Point of View
Future Use of High
Fiber Volume in
Concrete
Can fibers someday be placed in real time as a function of the design?
By Ralejs Tepfers
R ecently, slabs reinforced with
steel fiber contents approaching
100 kg/m3 (6.2 lb/ft3) have been
constructed without steel reinforcing
bars. The application of structural
fiber-reinforced concrete has mostly
been limited to industrial slabs-on-
ground. This is prudent because in
the event of a failure, a slab directly
supported by the ground or a
free-bearing slab between piles
supported on rock, after soil settlement,
will fall only a few centimeters and
not endanger anyone’s life.
Steel fiber reinforcement has been
shown to be cost effective when steel
reinforcing bars can be deleted in
slabs.1 Floor slabs reinforced with
only steel fibers have been cast in
bays with a distance of 50 m (164 ft)
between construction joints, yet have
exhibited a controlled crack pattern.2
Fiber-reinforced, column-supported
slabs have also been built. In these,
fibers serve as the main reinforcement
This point of view article is presented for
reader interest by the editors. However, the
opinions expressed are not necessarily those
of the American Concrete Institute. Reader
comment is invited.
while reinforcing bars are placed in
column lines to protect against
progressive collapse. Usually, four or
five 16 mm (No. 5) bars are located
near the bottom of the slab at each
column to act as a membrane and
maintain structural integrity in the
event of overloading. These bars are
not included in the structural design
of the slab.
The current practice in the field is
to mix fibers into the concrete just
before feeding the batch into the
concrete pump. It’s difficult to
change the fiber content during the
casting procedure. As a result, the
cast slab contains the same amount
of fibers throughout, regardless of
the amount of fiber reinforcement
required at a specific section of slab.
Fiber-reinforced
concrete tensile
strength
Because fibers cannot be perfectly
distributed in the concrete, the fiber
scatter will influence the resistance
to cracking.3 The fiber distribution
seems to become more even if the
fiber content increases. The start of
cracking will be initiated by the
Concrete international / january 2010 49
maximum stress, taking into account the actual fiber content
in the place resisting the stress. Where this resistance is
lower, cracks will start, trying to follow the line of least
resistance, dictated by fiber content and stresses.
Consequently, maximum tensile stress determines the
amount of fibers for the whole structure. About half of the
fibers will be located in concrete that’s under compression
and, thus, will be ineffective. Also, because fibers are
randomly oriented, only about a third of the fibers at a
crack face will be effective and 10% of these may not have
enough anchorage length to be developed.
In a long crack, the fiber resistance will approach the
mean resistance determined using small beam bending
tests.4 If the possible crack is short, however, the lower
bound limit of test curves (0.05 fractile) will most likely
determine the resistance in design (as shown in
Fig. 1). Therefore, would it be possible to introduce into
design codes an application factor that takes care of the
expected cracked surface size to adjust for the resistance?
It’s difficult to adapt the amount of fibers in concrete
to the actual stress situation in the slab, as fibers are
added to every batch of concrete feeding the pump,
making it impossible to know when a specific batch will
end up at the pump hose. A possible way to cast concrete
with two amounts of fibers could be to color the concrete,
so it becomes visible when the right type of fiber concrete
should be directed into the right place. For that to work,
however, the crew casting the concrete has to be very
familiar with the intended structural function or the
engineer has to supervise the procedure closely.
for future research and development
If the right amount of fibers could be introduced at the
pump outlet instead of in the container before the pump,
Fig. 1: Stress-deflection diagrams for recommended RILEM beam
bending tests with 100 kg/m3 (6.2 lb/ft3) Tabix 1.3/50 steel fibers
in concrete with cylinder strength 30 MPa (4350 psi), from
References 5 and 6
50 january 2010 / Concrete international
the potential is opened to design the structure using the
finite element method (FEM) and provide signals in real
time to the concrete casting system for the necessary
amount of fibers to handle the actual stresses in a given
location in the structure. The horizontal location could
be found via global positioning system (GPS), with a laser
used for the vertical orientation. Proportioning fibers in
real time according to the actual stress needs in a
structure given by FEM analysis is a future challenge.
Using FEM to determine fiber amount for
tensile strength
FEM analysis has to be based on the material
properties of concrete that is reinforced only with
fibers. This means that to calculate structural resistance
and deformations, the stiffness of members with
different concrete strengths and amounts of fibers
would have to be established by testing. The effective
amount of the randomly distributed fibers has to be
determined using statistics. The FEM analysis would be
completed and controlled before the casting, as shown
in Fig. 2. It can then be used as the basis to add the
correct amount of fiber to the concrete in different parts
of the structure.
A system to control the actual casting position might
involve shotcreting with electronically controlled fiber
addition. The target point in the structure, where the
concrete is placed, has to be noted and sent to the FEM
analysis computer and the computer has to immediately
respond with the correct fiber amount. This would
require considerable research to develop a signal system,
but it shouldn’t be impossible.
The signal system should be oriented to the target
point, which could be determined using a distance-
measuring laser at the outlet of the pump or gun. The
positions of the outlet and the target point have to be
located in a coordinate system where the GPS is used
Fig. 2: Plot from finite element analysis (Illustration courtesy of
Karin Lundgren)
for horizontal positioning and the laser for vertical
positioning relative to a horizontal base. A local net for
horizontal positioning might be preferred to GPS. Such
systems exist for positioning mixer trucks for loading by
using lasers and mirrors. Either the GPS or laser method
would provide the necessary precision of less than 10 mm
(0.4 in.). A method for linking the location in the computer-
designed structure with the casting point in the real
structure in real time has to be solved.
Even if all these hoped-for goals cannot be reached, at
least the cost efficiency of using fiber-reinforced concrete
will be established, and new information will be added to
the existing knowledge base.
Research could be begin by casting slabs-on-ground,
followed by elevated slabs on columns with membrane
reinforcing bars as a safety measure and, finally,
excluding the bars to end up with strictly fiber-reinforced
slabs. The system could then be used to cast more
complicated structures, with the resulting structures
tested and evaluated. If methods to orientate the fibers
in the direction of stresses can be developed and the
associated tensile strengths can be determined, a
further savings in fiber material might be possible.
5. Gossla, U., “Flachdecken aus Stahlfaserbeton,” Beton- und
Stahlbetonbau 101, Heft 2, 2006, pp. 94-102.
6. RILEM, “RILEM TC 162-TDF—Tests and Design Methods for
Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete: Bending Test,” Materials and
Structures, V. 33, 2000, pp. 3-5.
Selected for reader interest by the editors.
Ralejs Tepfers is Professor Emeritus of
Building Technology, Chalmers University
of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden. He has
received the honorary title of Doctor of
Sciences from the Latvian Academy of
Sciences and is Honora Membre for life in
fédération internationale du béton (fib). His
main research interests include bond of
reinforcement in concrete, fatigue of
concrete, and fiber- and FRP-reinforced structures.

