Islamic University Of Gaza

Faculty of Engineering
Civil Engineering Department
Concrete Technology ECIV 2341

Research Name

FIBER REINFORCED CONCRETE

:SUBMITTED BY
Haya Ramy Baker
220122837
Aya Mohammed Abu-Fayyad
Tamara Bashier Nabhan
220122154

:SUBMITTED TO
Dr.Maamon Alqdra
2014-2015
1

220123191

Introduction:Concrete is weak in tension and has a brittle character. The concept of using fibers
to improve the characteristics of construction materials is very old. Early applications
include addition of straw to mud bricks, horse hair to reinforce plaster and asbestos
to reinforce pottery. Use of continuous reinforcement in concrete (reinforced
concrete) increases strength and ductility, but requires careful placement and
skill. Alternatively, introduction of fibers in discrete form in plain or reinforced
concrete may provide a better solution. The modern development of fiber reinforced
concrete (FRC) started in the early sixties. Addition of fibers to concrete makes it
a homogeneous and isotropic material. When concrete cracks, the randomly
oriented fibers start functioning, arrest crack formation and propagation, and thus
improve strength and ductility. Deterioration of concrete structures due to steel
corrosion is a matter of considerable concern since the repairing of these structures
proved to be a costly process. Repair and rehabilitation of the civil structures needs an
enduring repair material. The ideal durable repair material should have low shrinkage,
good thermal expansion, and substantial modulus of elasticity, high tensile strength,
improved fatigue and impact resistance. Reinforcing the concrete structures with
fibers such as polypropylene is one of the possible ways to provide all the criteria of
the durable repair material. This type of reinforcement is called Fiber Reinforcement
of Concrete Structures. There is an increasing worldwide interest in utilizing fiber
reinforced concrete structures for civil infrastructure applications. The bonding between
the fibers and the concrete has to be good and the plastic has to withstand the changing
environment of freeze and thaw as well as a high PH of 12.5 and a low of PH 6.5 when
Saturated with sodium chloride. With these brand new materials, little is known about the
effect of fiber percentage on fracture properties under hot and cold conditions and when
saturated with seawater. This information is necessary to be able to study the freeze-thaw
durability of the fiber reinforced concrete structures under different environmental conditions
and also in the marine environment.

History:1900s, asbestos fibers were used in concrete. In the 1950s, the concept
of composite materials came into being and fiber-reinforced concrete was one of the
topics of interest. Once the health risks associated with asbestos were discovered,
there was a need to find a replacement for the substance in concrete and other
building materials. By the 1960s, steel, glass (GFRC), and synthetic fibers such
as polypropylene fibers were used in concrete. Research into new fiber-reinforced
concretes continues today.

Fiber Types:Fibers are produced from different materials in various shapes and sizes. Typical
fiber materials are:-

Steel Fibers
Straight, crimped, twisted, hooked, ringed, and paddled ends. Diameter range
from 0.25 to 0.76 mm.

Glass Fibers
Straight. Diameter ranges from 0.005 to 0.015mm (may be bonded together to
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form elements with diameters of0.13 to 1.3mm).

Natural Organic and Mineral Fibers

Wood, asbestos, cotton, bamboo, and rockwool. They come in wide range of
sizes.

Polypropylene Fibers
Plain, twisted, fibrillated, and with buttoned ends.

Other Synthetic Fibers

Kevlar, nylon, and polyester. Diameter ranges from 0.02 to 0.38mm.
A convenient parameter describing a fiber is its aspect ratio (L/D), defined as the
fiber length divided by an equivalent fiber diameter. Typical aspect ratio ranges from
about 30 to 150 for length of 6 to 75mm.

Mixture Compositions and Placing:Mixing of FRC can be accomplished by many methods. The mix should have a
uniform dispersion of the fibers in order to prevent segregation or balling of the fibers
during mixing. Most balling occurs during the fiber addition process. Increase of
aspect ratio, volume percentage of fiber, and size and quantity of coarse aggregate
will intensify the balling tendencies and decrease the workability. To coat the large
surface area of the fibers with paste, experience indicated that a water cement ratio
between 0.4 and 0.6, and minimum cement content of400 kg/m3 are required.
Compared to conventional concrete, fiber reinforced concrete mixes are generally
characterized by higher cement factor, higher fine aggregate content and smaller
size coarse aggregate.
A fiber mix generally requires more vibration to consolidate the mix. External
vibration is preferable to prevent fiber segregation. Metal trowels, tube floats, and
rotating power floats can be used to finish the surface.

