The concept of adding steel fibres to concrete, dates back to 1874

with the issue of the first patent for adding steel aggregate to
concrete in the form of metallic chips.

LICATIONSINNEWZEALANDUSING
LFIBREREINFORCEDCONCRETE

SINCE T HE EARLY 6Os, the use of con-

crete reinforced with high tensile fibres has
increased in most developed countries. The
major international use is in industrial floom
where fatigue toughness is of great impor-
tance and benefit.
The development of shotcrete techniques,
with the steel fibre replacing mesh, has seen
the almost universal acceptance in some
countries, for use of this method in the con-
struction of tunnel linings, rock stabilisation
and swimming pools.
In New Zealand, recent use of steel
fibres to reinforce concrete falls into the
following main categories:
Precast products such as water tanks,
ecotanks, precast thermal panels for
residential use, security safes and cattle
drinking troughs.
Shotcrete for swimming pools, tunnel
linings and slope protection.
Toppings for repairs pd thin, impact-
resistant surfaces.
industrial floor slabs, commercial floor
slabs, bullion vaults and cool store
floors.
The earliest documented use of steel
fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) in New
Zealand was for the slope protection of the
Wheao Power scheme in Rotorua. This
project was written up by the NZ Concrete
Research Association in 1982 and copies
can be obtained from the CCA - Project
GP 81010.
The concrete was spray-applied using
the wet mix process.
Since these early days, there have been
many changes in the manufacturing of
steel fibres and their applications.
The design of steel fibres has evolved
to give improved aggregate interlock and
increased flexural fatigue strength,, as
14 Ni! colycllceCONSTRUCTION LiECMBKIf 9.WlANUARY
A vibrating screwed was used.
much as 60%80%.
The early fibres were l’tmti, straight
slivers of steel. Current steel fibres zire made
using high tensile, cold drawn wire, with a
crimped shape to give enhanced bond
between the concrete matrix and the fibre.
As well as product improvement, major
design guides using the Portland Cement
Association(US) computer program are
now. available, as well as other recognised
design programs which enable the floor
designer to take advantage of such
;
improvements as: ,,p’ 3
- MOR = 1 - 3 times that of plain PI”.
-__ a a
concrete.
- Shear strength = ; - 2 times that of
plain concrete. Vacuum dewatering was carried out by
- Energy absorption = 10 - 15 tintes Tre-mix.
that of plain concrete.
4.0 MPa in 28 days. With 35 kg/m3 of
DESIGN EXAMPLE Xorex fibres MOR = 5.2 MPa in 14 days.
Using 30 MPa concrete for an indus- With a safety factor of I .7 instead of using
trial floor, local test results give MOR = 4.0/1.7 = 2.35 MPa bending stress. use
%
5.211.7 = 3.0 MPa bending stress, and
reduce the slab thickness or increase the
fatigue life of the slab.
I~DC"STRIALF‘LOOREXAMPLE 1
A concrete slab was built recently for
Tasman Pulp & Paper by Tracks Concrete
of Whakatane, and designed by Beta
Carter Hollings of Tauranga. The slab is
the working surface upon which deposit-
in8 and loading of de-watered sludge
occurs. Heavy tracked, steel-bladed, front-
end loaders are used on this slab on a con-
tinuing daily basis. Beta Carter Hollings
designed some of the roadways of Glen-
brook Steel Mill in 1988 and knew from
these results that the design for Tasman
pulp & Paper would give a long-life, hard-
xrearing surface.
The mix design - in consultation with
Firth Concrete, the Engineers, and Novo-
con International - was aimed at a flexural
strength of 5.2 in 14 days. Test results con-
finned that this was achieved.
An airport pavement computer pro-
gram calculated that with a concrete mix
design, flexural strength of 6.0 MPa in 28
days, and with an axle load of 22 tons, a
stress ratio of 0.590 with a slab 150mm
thick was achieved. As this was somewhat
borderline, a thickness of 175mm was rec-
ommended and accepted.
