Engineering Properties of Steel Fiber Reinforced Self-Compacting Concrete (SFR-SCC)

Self-compacting concrete (SCC) is a durable, highly flowable concrete with no tendency for segregation. It can easily fill complex formwork and passing through enclosing dense bars, and it consolidates without any need of vibration. SCC has the same brittle behavior as plain concrete, but this shortcoming can be eliminated by the inclusion of reinforcing fibers which carry tension forces and improve mechanical properties. This study investigates the effect of using steel fiber to reinforce self-compacting concrete and evaluate the improvement on physical and mechanical properties of the SCC matrix. For this purpose, six mixes of steel fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete (SFRSCC) were prepared with two different steel fiber aspect ratios of 60 and 80 l/d at three volume fractions (Vf ) of 0.35%, 0.45%, and 0.55%, in addition to a control mix. All samples were casted with constant w/b ratio 0.34 and 2% silica fume of cement content as additive. The experimental results indicated that adding hooked end steel fiber slightly affected the compressive strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity, and permeability. On the other hand, adding the fibers increased the flexural strength, toughness, split tensile strength, and impact resistance of SCC depending on aspect ratio (l/d) and volume fraction ( Vf ).