Mechanical Properties of Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete Beams

Fiber reinforcement is increasingly used to improve the strength and ductility of concrete, which is very brittle in nature. In this research, two types of hooked fibers and one type of twisted steel fibers were used as reinforcement in beam specimens. A series of experiments was carried out to investigate the effect of type and content of steel fibers on the mechanical properties of concrete, such as the compressive strength, first-crack flexural strength, and ultimate flexural strength, modulus of elasticity, flexural toughness, and ductility. Guidelines of ASTM C-1609 were used to carry out the bending tests. The compressive strengths of the concrete mixes were obtained from cylinder tests as per the guidelines of ASTM C-39. The experimental findings indicate that addition of steel fibers in concrete can slightly enhance the compressive strength and modulus of elasticity but remarkably improve flexural strength, flexural toughness and ductility.