A study on the tensile strength of concrete

In this study, the effects of super plasticizer additive, silica fume and steel fiber on the compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and direct tensile strength of concrete are investigated. .The compressive and tensile strengths of the specimens produced with these materials are compared with reference concrete specimens. İt is investigated how much these materials contribute to the tensile strength of concrete and compressive strength of concrete. Concrete mixtures including reference concrete class C30/37, super-plasticizer, silica fume and steel fiber are produced in order to find the contribution. PC 42.5 R cement is used in the experiments and the water/cement ratio is kept constant at 0.51. The slump value is kept constant between 10-12 cm except the concrete mixture including super plasticizer. In the mixture including silica fume, silica fume is replaced with 10 percent of cement, as in the mixture including super plasticizer, super plasticizer is added at the rate of 1 percent of cement. Steel fiber is added at the rate of 45 kg/m3 to prepare the mixture including steel fibers. Because 27 specimens are produced for each mixture, it makes 108 cylindrical specimens with 15 cm diameter and 30 cm height for four mixtures. All the specimens are kept in the standard cure conditions until the testing day. Compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, direct tensile strength and elastic modulus tests are conducted and the results are compared with each other. Maximum compressive strength and direct tensile strength results are obtained from steel fiber concrete specimens. Maximum splitting tensile strength and modulus of elasticity results are obtained from the specimens including silica fume addition.