Potential benefits
Considerable savings in work, time, and costs are
possible with an integrated design and production
method of fiber-reinforced concrete structures, including:
■■ No calculation of moments, shear, and bond forces will
be necessary for bar reinforcement. FEM analysis will
automatically address all forces with adequate fiber
amounts and produce stress pictures for the structure,
forming the base for fiber addition;
■■ No time-consuming reinforcement detailing will be
necessary; and
■■ No reinforcing bars will be necessary in the final stage
of system development.
However, because the existing codes will not be
applicable in the present format, it may be necessary to
create a new type of code.

References
1. Ošlejs, J., “New Frontiers for Steel Fiber-Reinforced Concrete,”
Concrete International, V. 30, No. 5, May 2008, pp. 45-50.
2. Destrée, X., “Structural Application of Steel Fibre as only
Reinforcing in Free Suspended Elevated Slabs: Conditions—Design—
Examples,” Fibre-Reinforced Concrete BEFIB’2004, Varenna, Italy,
RILEM PRO 039, M. di Prisco et al. eds., 2004, pp. 1073-1082.
3. Tepfers, R., “Investigation of Different Types of Fibers to
Strengthen Cement Paste, Mortar and Concrete,” Report - Department
of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Structural Engineering,
Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg 2008, p. 52.
4. Johansen, K.W., Brudlinjeteorier (Yield line theories), Copenhagen,
Gjellerup, 1943. CIRCLE READER CARD #23

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