. 3 (2015) 69-78.
[5] D.Y. Yoo, S.W. Kim, J.J. Park, Comparative flexural behavior of ultra-high-performance concrete reinforced with hybrid straight steel fibers.
Construction and Building Materials. 132 (2017) 219–229.
[6] A.M. Brandt, Fibre reinforced cement-based (FRC) composites after over 40 years of development in building and civil engineerin. Compos
Struct. 86 (2008) 3–9.
[7] N. Banthia, M. Sappakittipakorn, Toughness enhancement in steel fiber reinforced concrete through fiber hybridization. Cement and
Concrete Research. 37 (2007) 1366–1372.
[8] Y. Mohammadi, S.P. Singh, S.K. Kaushik, Properties of steel fibrous concrete containing mixed fibres in fresh and hardened state.
Construction and Building Materials. 22 (2008) 956–965.
[9] R. Yu, P. Spiesz, H.J.H. Brouwers, Static properties and impact resistance of a green Ultra-High Performance Hybrid Fibre Reinforced
Concrete (UHPHFRC): Experiments and modeling. Construction and Building Materials. 68 (2014) 158–171.