Fracture behaviour of carbon fiber reinforced self compacting concrete with and without silica fume

This study covers the effect of using carbon fiber on the mechanical, fracture and permeability properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC). A total of eight SCC mixtures with and without silica fume were designed with a total binder content of 530 kg/m3 and constant water-to-binder ratio of 0.37. Carbon fiber with 7.2 µm diameter and 12 mm length were utilized in SCC mixtures by considering four fractions of 0, 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5% by total volume. Carbon fiber used within this study had a tensile strength of 3800 MPa and modulus of elasticity of 228 GPa. Furthermore, in this study, 30% of fly ash utilized as a replacement cement. Plain and carbon fiber reinforced SCC specimens were tested for determining the mechanical, fracture and permeability properties. The mechanical and permeability properties of SCCs were carried out in terms of compressive strength, elastic modulus, splitting tensile and net flexural strengths, sorptivity index, gas permeability, and resistance to chloride ion while the fracture characteristics were evaluated in terms of fracture energy and characteristic length. Test results indicated that carbon fiber enhanced all mechanical and fracture properties, and also significantly developed the energy abrasion capacity of SCCs, depending mainly upon carbon fiber content. Keywords: Carbon fiber; Fracture characteristic; Permeabilty properties; Self-Compacting Concrete; Silica Fume.