INDUSTRlALFLOOREXAMPLEZ
The main warehouse at Tasman Pulp &
Paper in Kawemu is the paper store. This
floor has a tremendous 9000 load repeti-
tions per week, each load of two paper
reels weighing approx two tons. This
amounts to 500,000 tons of paper crossing
the floor (to be loaded on to trucks and
trains) each year. The existing slab is
cracking and showing signs of extreme
wear. Over the years, fork hoists have
improved, they now carry heavier loads at
a much greater speed, than was intended
for the original design.
A replacement programme to renew the
floor has started using steel fibres.
The design information given for the
calculations was:
. Cbr = 20% - 25% = 75kPaAnm
l Fork lift track = 183Omm load =
lotonperaxle
Tyres solid 300 x 325mm =
975bomm
. Pressure load = 5000 x 10
. Area 97500 = 512kPa
Adding 25kgs/m3 to 25 MPa concrete
gives a design flexural strength of 4.60
MPa. The airport pavement program gave
a stress of 1.795, a stress ratio of 0.390
with a slab of 175mm thick. This became
the basis of the recommendations for this
job. Square dowels were used to connect
the old to the new concrete.
PIKFSPOINTWASTBTRANSFER,
BONDEDTOPPINGEXAMPLE
Every day, 150 tons of Auckland refuse
is dumped on the floor at Pikes Point
Transfer Station. This waste is then
scraped along the floor to be compacted.
The 20 ton prime mover to do this, has
solid wheels and operates 10 hours per
day. This process, together with the fact
that all the trucks arrive fully laden, means
the slab is subjected to heavy loads, )
 mete had to be removed by scabbling off
to a depth of 8Omm. A bonding compound
was spray-applied, immediately prior to
tbe fibre reinforced concrete being pored
*into place. A vibrating screed was used to
compact the surface, which also removed
any excess air.
The mix design for this project was
provided by Ready Mixed Concrete, with
6Okgs/mS of steel fibre added at the batch
plant. Concrete Techniques was the con-
tractor and Tre-Mix placed the concrete
and dewatemd the surface with their vac-
uum dewatering system; It is four years
since the first area was completed and the
result is very successful.
Thaw concrete water tanks am made by
spinning the concrete within a mould. CoMMERCti APPLIGWIONS
Commercial floor slabs are not nor-
4 high impact and extreme abrasion - a mally subjected to the same degree of
tough call for any concrete slab. Steel stress or fatigue as an industrial slab. Tbey
fihres added at a rate of 2.5% by weight, are usually thinner, 1OOmm - 15Omm, and
increased the flexural strength of 40 MPa contain fewer flbres.
concrete to 6.5, an increase of 50% and the To calculate the same cross-sectional
load-carrying capacity by 80%. area of steel as would be required using
First, the surface of the old worn con- welded wire mesh, use Avestons formula.
To calculate the equivalent cross-sectional
area, for example 655 mesh at 150mm cen-
tres, with a cross-sectional area 01
145mm/m2 in a 1OOmm thick floor, the
calculation is:
12.50 x 145= lSkgalm3 steel fibres
lOOnull
This addition of steel fibre is more tham
adequate for a commercial floor carrying
light fork hoists and racking. With 25 Mpr
concrete, this addition level will give a
flexural result of approx 4.0 Mpa, a 30%
increase over plain concrete.
One of the earliest commercial floou
of this type was used in the Kiwi Bacor
Company in Auckland during 1987.
More recently, Morgan Furniture o!
Takapuna, used this application in their
factory extension.
In July. a chiller floor was built fol
Chill Fresh Foods Ltd of Titahi Bay. Thir
was designed by Greg Szakats of Iar
Macallan & Co Ltd. Architectural
demands deemed that the floor be design&
50mm thick, onto a 150mm layer of higl
density polystyrene. The concrete used.
steel fibreh. 35kgs/mj dosage. Pumpinp
uus not a problem for Binning Conctete.
sod the finisher Alan Hanson had no prob-
hnr getting a Bbre-free surfacz
Hume Concrete Ltd make lO.ooO litre
concrete water tanks and 5000 litre
Ecotrnks for effluent treatment. These
rinks am made by spinning the tanks in a
mauld. These tanks are some of the largest
is the world to be made wing the spinniw
pucess with steel Bbres. The mix is very
&y with a low water to L-ment ratio. this
enables the tanks to be demolded soon
sfter the spinning ptocess is complete. The
licl5andbasearemadeseparatelyandtein-
famd with mesh.
