Abstract:
Concrete is the most widely used building material in the world. The single largest
limitation of concrete is its weak and brittle nature under tensile stress. To improve
concrete behavior, reinforcement materials that are strong in tension are embedded into
the concrete to avoid brittle failure and increase tensile capacity. Besides the traditional
methods of embedding continuous aligned reinforcement in anticipated zones of tensile
stress, random discrete fibers can be dispersed into the concrete during the mixing
procedure to create a composite material called fiber reinforced concrete (FRC).
Distinctive fiber filaments are used to improve the ductility and strain-hardening of
cementitious composite mortars and grouts. Fibers vary commercially and
environmentally so that polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers are relatively expensive and
might have higher environmental impact than Portland cement, polypropylene (PP), steel,
basalt, and glass. Limited studies compared the effects of different fibers (PVA, PP,
basalt, steel, and glass) on the hardened mechanical properties of normal-strength
concrete mixtures, and on the behavior of structural members cast with such concrete
mixtures. A multiphase research program has been designed to address the above
objectives and the aim of the phase presented in this thesis is to test the performance of
fiber reinforced concrete in the context of shear structural behavior and mechanical
properties. It was noticed that shear strength is the most affected parameter when
introducing fibers to concrete. Thus, this research work aims at assessing the performance
and explaining the effect of using seven different types of fibers on shear strength and
crack width in cast beams.
