Materials Today: Proceedings 45 (2021) 6818–6821

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Materials Today: Proceedings

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An experimental study on hybrid fiber reinforced concrete beams

subjected to torsion
Saravanakumar P ⇑, Sivakamidevi M, Meena K, Yamini S.P
Department of Civil Engineering, Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, India

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

Article history: Experimental investigations were carried out to study the mechanical performance and torsional beha-
Received 16 November 2020 viour of hybrid fiber reinforced concrete beams. Steel fibers and Glass fibers were used with varying fiber
Received in revised form 14 December 2020 content such as 0% 0.5% 1.0% and 1.5% by volume of concrete to cast the specimens for this study. The
Accepted 24 December 2020
experimental study results confirmed that the mechanical performance of the concrete was remarkably
Available online 15 February 2021
improved with the addition of hybrid fibers upto 1% by volume of concrete. The torsional strength in the
cracking state and post cracking state was improved in hybrid fiber reinforced concrete and this depends
Keywords:
on the volume of fiber content in concrete.
Steel fibers
Glass fibers
Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Hybrid fiber reinforced concrete Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Confer-
Mechanical performance of concrete ence on Mechanical, Electronics and Computer Engineering 2020: Materials Science.
Torsional strength

1. Introduction
Fiber reinforced concrete was extensively experimented by
employing various types of fibers like steel, glass, organic polymers
(synthetic fibers) and natural fibers and reported by many
researchers. Steel fiber reinforced concrete has wide scope of
regions such as floors, marine structures, fixing and retrofitting
solid structures etc. Silica has kept being the most important and
generally used mineral admixture between the pozzolonic materi-
als [1].
By adding fibers in the reinforced concrete, significant improve-
ment in strength and durability characteristics were reported by
researchers. The fiber addition improves the post cracking behavior
of concrete by bridging the cracks through tension stiffening effect
[2].
The rise in fiber aspect ratio and fiber volumetric proportion in
concrete brings about an increase in the energy absorption and
mechanical characteristic strength of concrete. When this rise sur-
passes a specific volumetric level, the rise in the property turns out
to be less [3–5]. The past study reports confirmed that the applica-
tion of two or more fiber combination in fiber reinforced concrete
improved the post cracking behaviour and it was influenced by
fiber content and fiber mixture [6]. Jute is a long, delicate vegetable
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: psaravana2000@gmail.com (P Saravanakumar).
fibre used for the fibre reinforcement exclusively for retrofittings
and also helps the cracked structure to regain its original strength
[7].
The structural members which are subjected to eccentrically
load are significantly affected by torsion in addition to bending,
shear and axial forces. However, in some cases like beams curved
in plan, spandrel beams and cantilever beams, the torsional beha-
viour was dominated than bending behaviour. In the past few dec-
ades wide-ranging of research works had been carried out on
increasing the torsional resistance of concrete structures.
Eventhough the failure pattern of cracks in beams subjected to
shear or torsion is same the behaviour of beams are different. Shear
crack were developed in the same way on either sides whereas the
crack due to twist will spread in the opposite direction on opposite
faces [8,9].
Many researchers have researched the characteristics of fiber
strengthened beams under twist. The essential test factors were
fiber type, fiber proportion and the percentage of steel reinforce-
ment. At the point when fibers are added to plain concrete both
torsional quality and energy engrossing limit increases [10,11].
The consideration of fibers in concrete improved a definitive tor-
sional quality and conferred significant flexibility and durability
to the beams [12]. The ability to absorb energy and load carrying
capacity of beams were found to increment with increment in
fibervolume fraction and aspect ratio. The addition of steel fibre
in addition to reinforcement in beams resulted in increase in the
torsional capacity along with the energy absorption capacity and

