• Computers and Concrete
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.451-465
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• 2020

This paper presents experimental and numerical investigations on mechanical properties of ultra-high-performance fiber-reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) with four types of steel fibers; micro steel (MS), crimped (C), round crimped (RC) and hooked-end (H), in two fiber contents of 1% and 2% (by volume) and two lengths of 13 and 30 mm. Compression, direct tension, and four-point bending tests were carried out on four types of specimens (prism, cube, dog-bone and cylinder), to study tensile and flexural strength, fracture energy and modulus of elasticity. Results were compared with UHPC specimens without fibers, as well as with available equations for the modulus of elasticity. Specimens with MS fibers had the best performance for all mechanical properties. Among macro fibers, RC had better overall performance than H and C fibers. Increased fibers improved all mechanical properties of UHPFRC, except for modulus of elasticity, which saw a negligible effect (mostly less than 10%). Moreover, nonlinear finite element simulations successfully captured flexural response of UHPFRC prisms. Finally, nonlinear regression models provided reasonably well predictions of flexural load-deflection behavior of tested specimens (coefficient of correlation, R² over 0.90).

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.211-227
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• 2020

To explore the feasibility of eliminating the longitudinal rebars and stirrups by using ultra-high-performance fiber reinforcement concrete (UHPFRC) in concrete encased steel composite stub column, compressive behavior of UHPFRC encased steel stub column has been experimentally investigated. Effect of concrete types (normal strength concrete, high strength concrete and UHPFRC), fiber fractions, and transverse reinforcement ratio on failure mode, ductility behavior and axial compressive resistance of composite columns have been quantified through axial compression tests. The experimental results show that concrete encased composite columns with NSC and HSC exhibit concrete crushing and spalling failure, respectively, while composite columns using UHPFRC exhibit concrete spitting and no concrete spalling is observed after failure. The incorporation of steel fiber as micro reinforcement significantly improves the concrete toughness, restrains the crack propagation and thus avoids the concrete spalling. No evidence of local buckling of rebars or yielding of stirrups has been detected in composite columns using UHPFRC. Steel fibers improve the bond strength between the concrete and, rebars and core shaped steel which contribute to the improvement of confining pressure on concrete. Three prediction models in Eurocode 4, AISC 360 and JGJ 138 and a proposed toughness index (T.I.) are employed to evaluate the compressive resistance and post peak ductility of the composite columns. It is found that all these three models predict close the compressive resistance of UHPFRC encased composite columns with/without the transverse reinforcement. UHPFRC encased composite columns can achieve a comparable level of ductility with the reinforced concrete (RC) columns using normal strength concrete. In terms of compressive resistance behavior, the feasibility of UHPFRC encased steel composite stub columns with lesser longitudinal reinforcement and stirrups has been verified in this study.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.80-83
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• 1995

In order to develope and apply high-performance steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC), the effects of steel fibers on durability and long-term deformation of SFRC due to various mixing conditions have been studied. As the test result show, the manufacturing process technology of industrial SFRC is developed And the durability of SFRC such as freeze-thaw, resisteance abrasion resistance are significantly improved, the drying shrinkage of SFRC, is remarkably decreased by increasing the steel fiber contents than plain concrete

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.255-270
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• 2014

Impact performance of high-performance concrete (HPC) and SFRC at 28-day and 56-day under the action of repeated dynamic loading was studied. Silica fume replacement at 10% and 15% by mass and crimped steel fiber ($V_f$ = 0.5%- 1.5%) with aspect ratios of 80 and 53 were used in the concrete mixes. Results indicated that addition of fibers in HPC can effectively restrain the initiation and propagation of cracks under stress, and enhance the impact strengths and toughness of HPC. Variation of fiber aspect ratio has minor effect on improvement in impact strength. Based on the experimental data, failure resistance prediction models were developed with correlation coefficient (R) = 0.96 and the estimated absolute variation is 1.82% and on validation, the integral absolute error (IAE) determined is 10.49%. On analyzing the data collected, linear relationship for the prediction of failure resistance with R= 0.99 was obtained. IAE value of 10.26% for the model indicates better the reliability of model. Multiple linear regression model was developed to predict the ultimate failure resistance with multiple R= 0.96 and absolute variation obtained is 4.9%.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.47-56
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• 2009

The first diagonal cracking and ultimate shear load of reinforced girder made of ultra high performance fiber reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) were investigated in this paper. Eleven girders were tested in which eight girders failed in shear. A simplified formulation for the first diagonal cracking load was proposed. An analytical model to predict the ultimate shear load was formulated based on the two bounds theory. A fiber reinforcing parameter was constituted based on the random assumption of steel fiber uniform distribution. The predicted values were compared with the conventional predictions and the test results. The proposed equation can be used for the first cracking status analysis, while the proposed equations for computing the ultimate shear strength can be used for the ultimate failure status analysis, which can also be utilized for numerical limit analysis of reinforced UHPFRC girder. The established fiber reinforcing theoretical model can also be a reference for micro-mechanics analysis of UHPFRC.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.391-401
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• 2017