Mechanical Properties of FRC

Addition of fibers to concrete influences its mechanical properties which
significantly depend on the type and percentage of fiber. Fibers with end anchorage
and high aspect ratio were found to have improved effectiveness. It was shown that
for the same length and diameter, crimped-end fibers can achieve the same properties
as straight fibers using 40 percent less fibers. In determining the mechanical proper
ties of FRC, the same equipment and procedure as used for conventional concrete can
also be used. Below are cited some properties of FRC determined by different
researchers.

Compressive Strength
The presence of fibers may alter the failure mode of cylinders, but the fiber effect
will be minor on the improvement of compressive strength values (0 to 15 percent).

Modulus of Elasticity
Modulus of elasticity of FRC increases slightly with an increase in the fibers
content. It was found that for each 1 percent increase in fiber content by volume there
is an increase of 3 percent in the modulus of elasticity.

Flexure
The flexural strength was reported to be increased by 2.5 times using 4 percent
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fibers.

Toughness
For FRC, toughness is about 10 to 40 times that of plain concrete.

Splitting Tensile Strength

The presence of 3 percent fiber by volume was reported to increase the splitting
tensile strength of mortar about 2.5 times that of the unreinforced one.

Fatigue Strength
The addition of fibers increases fatigue strength of about 90 percent and 70 percent
of the static strength at 2 x 106 cycles for non-reverse and full reversal of loading,
respectively.

Impact Resistance
The impact strength for fibrous concrete is generally 5 to 10 times that of plain
concrete depending on the volume of fiber.

Corrosion of Steel Fibers

A l0-year exposure of steel fibrous mortar to outdoor weathering in an industrial
atmosphere showed no adverse effect on the strength properties. Corrosion was
found to be confined only to fibers actually exposed on the surface. Steel fibrous
mortar continuously immerse in seawater for 10 years exhibited a 15 percent loss
compared to 40 percent strength decrease of plain mortar.

Structural Behavior of FRC

Fibers combined with reinforcing bars in structural members will be widely used in
the future. The following are some of the structural behaviourI6:

Flexure
The use of fibers in reinforced concrete flexure members increases ductility, tensile
strength, moment capacity, and stiffness. The fibers improve crack control and
preserve post cracking structural integrity of members.

Torsion
The use of fibers eliminates the sudden failure characteristic of plain concrete
beams. It increases stiffness, torsional strength, ductility, rotational capacity, and
the number of cracks with less crack width.

Shear
Addition of fibers increases shear capacity of reinforced concrete beams up to 100
percent. Addition of randomly distributed fibers increases shear-friction strength,
the first crack strength, and ultimate strength.

Column
The increase of fiber content slightly increases the ductility of axially loaded
specimen. The use of fibers helps in reducing the explosive type failure for columns.

High Strength Concrete

Fibers increases the ductility of high strength concrete. The use of high strength
concrete and steel produces slender members. Fiber addition will help in controlling
cracks and deflections.

