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Fiber-Reinforced Concrete

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Progress in Concrete Technology

Fiber Reinforced Concrete (FRC)

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Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (FRC)

Concrete is relatively brittle, and its tensile strength is typically only about one tenths of its compressive strength. Regular concrete is therefore normally reinforced with steel reinforcing bars. For many applications, it is becoming increasingly popular to reinforce the concrete with small, randomly distributed fibers. Their main purpose is to increase the energy absorption capacity and toughness of the material, but also increase tensile and flexural strength of concrete. 2

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FRC - Historical Perspective BC Horse hair Egyptians used straw to reinforce mud bricks 1900 asbestos fiber was used to reinforce clay posts 1920 Griffith, theoretical vs. apparent strength 1950 Composite materials 1960 FRC

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FRC - Historical Perspective (contd)

1970 New initiative for asbestos cement replacement 1970 SFRC, GFRC, PPFRC, Shotcrete 1990 micromechanics, hybrid systems, wood based fiber systems manufacturing techniques, secondary reinforcement, HSC ductility issues, shrinkage crack control. 2000+ Structural applications, Code integration, New products.

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Areas of Application of FRC materials

Thin sheets Shingles Roof tiles Pipes Prefabricated shapes Panels Shotcrete Curtain walls Slabs on grade Precast elements Composite decks Vaults, safes Impact resisting structures

GFRC project at Trillium Building Woodland Hills, California

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Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (FRC)

Concrete containing a hydraulic cement, water, fine or fine and coarse aggregate, and discontinuous discrete fibers is called fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC). It may also contain pozzolans and other admixtures commonly used in conventional concrete. Fibers of various shapes and sizes produced from steel, plastic, glass, and natural materials are being used; however, for most structural and nonstructural purposes, steel fiber is the most commonly used of all the fibers.

Professor Kamran M. Nemati Fall Quarter 2007

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Fiber-Reinforced Concrete
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Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (FRC)

There is considerable improvement in the post-cracking behavior of concretes containing fibers. Although in the fiber-reinforced concrete the ultimate tensile strengths do not increase appreciably, the tensile strains at rupture do. Compared to plain concrete, fiberreinforced concrete is much tougher and more resistant to impact.
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Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (FRC)

The steel fibers of different shapes and sizes are shown below:

Typical fiber types used in concrete: (a) straight, smooth, drawn wire steel fibers; (b) deformed (crimped) wire steel fibers; (c) variable-crosssection steel fibers; (d) glued bundles of steel fibers with crimped ends. 8

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Types of Steel Fibers

Steel fibers glued together prior to mixing

Separation of fibers occurs during mixing to ensure uniform distribution 9

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Classification According to Volume Fraction Low volume fraction (<1%) Moderate volume fraction (between 1 and 2%) High volume fraction (greater than 2)

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Low Volume Fraction

The fibers are used to reduce shrinkage cracking. These fibers are used in slabs and pavements that have large exposed surface leading to high shrinkage crack. Disperse fibers offer various advantages of steel bars and wiremesh to reduce shrinkage cracks:

(a) the fibers are uniformly distributed in threedimensions making an efficient load distribution; (b) the fibers are less sensitive to corrosion than the reinforcing steel bars, (c) the fibers can reduce the labor cost of placing the bars and wiremesh.
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Moderate Volume Fraction

The presence of fibers at this volume fraction increase the modulus of rupture, fracture toughness, and impact resistance. These composite are used in construction methods such as shotcrete and in structures that require energy absorption capability, improved capacity against delamination, spalling, and fatigue.
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High Volume Fraction

The fibers used at this level lead to strain hardening of the composites. Because of this improved behavior, these composites are often referred as high-performance fiber-reinforced composites (HPFRC). In the last decade, even better composites were developed and are referred as ultra-high-performance fiber-reinforced concretes (UHPFRC).
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Optimization Process

From a material and structural point of view, there is a delicate balance in optimizing the bond between the fiber and the matrix. If the fibers have a weak bond with the matrix, they can slip out at low loads and do not contribute very much to bridge the cracks. In this situation, the fibers do not increase the toughness of the system. If the bond with the matrix is too strong, many of the fibers may break before they dissipate energy by sliding out. In this case, the fibers behave as non-active inclusions leading to only marginal improvement in the mechanical properties.
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Role of Fiber Size

To bridge the large number of microcracks in the composite under load and to avoid large strain localization it is necessary to have a large number of short fibers. The uniform distribution of short fibers can increase the strength and ductility of the composite. Long fibers are needed to bridge discrete macrocracks at higher loads; however the volume fraction of long fibers can be much smaller than the volume fraction of short fibers. The presence of long fibers significantly reduces the workability of the mix.
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Fiber Size

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Materials

It is well known that the addition of any type of fibers to plain concrete reduces the workability. Since fibers impart considerable stability to a fresh concrete mass, the slump cone test is not a good index of workability. For example, introduction of 1.5 volume percent steel or glass fibers to a concrete with 200 mm of slump is likely to reduce the slum of the mixture to about 25 mm, but the placeability of the concrete and its compactability under vibration may still be satisfactory. Therefore, the Vebe test is considered more appropriate for evaluating the workability of fiber-reinforce concrete mixtures.
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Growth Industry

Even though the market for fiber reinforced concrete is still small compared to the overall production of concrete, in North America there has been an yearly growth rate of 20% and that the worldwide yearly consumption of fibers used in concrete is 300,000 tons.

