International Concrete Abstracts Portal

Reports on an investigation on the behavior of high-strength concrete beams (with concrete compression strength equal to 11,600 psi or 80 MPa), with and without steel fiber reinforcement, to determine their diagonal cracking strength as well as nominal shear strength. Experimental data on the shear strength of steel fiber reinforced high-strength concrete beams are currently scarce to nonexistent. Twenty-two beam specimens were tested under monotonically increasing loads applied at midspan. The major test parameters included the volumetric ratio of steel fibers, the shear span-to-depth ratio, the amount of longitudinal reinforcement, and the amount of shear reinforcement. It was found that steel fiber reinforced high-strength concrete beams effectively resist abrupt shear failure. Such beams exhibit higher cracking loads and energy-absorption capabilities than comparable high-strength concrete beams without fibers. Empirical prediction equations are suggested for evaluating the diagonal cracking strength as well as nominal shear strength of steel fiber reinforced high-strength concrete beams.

It is well recognized that fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) exhibits a number of superior properties relative to plain concrete, such as improved strength, ductility, impact resistance, and failure toughness. These advantageous features of FRC can lead to novel structural applications, for which standard design and analysis procedures must be supplemented by numerical modeling (for example, the finite element method). This, in turn, makes necessary the development of satisfactory constitutive models that can predict the behavior of FRC under different load conditions, both monotonic and cyclic. In this paper, a constitutive model for FRC is developed loosely within the theory of mixtures. For plain concrete, an anisotropic, strain-based, continuum damage/plasticity model with kinematic and isotropic damage surfaces is developed. To represent the effect of the fibers, a simplified model that accounts for the tensile resistance of the fibers and the enhanced tensile resistance of the plain concrete is proposed. The predictions of the FRC constitutive model are compared to data from laboratory tests of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) specimens under uniaxial and biaxial loadings.

Partially prestressed beams contain both prestressed and non-prestressed reinforcement. Addition of steel fibers results in an increase in first crack moment and flexural strength and a decrease in deflection and reinforcement stresses. This paper presents an analytical method to compute the deformation of partially prestressed beams made with fiber reinforced concrete. A computer program was developed to evaluate the theoretical moment-curvature and moment-deflection relationships. It uses the linear and nonlinear stress-strain relationships of the composite materials. Strain compatibility concept is incorporated to obtain the stresses in concrete, prestressed steel, and non-prestressed steel. The cracking moment and the nominal flexural strength are also computed. The method can analyze prestressed sections of rectangular, T, I, and box shapes. The analytical predictions of the proposed method agree well with experimental results.

Relatively low-cost and energy-efficient materials with desirable short-term mechanical properties can be constructed using cellulose fibers as cement reinforcement. There are, however, concerns regarding the long-term performance of cellulose fiber reinforced cement composites; some cellulose fibers tend to disintegrate in the alkaline environment of cement. The growth of cement hydration products within the hollow cellulose fibers may also lead to excessive fiber-to-matrix bonding and brittle failure after exposure to natural weathering. This paper presents the results of an experimental study concerned with the long-term performance of cellulose fiber reinforced cement composites. Cellulose fiber reinforced cement composites were investigated, using accelerated weathering conditions representing repeated wetting and drying of materials in outside exposure conditions. The cement composites considered in this investigation incorporated 2 percent mass fractions of kraft pulp. Comprehensive replicated flexural test data were generated for various test ages at different wetting-drying cycles and were analyzed statistically. The analysis of variance and multiple comparison techniques were employed to derive reliable conclusions regarding the effect of accelerated wetting-drying cycles on flexural strength and toughness characteristics of cellulose fiber reinforced cement composites. The results generated in this study showed, at 95 percent level of confidence, that accelerated aging under repeated wetting-drying cycles had negligible effects on flexural strength, but led to reduced toughness and embrittlement of cellulose fiber reinforced cement composites.

Describes improvements in the performance characteristics of cements due to carbon fiber reinforcement. In particular, the structure, physical properties, mechanical behavior, and durability aspects of carbon-cement composites using pitch-based fibers are discussed. The various possible applications of these composites in structural and nonstructural applications are enumerated and future research needs to be identified.