Cracking and Deflection

Tests have shown that fiber reinforcement effectively controls cracking and
deflection, in addition to strength improvement. In conventionally reinforced concrete
beams, fiber addition increases stiffness, and reduces deflection.
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Background of Fiber Reinforced Concrete:Portland cement concrete is considered to be a relatively brittle material. When
subjected to tensile stresses, non-reinforced concrete will crack and fail. Since mid1800's steel reinforcing has been used to overcome this problem. As a composite
system, the reinforcing steel is assumed to carry all tensile loads.
The problem with employing steel in concrete is that over time steel corrodes due
to the ingress of chloride ions. In the northeast, where sodium chloride de-icing salts
are commonly used and a large amount of coastal area exists, chlorides are readily
available for penetration into concrete to promote corrosion, which favors the
formation of rust. Rust has a volume between four to ten times of iron, which
dissolves to form it. The volume expansion produces large tensile stresses in the
concrete, which initiates cracks and results in concrete spalling from the surface.
Although some measures are available to reduce corrosion of steel in concrete such as
corrosion inhibitive admixtures and coatings, a better and permanent solution may be
replace the steel with a reinforcement that is less environmentally sensitive.
More recently micro fibers, such as those used in traditional composite materials
have been introduced into the concrete mixture to increase its toughness, or ability to
resist crack growth.
FRC is Portland cement concrete reinforced with more or less randomly distributed
fibers. In FRC, thousands of small fibers are dispersed and distributed randomly in the
concrete during mixing, and thus improve concrete properties in all directions. Fibers
help to improve the post peak ductility performance, pre-crack tensile strength,
fatigue strength, impact strength and eliminate temperature and shrinkage cracks.
Several different types of fibers have been used to reinforce the cement-based
matrices. The choice of fibers varies from synthetic organic materials such as
polypropylene or carbon, synthetic inorganic such as steel or glass, natural organic
such as cellulose or sisal to natural inorganic asbestos. Currently the commercial
products are reinforced with steel, glass, polyester and polypropylene fibers. The
selection of the type of fibers is guided by the properties of the fibers such as
diameter, specific gravity, youngs modulus, tensile strength etc. The extent of these
fibers affects the properties of the cement matrix.

Tensile Load versus Deformation for Plain and Fiber Reinforced Concrete

Reinforcement Mechanisms:Concrete carries flaws and micro-cracks both in the material and at the interfaces
even before an external load is applied. These defects and micro-cracks emanate from
excess water, bleeding, plastic settlement, thermal and shrinkage strains and stress
concentrations imposed by external restraints. Under an applied load, distributed
micro-cracks propagate coalesce and align themselves to produce macro-cracks.
When loads are further increased, conditions of critical crack growth are attained at
the tips of the macro-cracks and unstable and catastrophic failure is precipitated.
The micro and macro-fracturing processes described above can be favorably
modified by adding short, randomly distributed fibers of various suitable materials.
Fibers not only suppress the formation of cracks, but also abate their propagation and
growth.
Soon after placement, evaporation of the mix water and the autogenously process
of concrete hydration create shrinkage strains in concrete. If restrained, this
contraction can cause stresses far in excess of those needed to cause cracking. In spite
of every effort, plastic shrinkage cracking remains a serious concern, particularly in
large surface area placements like slabs on grade, thin surface repairs, patching and
concrete linings. With large surface areas, fibers engage water in the mix and reduce
bleeding and segregation. The result is that there is less water available for
evaporation and less overall free shrinkage. When combined with post-crack bridging
capability of fibers, fibers reduce crack widths and cracks areas when concrete is
retrained.
In the hardened state, when fibers are properly bonded, they interact with the
matrix at the level of micro-cracks and effectively bridge these cracks thereby
providing stress transfer media that delays their coalescence and unstable growth. If
the fiber volume fraction is sufficiently high, this may result in an increase in the
tensile strength of the matrix. Indeed, for some high volume fraction fiber composite a
notable increase in the tensile/flexural strength over and above the plain matrix has
been reported. Once the tensile capacity of the composite is reached, and coalescence
and conversion of micro-cracks to macro-cracks has occurred, fibers, depending on
their length and bonding characteristics continue to restrain crack opening and crack
growth by effectively bridging across macro-cracks. This post-peak macro-crack
bridging is the primary reinforcement mechanism in the majority of commercial fiber
reinforced concrete composites.
Based on the discussion above, it emerges that fiber-reinforced cementitious
composites can be classified into two broad categories: normal performance (or
conventional) fiber-reinforced cementitious composites and high-performance fiberreinforced cementitious composites. In FRCs with low to medium volume fraction of
fibers, fibers do not enhance the tensile/flexural strength of the composite and benefits
of fiber reinforcement are limited to energy absorption or ' toughness 'enhancement in
the post-cracking regime only. For high performance fiber reinforced composites, on
the other hand, with a high fiber dosage, benefits of fiber reinforcement are noted in
an increased tensile strength, strain-hardening response before localization and
enhanced 'toughness' beyond crack localization.

