Editors: Corina-Maria Aldea and Mahmut Ekenel

This CD contains 8 papers from sessions sponsored by ACI technical committees 544, 549, and 130 at the Fall 2012 ACI Convention in Toronto and two technical sessions at the Fall 2013 ACI Convention in Phoenix. The topics of the papers cover sustainability aspects of using fiber reinforced concrete ranging from durability and interface mechanisms of natural fiber reinforced concrete (FRC), evaluation of eco-mechanical performance of FRC, reducing carbon dioxide emissions of concrete, as well as applications of fiber reinforcement for self-consolidating concrete, bridge link slabs, extruded prefabricated elements, slab systems and fabric-reinforced cementitious matrix systems for strengthening unreinforced masonry walls.

Note: The individual papers are also available. Please click on the following link to view the papers available, or call 248.848.3800 to order. SP-299

A comparison among different structural concretes is herein performed in order to select, or tailor, new eco-friendly and high performance cement-based composites. The ecological impact and the mechanical behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) ties and beams are both assessed by of means the so-called eco-mechanical index (EMI). The crack width of RC structures, the embodied energy and the carbon dioxide released by the production of concretes, are the main parameters of EMI. As a result, the best eco-mechanical performances can be easily achieved by using a normal strength cementitiuos concrete having high fracture toughness (i.e., by adding steel fibers to normal strength concrete). Moreover, in an eco-mechanical analysis, the work of fracture, either in tension or in bending, is sufficient to define the mechanical performances and durability of normal and high-strength of RC structures, without measuring crack width.

This research investigated as a sustainable production technique, the application of calender extrusion in the production of cement fiberboards. Use of the technique was successful for the production of non-structural building elements. The properties of the produced composites are discussed in this paper. Glass, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and polypropylene (PP) fibers were used. The research involved an experiment to examine the mechanical properties and microstructure of the composites. The experimental results showed that calender extrusion may be a promising method for sustainable production of thin and wide cement composites. Various forms of cement composites can be produced with this method as well. Results indicate that the mechanical properties of cement composites produced with this method are dependent on the processing direction. Processed composites have adequate screw head pull-through and freeze-thaw resistance. Higher MOR values were obtained for water cured specimens compared to air cured ones.

This paper discusses the effect of discrete pitch-based carbon fibers on the fresh and mechanical properties of self-consolidating concrete. A total of 5 non-air entrained carbon fiber reinforced self-consolidating concrete (CFRSCC) mixtures were produced incorporating fiber volume of 0%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75% and 1% carbon fibers; the water-to-binder ratio (w/b) was 0.35. The fresh properties (filling ability, passing ability, and segregation) and mechanical properties (compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, modulus of rupture and toughness) of the concrete mixtures were determined. The test results revealed that at increasing amount of volume of carbon fibers decreased the filling ability and passing ability of concrete increased. The compressive strength decreased as the volume of carbon fibers increased. However, as the carbon fiber content increased the splitting tensile strength increased. Modulus of rupture and toughness of CFRSCC mixtures also increased as the volume of carbon fibers increased. The results show that it is possible to develop good crack resistant and sustainable CFRSCC mixtures for concrete structures.

Masonry as a building technology meets many of the attributes of sustainable construction, thus an economical alternative to demolish-rebuild existing deficient masonry structures is to retrofit them with novel strengthening systems. Current retrofit techniques used to improve flexural capacity of un-reinforced masonry (URM) walls include both internal and external reinforcement with common materials, namely: steel bars, plates, and most recently fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs). However, significant margins exist to advance these rehabilitation systems by addressing economic, technological, and environmental issues. This paper investigates the effectiveness of strengthening URM walls using carbon fabric-reinforced cementitious matrix (FRCM) as a technique to enhance pseudo-ductility and flexural capacity. The paper reports on the results obtained by testing a total of 18 masonry walls made of clay bricks and concrete blocks strengthened with two different FRCM schemes (one and four fabrics) subjected to uniformly distributed out-of-plane loading were tested. Experimental data from other research programs using FRP system are also presented to show that when normalized flexural capacity is related to a calibrated reinforcement ratio, the two technologies provide similar enhancements.