Applications of Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete

Applications of Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete

Definition of Fiber Reinforced Concrete

According to the American Concrete Institute (ACI), fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) is defined as:

concrete containing dispersed, randomly oriented fibers

Therefore, fiber reinforced concrete is like the normal concrete made from hydraulic cements and aggregates, but with the addition of discrete reinforcing fibers that can be made of either natural or synthetic materials.

Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete

Steel fiber reinforced concrete is fiber reinforced concrete with the fiber type as “steel”

Steel fiber reinforced concrete gives high resistance to the development and propagation of cracks since the tensile strength of fiber reinforced concrete is greater than that of normal concrete.

Applications of Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete

1- Uncracked Concrete Sections for Water Structures

To begin, we know that normal concrete without reinforcement has good ability to resist compressive forces. However, it has a limited ability to resist tensile forces or flexural stresses.

Thus, if beams are subjected to bending, cracks will normally appear on the tension side.

So, what if we want to prevent cracking of concrete such as in cases of water structures (such as tanks), we follow the procedure to design reinforced concrete sections as “water section“. This is to give uncracked section but the problem with this uncracked section is the big thickness of concrete which means high cost of construction.

Here comes the role of steel fiber reinforced concrete.

Steel fiber reinforced concrete is one way to make uncracked concrete sections at a much lower cost. This is due to the increased toughness of steel fiber reinforced concrete and the capacity of this concrete to absorb energy and resist tensile stresses.

Steel fibre reinforced concrete is used as a supplementary material, as advised by ACI Committee 544, to avoid cracking, to increase resistance to impact or dynamic loads, and to prevent material disintegration.

2- Highway and Airport Pavements

Steel fiber reinforced concrete is used in numerous applications related to the pavements such as:

Pavements made of steel fiber reinforced concrete will have less thickness than pavements made with normal concrete.
Pavements made with steel fiber reinforced concrete will have higher resistance to abrasion.
Resistance to impact is higher for steel fiber reinforced concrete.
Using steel fiber reinforced concrete can provide larger panels of concrete which means higher joint spacing in both directions.
Steel fiber reinforced concrete can be used in repair applications of existing pavements as thin overlays.

3- Hydraulic Structures

Steel fiber reinforced concrete are used in hydraulic structures because of their high resistance to erosion damage.

4- Fiber Shotcrete

Adding steel fibres to shotcrete enhances several of the material’s mechanical characteristics, including:

toughness
impact resistance
shear strength
flexural strength
ductility factor

Fiber shotcrete has been applied in:

slope stabilization
tunnels
dams
bridges arches
dome structures

Summary

Steel fiber reinforced concrete is used in multiple applications such as:

slab-on-grade and overlay construction for airfields, highways, bridges and industrial floors
repairs to cavitation or erosion-damaged zones in dam stilling basins and spillways
shotcrete applications in mining, tunnelling and slope stabilization
production of a variety of precast concrete products such as pipe, utility poles and dolosses for wave protection.
precast elements
Tunnel linings
Manholes
Sleepers