Axial response of fibre reinforced concrete tension members
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Date
1996
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Publisher
University of New Brunswick
Abstract
The first sign of tension failure in reinforced concrete is the cracking of the concrete as
it reaches its tensile strength. Although the concrete does not carry any tensile load at
the crack it does continue to carry load between the cracks. This concrete contribution
to the member's stiffness is referred to as tension stiffening.
Fibre reinforced concrete is plain concrete with the addition of discontinuous fibres.
The addition of steel fibres to the concrete mix allows the concrete to carry some of the
load at the cracks. This additional source of strength increases the tension stiffening of
the concrete resulting in a tougher member.
Several small scale tests were carried out to investigate the behaviour of fibre
reinforced concrete. The results show that fibre reinforced concrete exhibits
significantly smaller crack widths than plain concrete and as a result more cracks form
resulting in reduced crack spacing.
Overall, this research project will show that the addition of steel fibres to the concrete
mix enhances the performance of concrete.