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Construction and Building Materials 27 (2012) 6–14

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Construction and Building Materials


journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Influence of yield stress and compressive strength on direct shear behaviour


of steel fibre-reinforced concrete
Bensaid Boulekbache a, Mostefa Hamrat a, Mohamed Chemrouk b, Sofiane Amziane c,⇑
a
Département de Génie Civil, Université de Chlef, Algeria
b
Université des Sciences et Technologie Houari Boumediene, Alger, Algeria
c
Université Blaise Pascal, EA 3867, Laboratoire de Mécanique et Ingénieries, BP 10448, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study aims in examining the influence of the paste yield stress and compressive strength on the
Received 3 February 2011 behaviour of fibre-reinforced concrete (FRC) versus direct shear. The parameters studied are the steel
Received in revised form 26 June 2011 fibre contents, the aspect ratio of fibres and the concrete strength. Prismatic specimens of dimensions
Accepted 18 July 2011
10  10  35 cm made of concrete of various yield stress reinforced with steel fibres hooked at the ends
Available online 24 September 2011
with three fibre volume fractions (i.e. 0%, 0.5% and 1%) and two aspects ratio (65 and 80) were tested to
direct shear. Three types of concretes with various compressive strength and yield stress were tested, an
Keywords:
ordinary concrete (OC), a self-compacting concrete (SCC) and a high strength concrete (HSC). The con-
Fibre reinforced concrete
Direct shear
crete strengths investigated include 30 MPa for OC, 60 MPa for SCC and 80 MPa for HSC.
Rheology The results show that the shear strength and ductility are affected and have been improved very sig-
Yield stress nificantly by the fibre contents, fibre aspect ratio and concrete strength. As the compressive strength
Fibre orientation and the volume fraction of fibres increase, the shear strength increases. However, yield stress of concrete
Strength has an important influence on the orientation and distribution of the fibres in the matrix. The ductility
Ductility was much higher for ordinary and self-compacting concretes (concrete with good workability). The duc-
tility in direct shear depends on the fibre orientation and is significantly improved when the fibres are
perpendicular to the shear plane. On the contrary, for concrete with poor workability, an inadequate dis-
tribution and orientation of fibres occurred, leading to a weak contribution of the fibres to the direct shear
behaviour.
Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction These fibres reinforce and compensate the brittleness of concrete


by stitching the micro-cracks and the macro-cracks and taking
Fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) has known many developments up the subsequent tensile strains acting on concrete. This confers
and numerous studies have been carried out on this material dur- a relatively better ductility to the hardened concrete. The steel fi-
ing the last three decades in order to overcome the tension weak- bres develop a better bond with a compact cement matrix of
ness common to all types of concretes. high-strength concrete [2].
The increase in strength of concrete is associated with the Numerous research results concerning the behaviour of fibre
increase in material compressive and tensile strengths [1]. How- reinforced concrete subjected to various load conditions, including
ever, concretes with higher strength are known to be more brittle flexural, compressive, and tensile loadings have been reported [3].
than normal strength concrete, representing a significant limita- The cracking and failure of structures due to in-plane shear is also
tion for their wide-range application in innovative structural considered as Mode II failure, which is of considerable importance
design. Furthermore, low toughness characteristics can result in in many civil engineering structures. Some practical cases, such as
sudden and catastrophic shear failure for concrete with high deep beams, point or concentrated loading, punching shear in
compressive strength. Broader use of higher strength concrete in foundations, penetration of projectiles into concrete, shear keys,
structures requires the development of information concerning all experience shear-induced cracking. Several investigations deal-
its shear behaviour. Furthermore, basic knowledge is needed on ing with structural applications of steel-fibre reinforced concrete
the effects of the addition of randomly oriented steel fibres on can be found in the literature. It has been shown that the replace-
shear characteristics of concrete for various levels of strength. ment of vertical stirrups by steel fibres provides effective reinforce-
ment against shear failure [4,5]. Casanova has shown that a
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 473 40 75 00; fax: +33 473 40 75 10. quantity of 1.25% of steel fibres in volume is mechanically equiva-
E-mail address: sofiane.amziane@polytech.univ-bpclermont.fr (S. Amziane). lent to 1.1% of conventional steel reinforcement [6].

