COMPARATIVE STUDY OF FIBER

REINFORCED CONCRETE AND PLAIN

CEMENT CONCRETE

Department of Civil Engineering, (Structural Engineering)
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, AGARTALA
October, 2014
Contents
Introduction
Literature Survey
Genres of Fibers
Performance Characteristics of FRC
Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete (SFRC)
Structural behavior & Durability of SFRC
Application Of FRC
Conclusion
References
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Fiber Reinforced Concrete (FRC) was invented by French gardener Joseph
Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867.
FRC is a composite material consisting of mixtures of cement, mortar or
concrete and discontinuous, discrete, uniformly dispersed suitable fibers.
Fibers can be of different types such as steel fiber, glass fiber, natural fiber ,
synthetic fiber etc.

Chapter 2
LITERATURE SURVEY
Nataraja et. al(1999) stated that the mechanical properties of fiber reinforced
concrete resulted in the increase of strength from 6% to 17% in compressive strength,
14% to 49% in split tensile strength, 25% to 55% in flexural strength and 13% to 27%
in modulus of elasticity respectively.
Rangan et. al(1999), in their investigations conducted uni-axial compression test on
fiber reinforced concrete specimens using steel fibers. The results showed the increase
in strength from 6% to 17% in compressive strength, 18% to 47% in split tensile
strength, 22% to 63% in flexural strength and 8% to 25% in modulus of elasticity
respectively.
Dwaraknath et. al(1999) predicted flexural strength of steel fiber concrete by these
parameters such as direct tensile strength, split cylinder strength and cube strength. It
was found that the inclusion of 1% by volume of hook-ended steel fibers could
increase the shear strength of the SFRC by about 144% to 210% relative to plain
concrete depending on the aspect ratio of the steel fibers.

Rossi et. al(2000), analyzed that the effects of steel fibers on the cracking at both local
level (behaviour of steel fibers) and global level (behaviour of the fiber/cement
composite) were dependent to each other.
Swami et. al(2000), had done an investigation on deformation and ultimate
strength of flexural in the reinforced concrete beams under 4 point loading with
the usage of steel fibers, where consists of 15 beams (dimensions of
130x203x2500mm) with same steel reinforcement (10 top bar and12 bottom
bar) and variables of fibers volume fraction (0%, 0.5% and 1.0%). Fatigue
resistance of the concrete was reported to be increased by up to 70%.
Gupta,A.P. et. al(2000) had done a similar crack behaviour investigation, which
based on combination of five full scale reinforced concrete beams (350x200x3600mm)
with steel fibers (volume fraction of 0.38% and 0.56%).In his investigation, the
experimental results and theoretical prediction on the crack width was compared.

Chapter 3
GENRES OF FIBERS
GLASS FIBER
STEEL FIBER
SYNTHETIC FIBERS
FABRIC AND COMPOSITE FIBERS
NATURAL FIBERS
NEW DEVELOPMENT IN FIBERS

GLASS FIBERS
Alkali-resistant glass fiber is used in the manufacture of
glass-reinforced cement (GRC) products, which have a wide
range of applications.
STEEL FIBERS
Typically steel fibers have equivalent diameters (based on cross sectional area)
of from 0.15 mm to 2 mm and lengths from 7 to75 mm. Aspect ratios generally
range from 20 to 100.
(Aspect ratio is defined as the ratio between fiber length and its equivalent
diameter, which is the diameter of a circle with an area equal to the cross-
sectional area of the fiber).
Steel fibers have high tensile strength (0.5 2 GPa) and modulus of elasticity
(200 GPa), a ductile/plastic stress-strain characteristic and low creep.

Typically, content of steel fiber ranges from
0.25% to 2.0% by volume.
SYNTHETIC FIBERS
Currently there are two different synthetic fiber volumes used in application,
namely low-volume percentage (0.1 to 0.3% by volume) and high-volume
percentage (0.4 to 0.8% by volume).
Fiber types that have been tried in cement concrete matrices include: acrylic,
aramid, carbon, nylon, polyester, polyethylene and polypropylene.


