Mechanical and physical characterisation of steel fibre reinforced self-compacting concrete: Different aspect ratios and volume fractions of fibres

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of steel fibres on the physical and mechanical properties of Self-compacting concrete (SCC). Six mixes of steel fibre reinforced self-compacting concrete (SFR-SCC) were prepared with two different steel fibre aspect ratios (l/d) of 60 and 80 at three-volume fractions (Vf) of 0.35%, 0.45% and 0.55%, in addition to a control mix. All specimens were cast with a constant water-binder ratio of 0.34 and 2% silica fume (SF) of cement content as additive. The performance of different SCC specimens was characterized for compressive strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity, rebound hammer, permeability, flexural strength, toughness, splitting tensile strength and impact resistance of SCC. With the increase of steel fibre aspect ratio, (1) the workability and rheology decrease; (2) the compressive strength of different SCC mixes shows slight variations; (3) the flexural strength increases the toughness, split tensile strength and impact resistance; (4) the ultrasonic velocity results increase (5) the permeability results decrease.