0950-0618/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2011.07.015
B. Boulekbache et al. / Construction and Building Materials 27 (2012) 6–14 7

Recently, the use of steel fibre reinforced concrete has been requires more fluid phase to be properly enveloped and lubricated,
reported to replace vertical stirrups in thin-webbed beams and en- and the significant interparticule friction and interlocking between
hances the web-flange shear transfer in girders [7]. The efforts fibres and between fibres and aggregates [17,28]. In practice, yield
have revealed that the steel fibres are advantageous over the ver- stress is the most important parameter for formwork filling, the
tical stirrups or bent up bars particularly in improving the strength, viscosity of the material will only play a role on the time needed
as well as ductility and cracking resistance. The addition of steel to obtain a horizontal surface.
fibres showed a reduction of shear deformations at all stages of The present work aims, through experimental investigation, to
loading, and proved that this phenomenon was pronounced more provide some information on the direct shear capacity of steel
as the fibre volume fraction increased. Fibres were found to be fibre-reinforced concrete with various levels of yield stress and
effective as shear reinforcement by increasing the shear strength strengths of concretes, various volume and aspect ratios of fibres.
and allowing the shear deficient beams to reach their full flexural Correlation between yield stress, fibre orientation, shear strength
capacity resulting in ductile flexural failure. The beams without and ductility in shear is then developed.
fibre reinforcement failed by diagonal shear cracking while those
with fibres failed in flexure rather than in shear. The use of hooked 2. Experimental work
steel fibres in a volume fraction greater than or equal to 0.75% led
to an enhanced inclined cracking pattern (multiple cracks) and im- The main objective of this research work is to determine the influence of the
yield stress of the fresh mix on the distribution and orientation of the fibres inside
proved shear strength in beams pffiffiffiffi without stirrup reinforcement, the fresh concrete and then to study their effects on the shear behaviour of the
greater than or equal to 0.33 fc MPa [8]. Cuenca and Serna [9] hardened fibre-reinforced concrete material.
showed that failure occurrence of Z-shaped push-off specimens is
better controlled thanks to the presence of fibres; the shear behav- 2.1. Materials and fabrication of test specimens
iour is more ductile.
The cement used in this study was a CEM I 52.5N of a fineness expressed
There has been significant interest in determining the response
through a specific surface of 3520 cm2/g and a density of 3160 kg/m3, the scale’s
of FRC under direct shear failure and analyzing the behaviour in a for particles is ranging from 0 to 100 lm. The sand and coarse granulate had min-
local failure plane. Several types of specimens have been used for imum/maximum sizes of 0/4 mm and 4/10 mm respectively. The high-range water-
this purpose [9–11]. The general objective of performing these reducing admixture (HRWRA) was a polycarboxylate-based admixture used to
tests has been to produce shear failure along a prescribed plane achieve adequate fibre dispersion and workability. Two types of hooked-end steel
fibres were used, whose characteristics are shown in Table 1. The fibre lengths (L)
(normally defined by cutting notches in the specimen), employing
were 35 mm and 60 mm, the diameters (d) were 0.55 mm and 0.75 mm; therefore,
compression and bending loads. One exception is the Japanese the aspect ratios (L/d) were 65 and 80, respectively. These fibres are available in
JSCE-SF6 Standard [12] where a double-shear test is performed bundles, which were fibrillated with water-soluble glue to ensure immediate dis-
on unnotched prisms. persal in the concrete during mixing. The shape of fibres provided the required
workability for mixing and no balling occurred. Three fibre dosages per volume of
The orientation of the fibres inside the matrix is affected by a
concrete 0%; 0.5% and 1% were used for all the mixes. Fig. 1 shows the shape of these
number of parameters, essentially the geometry of fibres and their fibres. Table 2 presents the concrete mix portions used in the testing program.
interaction effects (fibres-aggregates-formwork), the flowability of The following steps were conducted to mix the concrete ingredients:
concrete, the means of pouring and compacting the concrete, the
geometry of the concrete shafts (free surface, two or four bound- (1) Mix dry components (cement, limestone filler, silica fume, sand and gravel)
for 2 min.
aries) and their dimensions. When rigid particles such as sand (2) The required superplaticizer was poured into the total water outside of the
and gravel particles are mixed in a fluid suspension such as cement mixer and the solution was added to the mix gradually for 3 min.
paste, the type of particle/particle or fluid/particle interactions may (3) Steel fibres were added manually by slowly sprinkling them into the mixer,
vary according to the packing of the particles in the system [13– to avoid balling and to produce a concrete with uniform material consis-
tency and good workability, then the fresh concrete with fibres was mixed
17]. Barthos and Hoy [18] noted that packing density is reduced
for 3 min.
with fibre addition in a slightly larger way with coarse aggregate
than with sand, because the sand is able to pack tightly around The measurement of the slump flow indicates the workability of the mixture.
the fibre, whereas, coarse aggregates are pushed apart by the The compactness of the SCC matrix, due to the greater amount of fine and extra-fine
fibres’ presence. particles, may improve interface zone properties [29]. Consequently, it may also
From our point of view, the rheology parameters of the flowing improve the fibre–matrix bond, leading to an enhanced post-cracking toughness
and energy absorption capacity. In the case of SCC, no sign of segregation was
material, particularly the yield stress and the wall effect generated detected, the mixture showed good homogeneity and cohesion. All specimens were
by the geometry of the formwork, are the greatest influences on stored in the laboratory at a room temperature of 20 °C. All the mixes were pre-
the orientation of the fibres within the fresh concrete. The distribu- pared in a pan-mixer with a capacity of 100 L.
tion and orientation of fibres is, in turn, the parameter which most For each mix, three prismatic specimens 100  100  350 mm were performed
for the direct shear test, with a shear plane area of 6400 mm2. Three concrete cyl-
influences the ductility of fibre concretes. The contribution of the
inders (110  220 mm) were also cast and tested to determine the compressive
fibres to the ductility depends on their distribution within the con- strength of the various mixes.
crete element and especially their orientation [19–22].
Concrete is a concentrated suspension of solid particles (sand 2.2. Shear test setup
and gravel) in a yield stress fluid (cement paste). Fresh cementi-
tious materials, as many materials, behave as a fluid with a yield Shear tests were conducted in accordance with the Japan Society of Civil Engi-
neers standard test procedure JSCE-SF6 [21,30] with some modifications. As shown
stress, which is the minimum stress needed to initiate flow. From
in Fig. 2a and b, the shear load was applied by a loading block with two loading
a practical point of view, yield stress may be the most interesting
value where filling or passing ability is concerned, whereas plastic Table 1
viscosity may be associated to the velocity at which a given con- Properties of steel fibres used.

