| Summary: | Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete (SFRC) with an additional 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0% of steel fibers was introduced onto concrete mixtures to improve the mechanical properties and ultimate energy absorption of High-Volume Fly Ash Concrete (HVFAC). The fly ash was added with a high volume of 45.0% by weight of cement. To overcome the loss of strength caused by high-volume fly ash and resistance to fire, 7.5% nano-silica and 0.2% polypropylene fibers were also added. Compressive, splitting tensile, flexural, and drop weight tests were carried out at 7, 28, 125, and 129 days. The results show that adding 2.0% steel fiber increases the mechanical strength and energy absorption to the maximum, with 27.4, 34.2%, and very significant 73.1% increments in compressive, split tensile, and flexural strengths, respectively, at 7 days compared to the control samples where it comprises 0% of steel fiber. At the later age of 125 days, the rate of increment had slowed down to 23.4, 22.0, and 76.4% for the respective strengths, showing that nano-silica addition is very effective in the development of high early strength of HVFAC as well as the impact resistance. The impact resistance of HVFAC is greatly enhanced, with the ultimate energy absorption improved by 250.0 and 200.0% at 7 and 125 days, respectively. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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