These tanks have been made for many
years in the four different Hume Concrete
plants throughout Sew Zealand and have
proven to be trouble-free. Refer to
Appmisal Certificate So 27 1 19%
ALPHA PRlxwrs OF MrIl-EK\
Alpha manufactures several precast
products using steel fibrew for reinforce-
mm. The largest is a 2O.OW litre water
tsuk. These tanks are tmnspotted around
the upper South Island. The process that
Ibc concrete uses is a more conventional
mix design. typically having a flexural
mun@h of 6.0 MPa and indirect tensile of
34 wa.
This is poured into a mould and
slbwed to curt overnight before demold-
inc. Both methods of production take
sdrrntrge of the high early flexural
mngth impatted by the steel fibtes. The
m@r sutss in a 20.00 line tank probably
occurs when handling and transportinp.
Tk critical factor. however. in tank design
it the tensile hoop stress caused by the
might of water.
The maximum hoop stress calculated
k ment area
4.9 x h x d/t = 0.52 MPa
h = tank height = 2.70m
d = diameter 3.4mt = thickness =
Giving a safety factor of 5.0.
RWiL’WSG POOLN
Swimming pools have been designed
d made with steel fibres since 1988.
rhm Sorthland Spa and Pool Co won the
-emI tunnel CIW, don whh
shoWrota llnlng WOI
Australasia award for commercial pools.
The Australian Standard AS 2783 has been
adoptedinNewZealandasthebenchmark
lbr steel fibm reinforced pools.
Each year some 1508 pools are built.
mostly in Australia. The method of appli-
cation is usually spraying with shotcrcte.
and finishing with a mortar or a cement
pebble mortar. This gives a pleasing finish
and prevents any surface corrosion.
The concrete mix &sign specification
inthesmndardcallsfor4OMP.aconcre&
containing 75bs mx of steel fibre.
In September of this year. the swim-
ming pool complex at Rotorua Boys Hi@
School was upgraded by Pool Care Ser-
vices of Rotorua. Part of the new work
included. the laying of a 5Omm topping
slab onto the existing concrete. Allied
Concmte added Zotex fibres to their stan-
dard 3OMPasw mix design.
Water Care Services needed to reline
the water delivery tunnel at the Upper
Nihotupu Dam in the Waitakere Catch-
Construction Techniques were awarded
the application and used the innovative dry
mix process where the water is inttuduced
to the wncrete at the node. This is a pop
ular technique oversew. especially in iso-
lated job sites.
DOMBSTIC llDm!mL PA!!RI~
Maidstone Building Systems Ltd. this
yearimmducedtotfieNewZ&tulhousing
markeL a pupular owuvcas method of build-
in8 houses using a layer of insulation in a
panel of concrete. reinforced with steel
lihms. This nsults in a \ ety envitonmcntally
efficient dwelling. at a competitive price.
The pan& arc factory-produced und
then transpotted to the site as soon as the
site is prepamd. The completed houses are
warm und dry in the winter and cool in
summer.
Chrngw of 8twMbn damrd
The future of steel fibres in New
Zealand will no doubt follow the oveweas
construction industries. as the local bodies
and engineers become more conversant
with the benefits of combining steel Bbres
and concrete.
In America, it is estimated that 54t of
the concrete placed. contains steel Bbrew.
The graph below shows the growing
demand for steel Bbres in Japan.
So far we have been high@htiw uses
in New Zealand using low volume addi-
tionsupto 1.m.
Research incorporating 15% of steel
fibres. shows the behaviour of such a
matrix to be similar to structural steel.
Such a product will lead the industry into
a new class of fibre reinforced concnte
%tnlchllw.
In the meantime. enp$neets and contn~-
tOl3hWCthCChdlWgCtOp3pthCCOlW!pt
that steel fibres are added to enable con-
crete to sustain load deflections well
beyondthoseatwhiihtheconcmtebe@s
tocnuzk.Chherusesofsteelfibteswillno
doubt come to light. especially regarding
tkii we in seismic teristance. 0