Reactive powder concrete reinforced with steel fibre under different loading conditons

Abstract

The focus of this thesis is to investigate experimentally and analytically the influence of type, content and geometry of steel fibre (industrial/waste) on the behaviour of unconfined and confined Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) under loading. The influence of different types of steel fibre of different geometry and volume content on the mechanical properties of Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) in terms of compressive strength, tensile strength, modulus of elasticity and stress-strain behaviour under compression was investigated. Also, the behaviour of the RPC columns that included different types of steel fibre of different geometry and volume content under different loading conditions was investigated. Furthermore, the feasibility of applying the existing empirical models on the unconfined and confined Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) reinforced with different types of steel fiber under compression was assessed. Three types of steel fibres were used: industrial micro steel fibre (MF), industrial deformed steel fibre (DF) and waste steel fibre recovered from discarded tyres (WF). Steel fibres were added to RPC at 1%, 2%, 3% and 4% of the total volume. Two forms of hybridizations were explored: industrial hybridization (HF) and waste-industrial hybridization (WHF). The nonfibrous RPC specimens (reference) were labelled as (NF). The RPC specimens were cast and tested under compression for the behaviour of unconfined RPC. Also, twentyfour RPC columns were cast and tested under axial loading, eccentric loading (25 mm and 50 mm) and four-point bending