crete will flow once the material begins to flow. It has been Type 1 Type 2
reported that low yield stress provides good placeability of con- Length lf (mm) 35 60
crete [23–27]. The ability of the mixture to guarantee a uniform Diameter df (mm) 0.55 0.75
dispersion of fibres during casting has also been recognized as a Aspect ratio (lf/df) 65 80
peculiarity of the FRC [28]. It has been demonstrated that the addi- Cross-section area Af (mm2) 0.24 0.44
Tensile strength (MPa) 1100 1100
tion of fibres to a concrete matrix affects its fresh state perfor-
Number of fibres per kg 14,500 4600
mance, due to the both the larger surface area of fibres, which
8 B. Boulekbache et al. / Construction and Building Materials 27 (2012) 6–14

d becomes impossible to achieve. The direct consequence of this


anisotropy is the reduction of the number of fibres crossing a given
L section.
To further study the effect of yield stress, on the orientation of
Fig. 1. Steel fibre shape. fibres inside the concrete structure, three concrete mixes were
manufactured: an ordinary fluid concrete (OC), a self-compacting
concrete (SCC) and a plastic high strength concrete (HSC), with
the proportions given in Table 2. The yield stress of the studied
Table 2 concretes was measured using a concrete rheometer equipped
Mix proportioning of concretes. with a Vane tool. The vane geometry used in this study consisted
of four 10 mm thick blades around a cylindrical shaft of 120 mm
Mixture OC FROC SCC FRSCC HSC FRHSC
diameter. The blade height was 60 mm and the vane diameter
3
Gravel 4/10 (kg/m ) 910 900 825 814 825 814
was 250 mm. The gap between the rotating tool and the external
Sand 0/3.15 (kg/m3) 830 820 750 740 750 740
Total water (kg/m3) 178 178 192 192 161 161
cylinder was equal to 90 mm, which is sufficiently large to avoid
HRWRA (kg/m3) 0 1.95 5.10 7.22 4.25 6.75 any scaling effect due to the size of the gravel (Dmax = 10 mm).
Cement (C) (kg/m3) 275 275 425 425 425 425 The results of the rheological properties of the concretes tested
Silica fume (SF) (kg/m3) 0 0 0 0 42.5 42.5 are given in Table 3. For the fibre-reinforced concretes, the yield
Limestone filler (LF) (kg/m3) 90 90 200 200 90 90
stress are not given due to the lack of geometry of our rheometer
Steel fibre (kg/m3) 0 40 0 40 0 40
W/Pa 0.49 0.49 0.32 0.32 0.30 0.30 (120 mm diameter) regarding the fibre size (60 mm), which can
V f ðL=dÞ
þ //mss 0.59 0.76 0.57 0.75 0.6 0.80 make the obtained data reflects some measurement artefact. In
4
most applications, the combination of fibres with sand and gravels
Notations used: OC: ordinary concrete; SCC: self-compacting concrete; HSC: high affects the packing density of both fibres and aggregates [17].
strength concrete; FROC: fibre reinforced ordinary concrete; FRSCC: fibre reinforced
Martinie et al. [16,34] showed that prediction of a critical fibre
self-compacting concrete; FRHSC: fibre reinforced high strength concrete.
a
P (powder) = C + SF + LF. amount leading to a very strong increase of the yield stress of any
cement paste, mortar or concrete. They define a total relative vol-
ume fraction as the sum of the relative volume fraction of the fibres
and the relative volume fraction of the granular skeleton
edges 150 mm apart. The specimen was supported on two rigid blocks 155 mm  
V f ðL=dÞ
apart. To ensure the shear failure plane, a 10 mm deep notch was sawed all around
4
þ //ms , where /s and /m are respectively the volume fraction
the specimens in between the loading and the supporting edges, as shown in Fig. 2a.
To capture the real behaviour of the FRC specimen in direct shear tests, the end and the dense packing fraction of the sand (of order 0.65 for a
parts of the specimen were secured against rotation by means of two adjustable rounded sand). For the yield stress to keep the same order of mag-
yokes. A quasi-static load was applied at a displacement rate of about 0.001 mm/ nitude after addition of fibres, and thus for concrete to toughly dis-
s, in accordance with JSCE SF6. Displacement was measured by averaging signals
play the same of behaviour rheological, the relative packing
from the two linear variable displacement transducers (LVDTs) attached on each  
V f ðL=dÞ
side of the bottom of the central portion of the specimen (Fig. 2b). The applied load fraction should be lower than 0.8 4
þ //ms 6 0:8 [34]. In our
and deflection data were electronically acquired at an acquisition frequency of 1 Hz.
All measurements were made on three specimens. The ultimate shear strength smax
study, the relative packing fraction for concrete without fibres is
of the specimen was calculated using the following equation: ranged from 0.57 to 0.6, whereas, with inclusion of fibres, this rel-
ative packing fraction is ranged from 0.75 to 0.80 (Table 2), induced
Pmax a little increase in the yield stress for the fibre-reinforced concrete,
smax ¼ ðMPaÞ ð1Þ
2A
which can be explain why the slump flow is not dramatically chan-
where Pmax is the average peak load supported by the composite; and A is the effec- ged (Table 3). The proposed theory of Martinie et al. is then con-
tive area of the shear plane on either side. firmed by our observations.
A typical specimen after failure containing two shear failure planes is shown in
Fig. 2c. It demonstrates that the failure of the specimens was in pure Mode II, along
the shear plane coinciding with the preformed notches.
3.2. Compressive strength

