Materials & Design 2009: November 2013
Materials & Design 2009: November 2013
Materials & Design 2009: November 2013
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Amr S. El-Dieb
United Arab Emirates University
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Article history: Few researches are carried out in the Gulf area to study the feasibility of producing UHSC using available
Received 1 April 2009 local materials with the inclusion of steel fibers, and investigate its properties and durability. Local avail-
Accepted 17 April 2009 able materials and the inclusion of steel fibers with different volume fractions are investigated to produce
Available online 23 April 2009
UHSC. Different mechanical properties are evaluated (compressive strength and splitting tensile
strength). Durability of the concrete in high sulfate and high temperature condition (i.e. resembling Gulf
Keywords: environment) is evaluated. Also, chloride permeability, bulk chloride diffusion and electrical resistivity
Ultra-high-strength self-compacting fiber-
are evaluated. Test results indicate that local material can produce UHS–FRC. The ductility of the concrete
reinforced concrete (A)
Mechanical and durability characteristics
is greatly improved by the incorporation of steel fibers and increases as the fiber volume increases. Chlo-
(E) ride permeability, bulk chloride diffusion and electrical resistivity are affected by the volume fraction of
Microstructure (F) steel fibers. The inclusion of steel fibers did not have significant effect on the durability of the concrete in
the sulfate environment. Microstructural investigations of UHS–FRC concrete were also performed. The
microstructural investigations shed some light on the nature of interfacial bond of fibers and the cement
paste and its effect on its mechanical and fracture properties.
Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
0261-3069/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2009.04.024
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on the mechanical properties and durability characteristics of the for self-compacted concrete (SCC) [10,11]. The admixture dosage
concrete. was kept constant in order to evaluate the effect of including fibers
with different dosages on the slump flow of the mix.
2. Experimental methods Cubes and cylinders were used to evaluate the compressive
strength and the splitting tensile strength of the concrete respec-
Here, the effect of using locally available materials on producing tively. Tests are conducted at different test ages; 28–56–91 days
ultra-high-strength concrete with self-compacting characteristics of age. Also, compression test is conducted at 7 days of age to show
was investigated. Also, the effect of incorporating steel fibers with the strength gain with time. All experiments were performed on
different dosage on the mechanical properties and durability of three specimen replicates. The average values are used in the dis-
UHSC is evaluated. cussion of the test results.
For durability characteristics, several tests are used to evaluate
2.1. Materials and mix proportions the performance of the concrete in different aggressive environ-
ments. Rapid chloride permeability test (ASTM C1202), concrete
Cement used in this study was ordinary Portland cement which
conforms to (ASTM Type I) and (BS EN 197 CEM I). Silica fume was Table 1
Variation of main mix composition and compressive strength.
used as mineral additive; it has a specific gravity of 2.2, and a spe-
cific surface of 152,000 cm2/gm (according to manufacturer data Mix composition A B C D E
sheet). The coarse aggregate was natural crushed stone from Ras Total cementing materials (kg/m3) 775 775 900 900 900
Al Khaima of nominal size of 10 mm (3/8 in.), a specific gravity of Silica fume (%) 15% 15% 17.5% 17.5% 17.5%
2.65, and absorption% of 1.3%. The coarse aggregate is washed Water/Binder ratio 0.23 0.23 0.23 0.24 0.24
Water/Cement ratio 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.28 0.28
and left to be air dried to saturated surface dry condition before
Fine aggregate (%) 45% 60% 60% 50% 100%
being used. Two types of sand were used in the study; crushed nat- – Coarse sand (%) 76% 100% 70% 70% 70%
ural stone sand from Ras Al Khaima with fineness modulus of 3.5 – Dune sand (%) 24% 0% 30% 30% 30%
and specific gravity of 2.63, and dune sand from Al Ain area with Coarse aggregate (%) 55% 40% 40% 50% 0%
fineness modulus of 0.88 and specific gravity of 2.63. A modified 28 days compressive strength (MPa) 88 92 110 95 85
91 days compressive strength (MPa) 105 110 135 115 100
polycarboxylic ether superplasticizer is used in the study (GELI-
NUM SKY 512Ò); it complies with ASTM C 494 Types F and G,
and ASTM C1017 Types I and II. The admixture is light-brown in col-
or, with a specific gravity of 1.1, pH value 5–8 and alkali content as 800
Na2O equivalent of 0.26% (according to manufacturer data sheet).
One type of steel fibers is used in the investigation; (HELIX
5-25Ò). The fibers are twisted with a triangular cross sectional 775
shape, with an average dimensions 0.5 mm and average length of
Slump Flow (mm)
25 mm, as shown in Fig. 1. The aspect ratio of the fibers (l/d) is 750
50. The specific gravity is 7.9 (manufacturer data sheet). The steel
fibers are zinc galvanized wires with silver color. The recom-
mended dosages of the fibers by the manufacturer are divided into 725
three categories, and the maximum dosage for each is 6, 20 and
40 kg/m3. This corresponds to fiber volume fractions (Vf) of
0.08%, 0.12% and 0.52%, which is used in the study. 700
The effect of varying mix proportions on the compressive
strength of the concrete is investigated in order to finalize the 675
UHSC-SCC mix proportions. The UHSC-SCC reference mix propor- 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
tions are then used in the study to investigate the effect of incorpo- Steel Fibers Volume Fraction Vf (%)
rating various volume fractions of the steel fibers on the
mechanical properties and durability of the concrete mix. Three Fig. 2. Slump flow of fresh concrete with different steel fiber volume fractions.
volume fractions (Vf) of the steel fibers are used (0.08%, 0.12%,
and 0.52%). 160
Vf = 0%
2.2. Testing procedure 150
Vf = 0.08%
Compressive Strength (MPa)
140 Vf = 0.12%
For fresh concrete, the slump flow test is used to judge the flow- Vf = 0.52%
130
ability characteristics of the concrete mixes. The admixture dosage
is adjusted for the control mix (i.e. no fibers, Vf = 0) in order to have 120
a slump flow higher than the minimum value of 600 mm required 110
100
90
80
70
60
7 14 21 28 35 42 49 56 63 70 77 84 91
Age (days)
Fig. 1. Helix fibers showing its twist and cross section (manufacturer data sheet). Fig. 3. Compressive strength with age for different steel fiber volume fraction.
