Assessment of the Mechanical Properties of Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete for Low-Cost Construction

Abstract

The study explores the assessment of mechanical properties of steel fiber reinforcement in concrete production. Aimed at replacing the high cost conventional reinforcement in building constructions. The identical steel fibers are utilized at varied volume fractions of 0%, 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, and 5% by the weight of cement. Compressive strength, flexural strength, and split tensile strength are among the strengths taken into account in this investigation. Eight beams and four cylindrical samples were prepared for the tests. Results obtained indicated that adding steel fiber to concrete with different volume fractions and the same aspect ratio significantly improved the results for compressive strength and flexure strength. The experimental results showed that the fibers alter the failure character from splitting of the concrete by significantly increasing the cracking resistance, and thereby noticeably increase the load bearing capacity of the elements. Therefore, fiber reinforcement can be used in place of high yield reinforcements in a low cost structures.