Abstract
The main objective of this study is to quantitatively determine the magnetic field capability of a Helmholtz coil in orienting steel fibers and show the correlation between the fiber orientation and tensile strength of steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) materials. Using X-ray computed tomography (CT), the exact distribution of fiber orientations was computed for both the magnetized and nonmagnetized samples containing 3, 5, 7, and 9 mm long fibers. The probability of a fiber being aligned parallel to the length of the specimen increased by 28.33%, 44.05%, 49.33%, and 27.12% for fibers with lengths of 3, 5, 7, and 9 mm, respectively. Finally, the uniaxial tensile strength of each sample was determined using direct tension tests. The average tensile strengths of the samples increased 0.51, 0.46, 0.64, and 0.76 MPa for the 3, 5, 7, and 9 mm fiber lengths, respectively. On average, the tensile strength of the samples increased by 27% after being exposed to an external magnetic field.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
Computed tomography work was supported by the US National Science Foundation (Grant No. 1840138).
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 34 • Issue 2 • February 2022
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 18, 2021
Accepted: Jun 23, 2021
Published online: Nov 26, 2021
Published in print: Feb 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Apr 26, 2022
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