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10.0
Splitting Tensile Strength (MPa)
9.0 28 days
8.0 56 days
7.0 91 days
6.0
5.0
4.0
3.0
2.0
1.0
0.0
0 0.08 0.12 0.52
Steel Fibers Volume Fraction Vf (%)
Fig. 5. Splitting tensile strength for different steel fiber volume fraction. Fig. 7. Failure of splitting tensile cylinders specimens with steel fibers.
7.0 700
Total Charge Passing (coulombs)
Splitting Tensile Strength / Compressive
600 28 days
56 days
6.0
500 91 days
Strength (Ratio)
400
5.0
300
200
4.0
100
3.0 0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0 0.08 0.12 0.52
Steel Fibers Volume Fraction Vf (%) Steel Fibers Volume Fraction Vf (%)
Fig. 6. Effect of steel fiber on splitting tensile strength/compressive strength ratio. Fig. 8. Total charge passing in RCPT for different steel fibers volume fraction.
Vf = 0% Vf = 0.08% 3
Vf = 0.12% Vf = 0.52%
100
80
9
60
40 12
28 35 42 49 56 63 70 77 84 91
Age (days)
Table 2
Bulk chloride diffusion coefficient and sorptivity values for mixes with different steel fibers volume fraction.
13
Age (days) Bulk diffusion coefficient (10 m2/s) Sorptivity (mm/min1/2)
Vf (%) Vf (%)
0% 0.08% 0.12% 0.52% 0% 0.08% 0.12% 0.52%
28 5.3 5.9 6.0 5.8 0.0353 0.0365 0.0372 0.0385
56 2.3 2.5 2.9 3.0 0.0350 0.0360 0.0368 0.0377
91 1.1 1.3 1.4 1.5 0.0343 0.0346 0.0361 0.0375
Table 3
Average compressive strength after immersion in 5% Na2SO4 solution and 50 °C.
fractions. Also, Fig. 6 shows the average ratio between splitting ten- sion. Fig. 8 shows the total charge passing recorded in the RCPT. Re-
sile strength and compressive strength. It could be noticed that the sults indicates an increase in the total charge passing as the steel
ratio increases significantly as the fiber volume fraction increase, a fiber volume fraction increases, this could be attributed to the elec-
ratio of 6.0 is observed for fiber volume fraction 0.52%. The ratio be- trical conductivity of the fibers. For all mixes the total charge pass-
tween tensile strength and compressive strength for UHSC is much ing is reduced with age. All chloride ions permeability values
lower than that of normal strength concrete, even after the inclu- recorded indicate very low permeability according to ASTM
sion of fibers. From the test results, the improvement in the tensile C1202 classification. Concrete electrical resistivity values support
strength of the concrete without fibers is not significant compared the findings in the RCPT test, Fig. 9. It should be noted that the resis-
to the improvement of the compressive strength. This indicates tivity values recorded for all mixes are very high which indicates
how brittle the produced material is, and explains its brittle explo- very good protection to steel reinforcement against corrosion.
sive failure. It could be seen from the results that the increase in the As for the bulk chloride diffusion coefficients and sorptivity val-
splitting tensile strength is significant as the steel fibers volume ues, given in Table 2, there is no much change due to the inclusion
fraction increases which indicates a more ductile failure, the of steel fibers, which is contrary to the results of the RCPT and elec-
improvement ranges from 92% to 111% for the highest fiber volume trical resistivity. This could be due to the fact that chloride ions
fraction. The tested cylinders did not completely split into two sep- migration and water movement depends mainly on the micro-
arate halves at failure due to the inclusion of fibers, Fig. 7. structure of the cement paste. Since the cement paste is almost
the same for all mixes the variation obtained is within experimen-
3.3. Durability tal sensitivity. The difference in the bulk diffusion values ranges
from 9% to 25%, while that for the sorptivity values ranges from
Rapid chloride permeability test (RCPT), concrete electrical 1% to 9%. These findings indicate dense microstructure even with
resistivity and chloride bulk diffusion test are conducted to evalu- the inclusion of fibers with different volume fractions. Bulk diffu-
ate the concrete durability against chloride attack and chloride sion coefficient values and sorptivity values indicates high level
induced corrosion and protection of reinforcement against corro- of durability for aggressive environments. It should be noted that
Fig. 11. Dense microstructure of the cement paste indicating very good compaction.
Fig. 12. Interface between fractured aggregate particle and cement paste.
Fig. 13. Interface between intact aggregate particle and cement paste.
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Fig. 15. Interface at fiber’s surface showing dense cement paste embodying the fiber.
Fig. 16. Cement paste on the fiber’s surface and very dense cement paste around the fiber with fine microcracks.
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concrete of achieving the significant enhancement in fracture tough- – Potential use of this material includes concrete structures such
ness and changing the failure mode to more ductile one as observed as high-rise buildings with high fracture toughness/energy
earlier. demand such as those used in seismic regions.
– With its very low ionic diffusion and permeability, and water
transport through the concrete it could be used in industrial
4. Conclusion and nuclear waste storage facilities.
– Behavior of structural members such as columns using UHS–FRC
From the results obtained in this study the following could be is under investigation in order to study the effect on the struc-
concluded: tural design using such material.