3. Results and discussion Typical compression stress–strain curves are shown in Fig. 3. In
the present study, the presence of fibres in concrete has slightly
3.1. Rheology of concretes reduced the compression strength by around 7% for FROC, 6% for
FRSCC and 10% for FRHSC. Moreover, the fibres are more efficient
The rheology of concrete is a major concern for many users. In- when subjected to tension; they then prevent the propagation of
deed, the ease of placing of fibred concrete has a direct impact on cracking. In compressive crushing, their role is reduced and could
the orientation of fibres inside the material’s structure and conse- even be a negative one through local stress concentration pre-ini-
quently on its structural efficiency once the hardened concrete is tiating crushing in the hardened cement paste. The reduction in
loaded. compressive strength values has been well analysed in the litera-
As previously seen, the distribution of fibres is modified accord- ture. The addition of fibres to matrix substantially disrupts it by
ing to the rheology of the cement matrix. A tendency toward ball- introducing voids, induced additional defects in the matrix through
ing is a serious problem in fibre-reinforced concrete. Balling insufficient compactness and then the porosities of FRC are also
reduces workability and increases segregation [31]. Adding fibres greater [32].
to a mixture not fluid or workable enough and the fibres do not The role of fibres in the pre-peak zone is negligible. The
get mixed in fast enough; therefore, they pile up on each other in mechanical role of fibres is activated only after the appearance of
the mixer and forms balls [32,33]. In a fluid concrete, the fibres cracking; they greatly improve the post-peak behaviour and sub-
have a great mobility within the cement matrix and hence can stantially reduce the descending slope of the stress–strain curve
move and orient easily under the effect of a slight external vibra- by softening the material when approaching failure as can be seen
tion. On the contrary, in a stiff concrete, there is a risk of formation in Fig. 3. This observation is even more pronounced in the case of
of fibre balls; this limits the movement of fibres and may even high-strength concrete. A slight increase in the strain at the peak
block them. In this case, a homogeneous repartition of fibres stress can be noted for the fibre-reinforced concrete.
B. Boulekbache et al. / Construction and Building Materials 27 (2012) 6–14 9

Specimen 150
(a) Loading block
Deep notch
Adjustable yoke
15

25 25

100
155

(b)

(c)

Fig. 2. (a) Schematic of direct shear test; (b) test setup of direct shear test and (c) typical failure of FRC in direct shear.

Table 3 3.3. Shear strength


Rheological properties of concretes tested.