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.12.1003
2214-7853/Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Mechanical, Electronics and Computer Engineering 2020:
Materials Science.
P Saravanakumar, M Sivakamidevi, K Meena et al. Materials Today: Proceedings 45 (2021) 6818–6821

also the precracking behaviour [13,14]. For FRC it was reported

that among the available theories plastic theory predicted very clo-
sely the ultimate torque value [15].The volume of the steel fiber
part was not suggested more than 3–4%. Be that as it may, the use-
fulness of cement past a fiber volume division of 2% is exception-
ally troublesome [14].
Research indicates that the incorporation of glass fiber in con-
crete resulted in the reduction of micro cracks at the initial stage
itself. The silica fume simultaneously increases the strength and
rigidity of the structures [16]. The past research study reported
that using Hybrid fibers gave much befit than using single type
of fibers in concrete. As two types of fibers are used, one will be
good in strength and stiffness and the other will be strong in dura-
bility. Similarly one will treat the initial micro cracks and the other
will take care of the macro cracks. This is the major benefit
achieved by using variety of fibers in single concrete [17,18]. In this
paper an attempt was made to study the behavior of hybrid fiber
reinforced concrete (HFRC). Glass fibers and Steel fibers were used
to prepare the hybrid fiber reinforced concrete for this study. The Fig. 2. Torsional Test Setup.

main objective of the study was to study the improvement of

mechanical properties for various percentage addition of hybrid
fibers and the failure mode of HFRC beams subjected to pure tor-
sion was also analyzed and compared with reinforced concrete
beams. The optimum percentage addition of fibers was identified.
More number of cracks and lesser crack width were also reported
for HFRC beams in the experimental study. The post cracking
behavior of HFRC beams were found better than RC beams.
of 150 mm diameter and 300 mm length for split tensile strength
and prism of 100  100  500 mm size for flexural strength were
cast and tested at 7, 14 and 28 days. The reinforced concrete beam
of size 1.2 m length, 0.15 m width and 0.23 m depth were cast to
study the torsional behaviour of HFRC. Preparation of concrete,
casting of specimens, demoulding and curing was done as per stan-
dard methods.

2.2. Torsion test on beams

2. Materials and experimental methods
Tests were conducted on reinforced concrete beams of size
2.1. Materials
0.15 m  0.23 m  1.2 m of M20 grade. The beam was reinforced
with main reinforcement of 3 bars of 8 mm a, 2 hanger bars of
For this experimental study OPC 53 grade cement in compliance
8 mm a and 2 legged 8 mm a stirrups at 150 mm c/c (Fig. 1). The
to the standards of IS 269-1979, fine aggregates and coarse aggre-
test setup was shown in Fig. 2. Two torsional brackets were fixed
gates in compliance to the standards of IS 383-1970 were used.
at the ends of the beams. The length of the moment arm was kept
Sulphonated napthalene polymer based super plasticizer SP 430
as 0.60 m. The steel inflexible beam was placed diagonally over the
was used to increase the workability of concrete.
moment arm. The load was applied at the middle of the steel
Corrugated circular steel fiber of size 1 mm  36 mm was used
in this study. The average pitch of steel fibers was 8 mm and rise Table 1
was 2 mm. Average ultimate tensile strength of steel fibers was Strength of the specimen for various percentage additions of fibers.

600 MPa and the modulus of elasticity was 2.1  105 MPa. AR- Designation of Compressive Split Tensile Flexural
Glass fibers having diameter 15.3 lm, relative density of 2.7 g/ specimen Strength Strength Strength
m3, the Ultimate tensile strength is 2900 MPa, the elastic modulus N/mm2 N/mm2 N/mm2

is 73.4 MPa. The properties of fibers were provided by the HFRC0.0 21.5 2.4 3.7
manufacturer. HFRC0.5 23.3 2.8 4.2
HFRC1.0 26.4 3 4.6
Equal amount of steel and AR-Glass fibers were added in con-
HFRC1.5 24.3 2.9 4.4
crete to prepare the specimen. To find the mechanical behaviour
of HFRC, cubes of 100 mm size for compressive strength, cylinder

Fig. 1. Cross Section of the Beam and Reinforcement details. Fig. 3. Percentage increase of strength of HFRC for various fiber content additions.

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P Saravanakumar, M Sivakamidevi, K Meena et al. Materials Today: Proceedings 45 (2021) 6818–6821

Table 2
Torsional strength of the beams.

