| Summary: | In advancement of concrete utilisation, one of the significant researches carried out is on utilisation of steel fibre in concrete mix to replace reinforcing bars. This paper attempts to further discuss the effectiveness of steel fibre (SteFib) as additional or replacement material concrete to be used as structural member. The improvement of strength and deformation properties are important aspects of structural design and are considered in this investigation to fully value the effectiveness of steel fibre reinforcement in the structural concrete member. Based on the compressive cube test with additional of 40 kg/m3 SteFib dosage, it was found that the strength of concrete was improved. Thus the 40kg/m3 of fibre dosage used for the first stage of research works which is in SteFib wall panel (SteFibWP) and SteFib slab panel (SteFibSP). Due to the good performance of SteFibWP, the fibre dosage was reduced to 30kg/m3 for beam panels. Two walls panels measuring of 75×1000×1500 mm (thickness × width × height), two slabs panels measuring 75×1000×1300 mm (thickness × width × length), and three beams panels measuring 250×350×2700 mm (width × thickness × length), were prepared for this study. Load was applied up to failure by using the three points bending test for the beam and slab panels, while the wall panels was subjected to compressive axial load with pinned-fixed end conditions. The experimental test shows that SteFib increased the ultimate axial and bending capacity at about 43% for the wall panels compared to wire fabric wall panel. SteFib also helps to improve more than 50% of ultimate load for slab panels and beam panels compared to the theoretical load. Furthermore, SteFib improved the fracture toughness, reduced macro-cracks forming into micro-cracks, improved concrete ductility and its energy absorption capacity, as well as enhanced overall durability. This shows that steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) is practical and economically attractive as it can be mixed, placed, and compacted using normal techniques. SteFib panels have better carrying capacity and advantages in terms of crack control than normal reinforced concrete panels. © School of Engineering, Taylor's University.
|
|---|