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Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (FRC)

Typical load-deflection curves for plain concrete and fiber-reinforced concrete are shown below:

Toughness
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Area under the curve =

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Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (FRC)

Plain concrete fails suddenly once the deflection corresponding to the ultimate flexural strength is exceeded; on the other hand, fiber-reinforced concrete continue to sustain considerable loads even at deflections considerably in excess of the fracture deflection of the plain concrete.

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Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (FRC)

Examination of fractured specimens of fiber-reinforced concrete shows that failure takes place primarily due to fiber pull-out or debonding. Thus unlike plain concrete, a fiber-reinforced concrete specimen does not break immediately after initiation of the first crack. This has the effect of increasing the work of fracture, which is referred to as toughness and is represented by the area under the load-deflection curve. In FRC crack density is increased, but the crack size is decreased.

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Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (FRC)

Failure mode of FRC in Compression

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Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (FRC)

The failure mechanism is by pull-out. you never exceed the tensile strength of the fiber. Bond is much weaker. Steel fiber in terms of durability is the best. The addition of any type of fibers to plain concrete reduces the workability. Concrete mixtures containing fibers posses very low consistencies; however, the placeability and compactability of concrete is much better than reflected by the low consistency.
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Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (FRC) Strength

The most important contribution of fiberreinforcement in concrete is not to strength but to the flexural toughness of the material. When flexural strength is the main consideration, fiber reinforcement of concrete is not a substitute for conventional reinforcement. The greatest advantage of fiber reinforcement of concrete is the improvement in flexural toughness (total energy absorbed in breaking a specimen in flexure).
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Professor Kamran M. Nemati Fall Quarter 2007

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Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (FRC)

Elastic modulus, creep, and drying shrinkage Inclusion of steel fibers in concrete has little effect on the modulus of elasticity, drying shrinkage, and compressive creep. Tensile creep is reduced slightly, but flexural creep can be substantially reduced when very stiff carbon fibers are used. However, in most studies, because of the low volume the fibers simply acted as rigid inclusions in the matrix, without producing much effect on the dimensional stability of the composite.
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Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (FRC) Durability

Fiber-reinforced concrete is generally made with a high cement content and low water/cement ratio. When well compacted and cured, concretes containing steel fibers seem to possess excellent durability as long as fibers remain protected by cement paste. Ordinary glass fiber cannot be used in portland cement mortars and concretes because of chemical attack by the alkaline cement paste.
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Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (FRC) Durability (Contd)

In most environments, especially those containing chloride, surface rusting is inevitable but the fibers in the interior usually remain uncorroded. Long-term tests of steel-fiber concrete durability at the Battelle Laboratories in Columbus, Ohio, showed minimum corrosion of fibers and no adverse effect after 7 years of exposure to deicing Salt.

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Professor Kamran M. Nemati Fall Quarter 2007

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Glass Fibers

Ordinary glass fiber cannot be used in portland cement mortars or concretes because of chemical attack by the alkaline cement paste. Zirconia and other alkali-resistant glass fibers possess better durability to alkaline environments, but even these are reported to show a gradual deterioration with time. Similarly, most natural fibers, such as cotton and wool, and many synthetic polymers suffer from lack of durability to the alkaline environment of the portland cement paste.
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Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (FRC)

Mix Proportions:
High cement content W/R admixtures (superplasticizers) small MSA Fibers (1-2% by volume)

Properties:

Workability: tougher
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Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (FRC)

The fc in compression and tension is not increased much. Fibers do not do anything to stop the first crack, it slows down the propagation of cracks. Toughness of material can be increased (15-30%) Creep results dont show much difference. Drying shrinkage show some difference. They use it for cavitation damage.
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Professor Kamran M. Nemati Fall Quarter 2007

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Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (FRC) Aspect Ratio = Length / Diameter Aspect ratio= l/d 50 - 100 For steel:

d = 0.01 in. l = 1

Typical aspect ratios range from about 30 to 150. Maximum usage: 2% by volume.

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Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (FRC) Polymeric and synthetic fibers alter the energy absorption properties of the composites significantly. Uniform fiber distribution at various size scales improves composite. Small microfibers stabilize the microcracks and increase the strength reducing the porosity of the cement paste as well increases the strength.
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Professor Kamran M. Nemati Fall Quarter 2007

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