Applications of FRC:The uniform dispersion of fibers throughout the concrete mix provides isotropic
properties not common to conventionally reinforced concrete. The applications of
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fibers in concrete industries depend on the designer and builder in taking advantage
of the static and dynamic characteristics of this new material. The main area of FRC
applications are:

Tunnel Lining and Slope Stabilization

Steel fiber reinforced shortcrete (SFRS) are being used to line underground
openings and rock slope stabilization. It eliminates the need for mesh reinforcement
and
scaffolding.

Blast Resistant Structures

When plain concrete slabs are reinforced conventionally, tests showed that
there is no reduction of fragment velocities or number of fragments under blast and
shock waves. Similarly, reinforced slabs of fibrous concrete, however, showed 20
percent reduction in velocities, and over 80 percent in fragmentations.

Thin Shell, Walls, Pipes, and Manholes

Fibrous concrete permits the use of thinner flat and curved structural elements.
Steel fibrous shortcrete is used in the construction of hemispherical domes using the
inflated membrane process. Glass fiber reinforced cement or concrete (GFRC),
made by the spray-up process, have been used to construct wall panels. Steel and
glass fibers addition in concrete pipes and manholes improves strength, reduces
thickness, and diminishes handling damages.

Dams and Hydraulic Structure

FRC is being used for the construction and repair of dams and other hydraulic
structures to provide resistance to cavitation and severe errosion caused by the impact of large
waterborne debris.

Other Applications
These include machine tool frames, lighting poles, water and oil tanks and concrete
repairs.
Special type of FRC : STEEL FIBER REINFORCED CONCRETE
It is now well established that one of the important properties of steel fiber
reinforced concrete (SFRC) is its superior resistance to cracking and crack
propagation. As a result of this ability to arrest cracks, fiber composites possess
increased extensibility and tensile strength, both at first crack and at ultimate,
particular under flexural loading; and the fibers are able to hold the matrix together
even after extensive cracking. The net result of all these is to impart to the fiber
composite pronounced post cracking ductility which is unheard of in ordinary
concrete. The transformation from a brittle to a ductile type of material would
increase substantially the energy absorption characteristics of the fiber composite and
its ability to withstand repeatedly applied, shock or impact loading.
STATIC MECHANICAL PROPERTIES:-

Compressive Strength:
Fibres do little to enhance the static compressive strength of concrete, with
increases in strength ranging from essentially nil to perhaps 25%. Even in members
who contain conventional reinforcement in addition to the steel fibres, the fibres have
little effect on compressive strength. However, the fibres do substantially increase the
post-cracking ductility, or energy absorption of the material.
7

This is shown graphically in the compressive stress-strain curves of SFRC in the

below figure:

Stress-Strain curves in compression for SFRC

Tensile Strength:
Fibres aligned in the direction of the tensile stress may bring about very large
increases in direct tensile strength, as high as 133% for 5% of smooth, straight steel
fibres. However, for more or less randomly distributed fibres, the increase in strength
is much smaller, ranging from as little as no increase in some instances to perhaps
60%, with many investigations indicating intermediate values, as shown in the below
figure. Splitting-tension test of SFRC show similar result. Thus, adding fibres merely
to increase the direct tensile strength is probably not worthwhile. However, as in
compression, steel fibres do lead to major increases in the post cracking behaviour or
toughness of the composites.

Influence of fibre content on tensile strength

STRUCTURAL USE OF SFRC:As recommended by ACI Committee 544, when used in structural applications,
steel fibre reinforced concrete should only be used in a supplementary role to inhibit
cracking, to improve resistance to impact or dynamic loading, and to resist material
disintegration. In structural members where flexural or tensile loads will occur the
reinforcing steel must be capable of supporting the total tensile load. Thus, while
8

there are a number of techniques for predicting the strength of beams reinforced only
with steel fibres, there are no predictive equations for large SFRC beams, since these
would be expected to contain conventional reinforcing bars as well. An extensive
guide to design considerations for SFRC has recently been published by the American
Concrete Institute. In this section, the use of SFRC will be discussed primarily in
structural members which also contain conventional reinforcement.
For beams containing both fibres and continuous reinforcing bars, the situation is
complex, since the fibres act in two ways:
(1) They permit the tensile strength of the SFRC to be used in design, because the
matrix will no longer lose its load-carrying capacity at first crack; and
(2) They improve the bond between the matrix and the reinforcing bars by inhibiting
the growth of cracks emanating from the deformations (lugs) on the bars.
However, it is the improved tensile strength of SFRC that is mostly considered in
the beam analysis, since the improvements in bond strength are much more difficult to
quantify. Steel fibres have been shown to increase the ultimate moment and ultimate
deflection of conventionally reinforced beams; the higher the tensile stress due to the
fibres, the higher the ultimate moment.