In this study, the effects of water-to-binder (W/B) ratio and replacement ratio of blast furnace slag (BFS) on the compressive strength of concrete were first investigated to determine an optimized mixture. Then, using the optimized high-strength concrete (HSC) mixture, hooked steel fibers with various aspect ratios and volume fractions were used as additives and the resulting mechanical properties under compression and flexure were evaluated. Test results indicated that replacement ratios of BFS from 50 to 60% were optimal in maximizing the compressive strength of steam-cured HSCs with various W/B ratios. The use of hooked steel fibers with the aspect ratio of 80 led to better mechanical performance under both compression and flexure than those with the aspect ratio of 65. By increasing the fiber aspect ratio from 65 to 80, the hooked steel fiber volume content could be reduced by 0.25% without any significant deterioration of energy absorption capacity. Lastly, complete material models of steel-fiber-reinforced HSCs were proposed for structural design from Lee's model and the RILEM TC 162-TDF recommendations.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.325-351
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• 2022

This paper studies the lateral impact behavior of ultra-high performance fiber-reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) filled double-skin steel tubular (UHPFRCFDST) columns. The impact force, midspan deflection, and strain histories were recorded. Based on the test results, the influences of drop height, axial load, concrete type, and steel tube wall thickness on the impact resistance of UHPFRCFDST members were analyzed. LS-DYNA software was used to establish a finite element (FE) model of UHPFRC filled steel tubular members. The failure modes and histories of impact force and midspan deflection of specimens were obtained. The simulation results were compared to the test results, which demonstrated the accuracy of the finite element analysis (FEA) model. Finally, the effects of the steel tube thickness, impact energy, type of concrete and impact indenter shape, and void ratio on the lateral impact performances of the UHPFRCFDST columns were analyzed.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.119-126
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• 2009

This paper provides a brief summary of the performance of an innovative slip hardening twisted steel fiber in comparison with other fibers including straight steel smooth fiber, high strength steel hooked fiber, SPECTRA (high molecular weight polyethylene) fiber and PVA fiber. First the pull-out of a single fiber is compared under static loading conditions, and slip rate-sensitivity is evaluated. The unique large slip capacity of T-fiber during pullout is based on its untwisting fiber pullout mechanism, which leads to high equivalent bond strength and composites with high ductility. Due to this large slip capacity a smaller amount of T-fibers is needed to obtain strain hardening tensile behavior of fiber reinforced cementitious composites. Second, the performance of different composites using T-fibers and other fibers subjected to tensile and flexural loadings is described and compared. Third, strain rate effect on the behavior of composites reinforced with different types and amounts of fibers is presented to clarify the potential application of HPFRCC for seismic, impact and blast loadings.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.14-20
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• 2017

Ultra high performance concrete is inevitably used in case of skyscraper and super long span bridge. In general, the flexural and the tensile strengths of concrete are lower than the compressive strength, so brittle cracks occur and energy absorption ability is lowered. In order to solve this problem, this study is intended to examine the effect of the steel fiber volume fraction and aspect ratio on the mechanical properties of ultra high performance concrete. In series I, 20-mm straight steel fiber was added with a volume fraction of 0, 1.0, 1.3, 1.5 and 2.0%. In series II, 16-mm steel fiber was added with a volume fraction of 0, 1, and 1.5%, and then mechanical properties were examined according to aspect ratio. In the results of experiment, a difference in compressive strength was insignificant. However, regarding the flexural strength and tensile strength, as the volume fraction and aspect ratio increased, flexural performance and tensile performance improved.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.283-290
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• 2015

This paper proposes a method for predicting flexural strength of hybrid steel fiber-reinforced ultra-high strength concrete beams. It includes an experimental test framework and associated numerical analyses. The experimental program includes flexural test results of hybrid steel fiber-reinforced ultra-high strength concrete beams with steel fiber content of 1.5% by volume. Tensile softening characteristics play an important role in the structural behavior of steel fiber-reinforced ultra high performance concrete. Tension softening modeling is carried out by using crack equation based on fictitious crack and inverse analysis in which load-crack mouth opening displacement relationship is considered. The comparison of moment-curvature curves of the numerical analysis results with the test results shows a reasonable agreement. Therefore, the numerical results confirms that good prediction of flexural behavior of steel fiber-reinforced ultra high strength concrete beams can be achieved by employing the proposed method.