OC FROC SCC FRSCC HSC FRHSC 3.3.1. Quantification of fibre orientation


Slump flow (cm) 24 21 – – 16 12 To obtain the necessary fibre distribution, a manual fibre-count-
Spreading flow (cm) – – 70 65 – – ing method was used to measure fibre density distribution occur-
Yield stress (Pa) 45 – 36 – 120 – ring at the cracked section of the specimen, following a direct shear
test. In order to asses the fibre-alignment, a so-called orientation
factor a was introduced (0 6 a 6 1) as proposed by Soroushian
and Lee [35]. If all fibres were oriented perpendicular to a cut sur-
90 face, the average number of fibres in such a cross-section would be
HSC
Compressive strength (MPa)

80 equal to the area of the fibres in the cross-section (Ac) divided by


70 the area of one fibre (Af) multiplied with the volume percentage
FRHSC 35-0.5
SCC of the fibre (Vf). The orientation-factor a is defined as the ratio of
60
the number of fibres actually counted (N) in a given cross-section
50 and this theoretical number (Nth) with only perpendicular fibres.
40 FRSCC 35-0.5

30 N Af
a¼ ¼N ð2Þ
20 Nth V f Ac
OC FROC 35-0.5
10
Ac is the transverse section of concrete, Af is the section of a fibre, Vf
0
is the volume fraction of fibres and N is the number of fibres cross-
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
ing a given section.
Axial strain (‰)
For a = 0, the fibres are not oriented perpendicularly to the cross
Fig. 3. Stress–strain curve in compressive test for concretes with and without section; this is equivalent to concrete without fibres. For a = 1, all
fibres. the fibres are oriented perpendicularly to the cross section. The
10 B. Boulekbache et al. / Construction and Building Materials 27 (2012) 6–14

lower this factor is, the larger the average inclination is of the fibres diately following the first cracking, except that such efficiency is
from the perpendicular direction to the cut surface. even greater for high-strength concrete (Fig. 5a). This is attributed
The orientation coefficient a as a function of the yield stress is to the improvement bond characteristics associated with the use of
represented in Fig. 4. Each point is the average of three specimens. fibres in conjunction with high strength concrete [10].
In the case of fluid concrete (SCC and OC) with 36 Pa and 45 Pa For fibred specimens (FROC), the behaviour up to first cracking
yield stress, respectively, the fibres have a preferred orientation is similar to that of control specimens OC. After cracking, the spec-
with values of orientation factors ranging from 0.68 to 0.72 and imens continue to incur expenses for small deformations. The fi-
0.59–0.63 respectively, and fibres are uniformly distributed, which bres in the concrete matrix contribute significantly, resulting in
enables an increased level of friction between matrix and fibre. On an increase in shear strength of 31.4%, 38.6%, 45.7% and 47.1% for
the contrary, for high strength concrete with high yield stress, the FROC 35-0.5, FROC 60-0.5, FROC 35-1 and FROC 60-1 respectively,
orientation factor ranging between 0.46 and 0.50, meaning that the compared to control specimens (Table 4). Between cracking and
fibres are gathered as clusters and badly dispersed in the internal the peak shear load, the specimens demonstrated reduced stiffness
concrete structure and fibres are badly oriented. It has been and considerable deformation before failure.
reported than the process of fibre orientation induced by casting However, for specimens with FRSCC and FRHSC, the shear
has been shown to strongly depend on the yield stress of the mate- strength is also linear until first cracking. After cracking, consider-
rial [34]. able shear, proportional in magnitude to the aspect ratio and fibre
The mix proportion of fibres is a parameter which can be mas- volume fraction were developed compared to the corresponding
tered with ease when formulating a steel fibre reinforced concrete; plain specimens. For fibre reinforced self-compacting concrete,
on the other hand, the orientation factor is difficult to control and the addition of fibres provided an increase of 43%, 44%, 55% and
hence to predict. Indeed, most design cases of fibre-reinforced con- 56% for FRSCC 35-0.5, FRSCC 60-0.5, FRSCC 35-1 and FRSCC 60-1
crete are based on a hypothesis stipulating that the fibres are respectively compared to control specimens. In the case of fibre
homogeneously distributed inside the concrete material, but ran- reinforced high strength concrete, the corresponding strength
domly oriented [36]. Based on this hypothesis, the proportion of increase is 37.8%, 44.2%, 64.1% and 68.6% for FRHSC 35-0.5, FRSHSC
fibres to be used should be substantial, though in some cases the 60-0.5, FRSHSC 35-1 and FRHSC 60-1 respectively (Table 4).
complex geometry to be achieved in addition to other factors limits The results indicated that the compressive strength, fibre vol-
such proportions. In this sense, the knowledge of the orientation of ume fraction and aspect ratio of fibres have a minor influence on
fibres would be an important parameter to optimize the quantity the stiffness and behaviour of specimens until the first cracking
of fibres which should be used in the concrete mix. This would load. The fibres are efficient when they are oriented perpendicu-
ensure a better design of concrete structures. The perpendicular larly to the plan of the shear strength. The failure of steel fibre rein-
orientation of fibres is disturbed by the confining effect of the side forced concrete is not brittle at maximum load. Moreover, for
walls. The wall effect depends on the width of the flow channel. higher fibre densities (1% volume fraction of fibres), because crack
It can be seen that the fibres with a large aspect ratio are more propagation is restricted by fibres, there may be more than one
aligned with the flow direction. The effect of fluctuating velocity peak on the curve before the maximum is reached, followed by a
with micro-scale on the rotation of fibres becomes strong with gradually decreasing post-peak response with significant residual
the decrease of aspect ratio, which makes the fibres orient more strengths (Fig. 5b–d).
randomly hence the preferred orientations become weaker. For the behaviour in shear in the post-peak branch, the issue
when evaluating the use of fibred concrete is not only the increase
in the final shear strength, but also the ductile behaviour which can
3.3.2. Strength and deformation behaviour of specimens
make the use of this concrete material worthwhile and structurally
The results concerning the average values of the measured
interesting. A cracked concrete continues to support further
cracking shear stress (scr) and ultimate shear stress (su) and the
increases in loading without worsening the crack width through
per cent increase in ultimate shear stress of FRC specimens are
fibre crack stitching and through the deformation of the fibres,
given in Table 4. Generally, fibre inclusion improved the first crack
which causes increased crushing and splitting of the matrix. At
strength (an increase of 20–40%). The first crack strength improve-
the final stage, failure is very ductile and soft since most of the
ment for fibre-reinforced concrete is due to the transfer of stress
energy is absorbed by the deformed fibres. For the composite
from the matrix to fibres. Load versus vertical displacement curves
fibered concrete, more than one load peak may occur, one at the
for all specimens are represented in Fig. 5. For the specimen of
end of the cement matrix contribution and the others when the
plain concrete (OC, SCC and HSC), the behaviour of load versus ver-
fibres reach their ultimate capacity. To sum up, it could be said that
tical displacement was linear up to failure, which occurred imme-
the orientation of fibres and the yield stress significantly influence
the shear ductility of specimens.