NATURAL FIBERS
Natural reinforcing materials can be obtained at low cost
and low levels of energy using local manpower and
technology .
Sisal-fiber reinforced concrete has been used for making
roof tiles, corrugated sheets, pipes, silos and tanks.
Natural fibers can be either unprocessed or processed.
NEW DEVELOPMENT IN FIBERS
A development of the last few decades has been
significant research activity and increasing application of
high-performance fiber reinforced cement based
composites (HPFRCC).
For instance UHPFRC have been designed for and
applied in thin bridge decks or bridge deck overlays,
with compressive strengths in the range 120 to 180
MPa and flexural strengths in the range 20 to 40 MPa.
CHAPTER-4
PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTCS OF FRC
Main role of fibers is to bridge the cracks that develop in
concrete and increase the ductility of concrete elements.
Improvement on Post-Cracking behaviour of concrete
Imparts more resistance to Impact load
controls plastic shrinkage cracking and drying
shrinkage cracking
Lowers the permeability of concrete matrix and thus
reduce the bleeding of water
Toughening mechanism
Toughness is ability of a material to absorb energy and
plastically deform without fracturing.
It can also be defined as resistance to fracture of a
material when stressed.
Contd.
Fig. 4.1 Stress-Strain Curve of FRC with variation in the volume of fiber
(Courtesy: Cement-Concrete Institute)


Fig.4.2 Failure Mechanism and Effect of fibers (Mehta., et al 2011)

Factors affecting the Properties of FRC
Volume of fibers
Aspect ratio of fiber
Orientation of fiber
Relative fiber matrix stiffness

Volume of fiber

Low volume fraction (less than 1%)
Used in slab and pavement that have large exposed
surface leading to high shrinkage cracking
Moderate volume fraction(between 1 and 2 percent)
Used in Construction method such as Shortcrete & in
Structures which requires improved capacity against
delamination, spalling & fatigue
High volume fraction(greater than 2%)
Used in making high performance fiber reinforced
composites (HPFRC)
Aspect Ratio of fiber
It is defined as ratio of length of fiber to its diameter
(L/d).
Increase in the aspect ratio up to 75,there is increase in
relative strength and toughness.
Beyond 75 of aspect ratio there is decrease in strength
and toughness.
Orientation of fibers
Aligned in the direction of load
Aligned in the direction perpendicular to load
Randomly distribution of fibers
It is observed that fibers aligned parallel to applied load
offered more tensile strength and toughness than randomly
distributed or perpendicular fibers.
Relative fiber matrix
Modulus of elasticity of matrix must be less than of
fibers for efficient stress transfer.
Low modulus of fibers imparts more energy absorption
while high modulus fibers imparts strength and stiffness.
Low modulus fibers e.g. Nylons and Polypropylene
fibers
High modulus fibers e.g. Steel, Glass, and Carbon fibers

Comparison of Mix Proportion between Plain
Concrete and Fiber Reinforced Concrete
Material Plain concrete Fiber reinforced
concrete
Cement 446 519
Water (W/C=0.45) 201 234
Fine aggregate 854 761
Coarse aggregate 682 608
Fibers (2% by volume) -- 157
The 14-days flexural strength, 8 Mpa, of the fiber reinforced was about 20% higher than that of
plain concrete.
Source: Adapted from Hanna, A.N., PCA Report RD 049.01P, Portland cement Association, Skokie,
IL, 1977
Contd.
Type of fiber Tensile strength
(Mpa)
Youngs modulus
(x10
3
Mpa)

