Experimental Investigation and Modelling of the Layered Concrete with Different Concentration of Short Fibers in the Layers
Fibers 2021
Vitālijs Lūsis, Olga Kononova, Artūrs Mačanovskis, Rimvydas Stonys, Inga Ļašenko, Andrejs Krasņikovs

The use of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) in structures with high physical-mechanical characteristics allows engineers to reduce the weight and costs of the structures, to simplify the technology of their production, to reduce or completely eliminate the manual labor needed for reinforcement, at the same time increasing reliability and durability. Commonly accepted technology is exploiting randomly distributed in the concrete volume fibers with random each fiber orientation. In structural members subjected to bending, major loads are bearing fibers located close to outer member surfaces. The majority of fibers are slightly loaded. The aim of the present research is to create an SFRC construction with non-homogeneously distributed fibers. We prepared layered SFRC prismatic specimens. Each layer had different amount of short fibers. Specimens were tested by four point bending till the rupture. Material fracture process was modelled based on the single fiber pull-out test results. Modelling results were compared with the experimental curves for beams. Predictions generated by the model were validated by 4PBT of 100 × 100 × 400 mm prisms. Investigation had shown higher load-bearing capacity of layered concrete plates comparing with plate having homogeneously distributed the same amount of fibers. This mechanism is strongly dependent on fiber concentration. A high amount of fibers is leading to new failure mechanisms—pull-out of FRC blocks and decrease of load-bearing capacity. Fracture surface analysis was realized for broken prisms with the goal to analyze fracture process and to improve accuracy of the elaborated model. The general conclusion with regard to modelling results is that the agreement with experimental data is good, numeric modelling results successfully align with the experimental data. Modelling has indicated the existence of additional failure processes besides simple fiber pull-out, which could be expected when fiber concentration exceeds the critical value.


Keywords
Concretes | Fibers distribution | Mechanical properties | Modelling | Numerical models | Reinforced concrete | Single fiber pull-out | Steel fibers
DOI
10.3390/fib9120076
Hyperlink
https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6439/9/12/76

Lūsis, V., Kononova, O., Mačanovskis, A., Stonys, R., Ļašenko, I., Krasņikovs, A. Experimental Investigation and Modelling of the Layered Concrete with Different Concentration of Short Fibers in the Layers. Fibers, 2021, Vol. 9, No. 12, Article number 76. ISSN 2079-6439. Available from: doi:10.3390/fib9120076

Publication language
English (en)
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