1
3.3.3. Effect of matrix strength
0.8 FRSCC
The compressive strength of concrete has a significant effect on
orientation factor α

resistance to direct shear (Mode II), where significant increases


0.6
were observed. All types of specimens provided higher ultimate
FROC shear strength than that of their respective plain concrete. When
0.4 the compressive strength varies from 30 to 60 MPa, an increase
FRHSC of 43% of the shear strength is observed. This increase is 120%
0.2
when compressive strength reaches 80 MPa. This is attributed to
the improvement of bond characteristics.
0
The ultimate shear strength does not vary proportionately with
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 the compressive one as shown in Fig. 7. Regression analysis was
Yield stress (Pa) carried out on these experimental data points of shear strength
(s0) and compressive strength (fc). Through regression analysis,
Fig. 4. Orientation factor as a function of the yield stress. the empirical relation obtained can be expressed. Coefficient of
B. Boulekbache et al. / Construction and Building Materials 27 (2012) 6–14 11

Table 4
Test results of direct shear.

Specimen designation Compressive strength (MPa) Cracking shear stress scr (MPa) Ultimate shear stress su (MPa) Increase in su (%)
OC 29.3 7.0 7.0 –
FROC 35-0.5 27.0 8 9.2 31.4
FROC 35-1 28.4 9.0 10.2 45.7
FROC 60-0.5 28.3 8.4 9.7 38.6
FROC 60-1 28.5 9.1 10.3 47.1
SCC 61.3 10.0 10.0 –
FRSCC 35-0.5 56.7 13.0 14.3 43.0
FRSCC 35-1 53.6 13.9 15.5 55.0
FRSCC 60-0.5 56.7 12.8 14.4 44.0
FRSCC 60-1 54.6 13.7 15.6 56.0
HSC 82.6 15.6 15.6 –
FRHSC 35-0.5 79.0 19.8 21.5 37.8
FRHSC 35-1 78.8 22.5 25.6 64.1
FRHSC 60-0.5 73.9 20.2 22.5 44.2
FRHSC 60-1 72.2 22.2 26.3 68.6

(a) 300 (a) Plain concretes (OC, SCC, HSC) (b) 200 (b) FROC
250 HSC
150
200
Load (kN)

SCC Load (kN)


150 OC 100 35-0.5
60-1

100 35-1
50 60-0.5
50

0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Displacement (mm) Displacement (mm)

400
(c) 350 (c) FRSCC (d) (d) FRHSC
300 350

300
250
60-1
Load (kN)

Load (kN)

250
200 60-0.5
200 35-1
60-1
150 35-1 150
100 35-0.5
100
50 60-0.5
50 35-0.5
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Displacement (mm) Displacement (mm)

Fig. 5. Load versus displacement curves under direct shear test. (a) Plain concretes (OC; SCC; HSC) and (b–d) fibred concretes (FROC, FRSCC, FRHSC).