Ultimate
elongation
(%)
Steel 275-2757 200 0.5-35
Polypropylene 551-690 3.45 ~25
Glass 1034-3792 ~69 1.5-3.5
Nylon 758-827 4.14 16-20
Source: ACI Committee 544, Report 544.IR-82, Concr. Int., Vol. 4, No. 5, p. 11, 1982
CHAPTER-5
Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete
Diameter Varying from 0.3-0.5 mm (IS:280-1976)
Length varying from 35-60 mm
Various shapes of steel fibers
CHAPTER-6
Structural Behavior of Steel Fiber Reinforced
Concrete
Effect on modulus of rupture
Effect of compressive strength
Effect on Compressive strength & tensile Strength at
fire condition i.e. at elevated temperature
Effect on Modulus of Rupture
Ref: Abid A. Shah, Y. Ribakov, Recent trends in steel fibered high-strength concrete, Elsevier,
Materials and Design 32 (2011), pp 41224151
Effect on Compressive Strength
Ref: Abid A. Shah, Y. Ribakov, Recent trends in steel fibered high-strength concrete, Elsevier, Materials
and Design 32 (2011), pp 41224151
Structural behavior at Elevated
Temperature
Ref: K.Srinivasa Rao, S.Rakesh kumar, A.Laxmi Narayana, Comparison of Performance of
Standard Concrete and Fibre Reinforced Standard Concrete Exposed To Elevated
Temperatures, American Journal of Engineering Research (AJER), e-ISSN: 2320-0847 p-
ISSN : 2320-0936, Volume-02, Issue-03, 2013, pp-20-26
Contd.
CHAPTER-7
Application of FRC in India & Abroad
More than 400 tones of Steel Fibers have been used
recently in the construction of a road overlay for a project
at Mathura (UP).
A 3.9 km long district heating tunnel, caring heating pipelines
from a power plant on the island Amager into the center of
Copenhagen, is lined with SFC segments without any
conventional steel bar reinforcement.
steel fibers are used without rebars to carry flexural loads
in a parking garage at Heathrow Airport. It is a structure
with 10 cm thick slab.
Precast fiber reinforced concrete manhole covers and frames
are being widely used in India.

Conclusion
The total energy absorbed in fiber as measured by the area
under the load-deflection curve is at least 10 to 40 times
higher for fiber-reinforced concrete than that of plain
concrete.
Addition of fiber to conventionally reinforced beams increased
the fatigue life and decreased the crack width under fatigue
loading.
At elevated temperature SFRC have more strength both in
compression and tension.
Cost savings of 10% - 30% over conventional concrete
flooring systems.
References
Banthia, N. and Trottier, J.-F(1995)., Test Methods of Flexural
Toughness Characterization: Some Concerns and a Proposition,
Concrete Int.: Design & Construction, American Concrete
Institute, Materials Journal, 92(1), 48-57.
Rangan, M. and Dwarkanath, P. (1999). Stress-strain Curves for
Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete in Compression,
Cement and Concrete Composites, UK, Vol. 21, No. 5/6,
pp. 383-390.
Nataraja, M. C., Dhang, N and Gupta, A. P (1999)., Statistical
Variations in Impact Resistance of Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete
Subjected to Drop Weight Test,Cement and Concrete
Research,Pergoman press, USA, Vol. 29, No. 7, 1999, pp.
989-995.
Contd.
Nataraja, M. C., Dhang, N and Gupta, A. P (2000)., A Study on the
Behaviour of Steel Fiber Reinforced Subjected to Splitting Test,
Asian Journal of Civil Engineering, Teheran, Iran, Vol. 1, No. 1, Jan.
2000, pp. 1-11.
Rossi,C. ,Dhang, N and Gupta, A. P (2000)., Toughness
Characterisation of Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete by JSCE
Approach, Cement and Concrete Research, Pergoman press, USA,
Vol. 30, No. 4, 2000, pp. 593-597.
Shah, Surendra P., and Skarnedahl, ke,(1985) Editors, Steel Fiber
concrete, Elsevier Applied Science Publishers, 520 pp.
Swami,M., Saad, I.,(2000) Controlled Crack Growth Tests for
Optimization of Micro-Fiber Reinforced Cement Composites,
ACI, Special Publication: Application and Testing of Fracture
Mechanics Concepts (Ed. C. Vipulanandan), SP-201, pp. 55-74