Designation of specimen Crack initiation Maximum

Torque in kNm % Increase in Torque Torque in kNm % Increase in Torque
HFRC0.0 4.1 – 4.7 –
HFRC0.5 4.5 9.75 5.2 10.64
HFRC1.0 5.2 26.83 6.1 29.78
HFRC1.5 5.45 32.93 6.4 36.17

inflexible beam which becomes disbursed equally at the ends of
the beam. The torsional moment were applied at the ends of the
beam through the torsion bracket. The torque value was computed
by multiplying the applied force on the each side with the moment
arm distance.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Mechanical strength
The mix ratio adopted to cast the test specimen in this investi-
gation is 1:1:41:3.09 with on objective strength of M20 grade of
concrete. The compressive strength, split tensile strength and flex-
ural strength of the specimens tested were listed in the Table 1.The
average 28th day strength of concrete specimen for various per-
centage additions of fibers was summarized in Table 1.
There was a significant increase in compressive strength of the
specimen found upto 1% fiber addition and after that the concrete
showed down trend. The mix ratio for 20 MPa was designed and
21.5 MPa was attained after 28 days curing for control specimen.
The 1% HFRC showed the maximum compressive strength increase
of 26 MPa. Similarly same observations were made in split tensile
strength and flexural strength also. Fig. 3 showed the percentage
increase in strength of concrete for various hybrid fiber percentage
addition (0%, 1% and 1.5%).From the Fig. 3 it was observed that a
maximum of 23%, 25% and 19% increment was found for compres-
sive, tensile and flexural strength respectively for 1% fiber addition.
For the fiber addition beyond 1%, i.e, 1.5% HFRC the down trend
was observed in the mechanical strength of the concrete. Irrespec-

Fig. 4. Crack pattern of HFRC beams.

6820
P Saravanakumar, M Sivakamidevi, K Meena et al.
tive of age of concrete the same trend of strength variation was
noticed in 7, 14 and 28 days concrete matrixes.
The failure pattern of concrete during compression was also
observed. After the first crack formation the failure took places
lowly in the fiber added specimen when compare to the control
specimen. This showed the improvement in post cracking beha-
viour of fiber added specimens. The energy absorption capacity
was improved in steel fiber reinforced concrete. The same kind of
strength improvement and failure behaviour was also noticed in
split tensile strength. In flexural strength test the control speci-
mens failed immediately when the first crack was observed but
in fiber added beams after the first crack the specimen continue
to sustain the load and the failure was slowly took place. From
the results of the experimental study it was concluded that upto
1% of steel fiber addition in concrete showed remarkable improve-
ment in the mechanical characteristics of concrete.
3.2. Torsional strength
The failure of the beam was noticed through cracks on the sur-
face of the beams. The cracks were started near the supports and it
originates at the bottom and extends to the top of the beam at an
angle of 45° approximately. The torsional strength of HFRC beams
was found to be increased for the increase in fiber addition and the
maximum increase was found as 33%than control specimen for
HFRC1.5 beam. The Table 2 showed the torque values and the per-
centage increase in torque for various percentages of hybrid fiber
additions of beams for first crack load and at ultimate load. The
ultimate torque capacity increases with the increase in fiber con-
tent after first cracking of beam specimen. The maximum torque
increment of 5% than control beam was noticed in 1.5% HFRC.
But the behaviour after the first crack was significantly improved
in HFRC beams. The failure was attained slowly even though there
was not a remarkable increase in torque value in lower percentage
of fiber additions.
3.3. Crack study
The post cracking behaviour of beam specimens were examined
through the crack study. The failure pattern of various percentage
of HFRC added beams were shown in Fig. 4(a)–(d). The ultimate/-
failure torque was attained in a short duration for the beams hav-
ing no fiber content. The numbers of cracks were minimum and
very wide in control beam. The numbers of cracks were increased
and also the width of the cracks was reduced in HFRC beams. It was
observed that the fibers play a bridging role between the cracks
and hence the hybrid fiber reinforced concrete showed a better
post cracking behaviour than RCC beam.
4. Conclusion
The following are the conclusions derived from the experimen-
tal investigation carried out on HFRC specimens.
1. The mechanical characteristics of concrete were improved with
fiber addition in concrete and ultimate strength improvement
was found in 1% addition in HFRC.
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Materials Today: Proceedings 45 (2021) 6818–6821
2. Steel and glass fiber addition of 0.5% each to form 1% HFRC
improved around 20% mechanical strength than conventional
concrete.
3. The HFRC beams showed continuous improvement in torsional
behaviour for the fiber additions. Maximum increase was found
as 33% in 1.5% HFRC beam.
4. The failure was attained slowly in HFRC beam and after the first
crack the specimen continues to sustain the load for a long per-
iod than RC beam.
5. The hybrid fiber reinforced concrete showed a better post
cracking behaviour than RCC beam.
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.
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