Experimental moment versus deflection curves for SFRC beams

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Application of SFRC
The uses of SFRC over the past thirty years have been so varied and so widespread,
that it is difficult to categorize them. The most common applications are pavements,
tunnel linings, pavements and slabs, shotcrete and now shotcrete also containing silica
fume, airport pavements, bridge deck slab repairs, and so on. There has also been
some recent experimental work on roller-compacted concrete (RCC) reinforced with
steel fibres. The list is endless, apparently limited only by the ingenuity of the
engineers involved. The fibres themselves are, unfortunately, relatively expensive; a
1% steel fibre addition will approximately double the material costs of the concrete,
and this has tended to limit the use of SFRC to special applications.

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SO:-

Conclusion:Based on the test of one hundred and ninety five specimens made with the available
local materials, the following conclusions can be derived:
1. No workability problem was encountered for the use of hooked fibers up to 1.5
percent in the concrete mix. The straight fibers produce balling at high fiber content
and require special handling procedure.
2. Use of fiber produces more closely spaced cracks and reduces crack width. Fibers
bridge cracks to resist deformation.
3. Fiber addition improves ductility of concrete and its post-cracking load-carrying
capacity.
4. The mechanical properties of FRC are much improved by the use of hooked
fibers than straight fibers, the optimum volume content being 1.5 percent. While
fibers addition does not increase the compressive strength, the use of 1.5 percent fiber
increase the flexure strength by 67 percent, the splitting tensile strength by 57 percent,
and the impact strength 25 times.
5. The toughness index of FRC is increased up to 20 folds (for 1.5 percent hooked
fiber content) indicating excellent energy absorbing capacity
6. FRC controls cracking and deformation under impact load much better than
plain concrete and increased the impact strength 25 times.

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Photos:-

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REFERENCES
[I] Ramualdi, J.P. and Batson, G.B., The Mechanics of Crack Arrest in Concrete,
Journal of the Engineering Mechanics Division, ASCE, 89:147-168 (June, 1983).
[2J ACE Committee 544, State-of-the-Art Report on Fiber Reinforced Concrete, ACI
Concrete International, 4(5): 9-30 (May, 1982).
[3] Naaman, A.E., Fiber Reinforcement for Concrete, ACI Concrete International,
7(3): 21-25 (March,
1985).
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[4] ACI Committee 544, Measurement of Properties of Fiber Reinforced Concrete,

(ACI 544.2R-78),
American Concrete Institute, Detroit, 7 p. (1978).
[5] P.K. Mehta and P.J.M. Monteiro, Concrete: Microstructure, Properties, and
Materials.
[6] Colin D. Johnston, Fiber reinforced cements and concretes Advances in concrete
technology volume 3 Gordon and Breach Science publishes 2001.
[7] Perumalsamy N. Balaguru, Sarendra P. Shah, Fiber reinforced cement
composites, Mc Graw Hill International Editions 1992.
[8] Arnon Bentur & Sidney Mindess, Fibre reinforced cementitious composites
Elsevier applied science London and Newyork 1990.
[9] ASTM C1018 89, Standard Test Method for Flexural Toughness and First Crack
Strength of Fibre Reinforced Concrete (Using Beam with Third Point Loading),
1991 Book of ASTM Standards, Part 04.02, American Society for Testing and
Materials, Philadelphia, pp.507 513.

Contents:-

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Objects
Introduction
History
Fiber types
Mixture Compositions
and Placing
Mechanical Properties
of FRC

Pages
2
2
2
3
3

Background of Fiber
Reinforced Concrete
Reinforcement
Mechanisms
Applications of FRC
STEEL FIBER
REINFORCED CONCRETE
STATIC MECHANICAL
PROPERTIES
STRUCTURAL USE OF
SFRC
Application of SFRC

10

Conclusion

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Photos
References

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