THESIS DRAFT

Christian M. Tadeo

Effect of Steel Fibers on the Strength and Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Shear Wall
The weak matrix in concrete, when reinforced with fibers, uniformly distributed across its entire mass, gets strengthened enormously, thereby rendering the matrix to behave as a composite material with properties significantly different from conventional concrete. Because of the vast improvements achieved by the addition of fibers to concrete, there are several applications where Fiber Reinforced Concrete can be intelligently and beneficially used. These fibers have already been used in many large projects involving the construction of industrial floors, pavements, highway-overlays, etc. The principal fibers in common commercial use for Civil Engineering applications include steel, glass and carbon. These fibers are also used in the production of continuous fibers and are used as a replacement to reinforcing steel. The use of fiber-reinforced concrete in construction is not new, but its use in building structures is. Fibers often made of nylon or polypropylene are often used to control cracking in driveways, patios and sidewalks. Steel fibers are sometimes used in applications such as tunnels and dams where heavy cavitation can be an issue. Their use in building structures, however, has been limited. Structural engineers have long searched for better and more efficient ways to strengthen concrete shear walls in high-rise towers. The function of these walls is to provide lateral stability to the building in the event of an earthquake or intense windstorm. Their strength and stiffness are compromised, however, by the openings created when wall penetrations are made for doorways and mechanical openings. The beams above the openings become highly stressed because of the voids below, requiring placement of additional reinforcing steel in them. In conventional construction, these shallow link beams are filled not only with horizontal and vertical rebar, but often large diagonal bars extending into the adjacent boundary elements. Threading these bars through existing rebar is difficult and time consuming. Because the link beams are already congested with steel, the time spent placing these diagonal bars then pouring concrete through the congestion often slows shear wall construction and negatively impacts the schedule. The main objective is to develop a new method for strengthening concrete shear walls which has the potential not only to remove significant quantities of costly reinforcing steel, but also to make construction faster and easier. The concept involves mixing small steel fibers similar in appearance to hair pins into concrete, much like early builders used horsehair or straw to strengthen clay blocks. The fiberreinforced concrete will be used in link beams above the doorways and other openings in concrete shear walls.