determination (R2) of this proposed relation is 0.87, suggesting a The aspect ratio of fibres has a slight influence on the direct
strong correlation between these two mechanical properties: shear response of the specimens in the range of 65–80. A difference
of 5% is found between the improvement in shear strength of a
s0 ¼ 0:72 fc0:79 ðMPaÞ ð3Þ fibre with an aspect ratio 65 and 80. Taking into account the
similar effects of the volume fraction of fibres and the aspect ratio
on the rheological properties of the concrete, the product of these
3.3.4. Effect of volume fraction and aspect ratio of fibres two parameters (Vf L/d) is regarded as only one variable defined as
Fig. 6 shows the relationship between the ultimate shear the fibre factor representing the effect of the fibre reinforcement
strength and fibre volume fraction and aspect ratios of different on the composite [17,34,37].
concretes. Increase in fibre content results in consistent increase It has been shown that the direct shear strength increases line-
in first crack and ultimate shear strength. For example, for speci- arly with the addition of fibres and is a linear function of the term
mens with 1% fibre volume and aspect ratio of 80, the range of (Vf L/d). By using an analysis of regression, the ultimate shear
increase in ultimate shear strength was 47.1%, 56.0% and 68.6% strength (su) of a composite can be expressed according to its shear
corresponding to FROC 60-1, FRSCC 60-1 and FRHSC 60-1 strength of the concrete without fibre (s0), of its fibre volume frac-
respectively. tion Vf (%) and the aspect ratio (L/d) as follows:
12 B. Boulekbache et al. / Construction and Building Materials 27 (2012) 6–14

35 (Fig. 8a). For medium and high strength concretes (SCC and HSC),
τu = τ0 + 0.080 Vf (L/d)
2
the cement paste is sufficiently strong to cause aggregate crushing
30 R = 0.90 FRHSC
which destroys the interlocked structures (Fig. 8b). The crack
Shear stress τu (MPa)

25 direction deviates from the aggregate–matrix interface into the


matrix and aggregate.
20
FRSSC Moreover, at higher loads, in low strength concrete specimens,
15 the fibres bridging the cracks along the shear plane were pulled
Mirsayah [38]
out. However, for medium and high-strength concrete specimens,
10
FROC especially those with the larger fibre aspect ratios and higher fibre
5 volume, some of the fibres bridging the crack along the shear plane
ruptured, indicating the improved bond provided by concrete of a
0
0 20 40 60 80 high strength level (Fig. 8c).
It can be noted that the yield stress effect, is significant. For the
Vf (L/d)
ordinary and self-compacting concretes with a low yield stress, the
Fig. 6. Ultimate shear stress versus Vf (L/d) tested in direct shear. distribution of fibres is more homogeneous and well oriented in
the direction of the flow (Fig. 8c) (perpendicularly to shear stress
planes). On the contrary, in high-strength concretes with a high
30 yield stress, the fibre orientation is random and their distribution
τ0 = 0.72 fc
0.8 is imperfect, as illustrated in Fig. 8d, showing that the better the
25
R2 = 0.87 concrete flows, the more the fibres align.
Shear strength τu (MPa)

20 3.5. Shear ductility

15 The ductility was in general higher for concrete with good


workability (FRSCC and FROC) as shown in Table 5. This shows
10 the significant effect of fibre distribution and orientation in com-
parison to the effect of the compression strength of concrete. At
5
high matrix strengths (FRHSC in Fig. 5d), there is usually a steeper
and sudden drop in load-carrying capacity after the occurrence of
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 peak load. However, in an efficient fibre-reinforced concrete (FROC
and FRSCC in Fig. 5b and c), the release of energy will be offset by
Compressive strengh fc (MPa)
an effective bridging of fibres.
Fig. 7. Correlation between shear strength (s0) and compressive strength (fc). It should be noted that the specimen FRHSC, the post-cracking
stiffness was reduced and the specimens have not shown a signif-
icant post-cracking response. On the contrary, in specimens FROC
su ¼ s0 þ 0:08 V f ðL=dÞ ðMPaÞ ð4Þ and FRSCC, fibres have improved the descending part of post-
cracking, showing the effect of the yield stress which leads to good
The corresponding R2 of this proposed relation is 0.90. This rela-
distribution and fibre orientation. It is observed that ductility in-
tionship is chosen so as to generalize the expression suggested by
dexes are higher for concretes with high workability (FRSCC and
Mirsayah and Banthia [38], taking into account the aspect ratio of
FROC) than for concrete with poor workability.
the fibre. In his work, Mirsayah has reported a similar relationship
To compare the energy absorbed by fibred concretes, their duc-
for the ultimate shear strength as a function of its fibre volume and
tility indexes have been calculated according to ASTM C1018 [39].
for an aspect ratio of fibre 50 as follows:
As the JSCE has not recommended a procedure to calculate the
su ¼ s0 þ 4:23 V f ðMPaÞ ð5Þ toughness indices in shear, the procedure recommended for the
determination of flexural toughness indices by the ASTM was
Using relation (3), the ultimate shear strength (su) of FRC may be adopted. The ductility indexes I5, I10, I20 and I30 represent the en-
predicted by: ergy absorbed for different values of deflection, calculated as the
su ¼ 0:72 fc0:8 þ 0:08 V f ðL=dÞ ðMPaÞ ð6Þ ratio of the area generated by the load–deflection curve corre-
sponding to 3, 5.5, 10.5, and 15.5 times the deflection correspond-
ing to the first crack. The witness specimens did not contain fibres
3.4. Failure pattern in concrete and hence failed immediately after first cracking. Consequently,
the ductility index for these concretes is equal to 1. The shear duc-
Fig. 8 shows the failed specimens of plain and fibre reinforced tility indexes are shown in Table 5.
concrete. It demonstrates that the failure of the specimens was Ductility indexes I5 and I10 do not accurately describe the
in direct shear along the shear plane coinciding with the preformed behaviour in shear in the post-peak branch; they are often in the
notches. Fibre pull-out from the concrete matrix delayed the fail- instable zone. It is better to consider higher ductility indexes cor-
ure, which resulted in gradual post-peak response. responding to higher deflections, such as I20 and I30, for a complete
The shear failure of plain concrete specimens has been observed description of the structural behaviour in shear. In general, the
to be sudden and catastrophic without sufficient warning. How- addition of fibres resulted in an improvement of ductility for all
ever, with the addition of fibres, concrete could maintain its integ- cases. The specimens with higher fibre volume and the larger
rity and the failures were relatively ductile after cracking. aspect ratio also contributed to the ductility increase.
For ordinary concrete specimens in which the stiffness and It should be noted that ductility indexes were lower for high
strength of aggregates are much greater than those of cement strength concrete than ordinary and self compacting concretes.
paste, shear transfer through the sheared fracture is dominate by For example, addition of 0.5% fibre with aspect ratio of 80 to fibre
the cement-aggregate interlock, which is characterized by destruc- reinforced self-compacting (FRSCC) produced a relative ductility
tion of the contact area between the cement paste and aggregates which was greater then 22 times as much than that for the
B. Boulekbache et al. / Construction and Building Materials 27 (2012) 6–14 13

(a) OC (b) HSC

(c) FROC (fibres pulled out and well-oriented) (d) FRHSC (fibres ruptured and badly-oriented)
Fig. 8. Typical fracture patterns of specimen in direct shear.

Table 5
Ductility indexes of fibre reinforced concretes tested.

Specimens designation FROC FRSCC FRHSC


I5 I10 I20 I30 I5 I10 I20 I30 I5 I10 I20 I30
35–0.5 5.2 9.9 16.6 19.0 4.6 7.5 12.6 23.6 4.2 6.4 10.4 12.3
35–1 6.0 11.4 17.9 24.0 5.7 11.4 19.5 28.0 5.6 9.3 14.5 17.0
60–0.5 4.9 8.5 15.7 21.0 5.2 9.4 17.2 25.4 4.8 7.7 11.5 12.9
60–1 5.0 9.2 16.3 25.0 6.1 13.4 22.3 30.8 5.1 9.5 13.6 18.0

40 fibres would be an important parameter to optimize the ductility


0.5% 1% of the FRC. As illustrated in Fig. 9, the ductility increases with the
30 amount of fibres aligned perpendicularly to the shear plane.
Ductility index (I 30 )

4. Conclusions
20
FRSCC
FROC The main scope of the paper was to examine the influence of the
10 paste yield stress and compressive strength on behaviour of fibre-
FRHSC reinforced concrete (FRC) against direct shear. From the experi-
0
mental results reported in this study, the following conclusions
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 can be drawn:
Orientation factor (α)
1. In the study cases, adding of a volume fraction of steel fibres
Fig. 9. Ductility indexes versus orientation factor in direct shear. ranging from 0.5% to 1% increases slightly the yield stress of
concrete, confirming the prediction model presented in [16].
However, the yield stress of the mixture affects distribution
and orientation of fibres. With a low yield stress, the fibres
corresponding plain concrete specimen, whereas the ratio for 1% are well oriented to resist the direct shear strength. For FRHSC
fibre with similar aspect ratio was 30. This result is however less concrete with a high yield stress, the orientation factor is, in
significant for FRHSC. Therefore, to achieve similar ductility for the contrary, very low. The conditions of flow confinement were
high strength concrete, a higher volume fibre should be used. also a parameter affecting the orientation of fibres.
For the behaviour in shear, the ductile behaviour is the main 2. To improve the shear strength, the first way consists on the
characteristic of fibre-reinforced concrete that can make the use increase of the compressive strength of the concrete. Indeed,
of this concrete material valuable and structurally interesting. when the compressive strength varies from 30 to 80 MPa, an
For this purpose, Fig. 9 shows the orientation number versus duc- increase of 120% of the shear strength is observed. The second
tility indexes I20 and I30 relation, indicating a linear relationship, way is obtained with the addition of fibres. A shear strength’
with an R2 value of approximately 0.92. The orientation factor of increases of 44% for the volume fraction of 0.5% and 65% for
14 B. Boulekbache et al. / Construction and Building Materials 27 (2012) 6–14

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