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In prestressed precast segmental concrete bridges, conventional longitudinal reinforcement serves only as shrinkage crack controllers. The presence of this reinforcement, however, has restricted the ability to reduce the cross-section of the segments when high strength concrete is used because of the minimum dimensions required to accomodate the reinforcement. Research on fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) indicated that the addition of steel fibres to concrete significantly improved the tensile behaviour and the crack control characteristics of the concrete. This research investigates the feasibility of fibres to replace the conventional shrinkage reinforcement, allowing for the design of thinner and lighter structures with comparable or better crack control characteristics. Extensive work was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of hooked-end steel fibres to control cracks. Seven types of material tests were performed: uniaxial tension test, cylinder compression test, modulus of rupture test, splitting test, free and autogenous shrinkage test, and restrained shrinkage test. In addition, ten 890×890×70 mm concrete panels were tested under in-plane pure-shear loading using the Panel Element Tester. The parameters of study were the fibre volume content (0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5%), the concrete compressive strength (50 and 80 MPa), and the fibre geometry and tensile strength. In addition to the experimental study, a model was developed to investigate the behaviour of a 1D restrained FRC member subjected to shrinkage. The experimental results indicated that the addition of fibres significantly improved the behaviour of the concrete, particularly the crack control characteristics, the post-peak compressive response, the post-cracking tensile response, the toughness, and the ductility of the concrete. The results also indicated that steel fibres were as effective as conventional reinforcement in controlling shrinkage cracking, provided that sufficient fibre volume content was added to the concrete. For example, in order to achieve a maximum crack width of 0.35 mm, a minimum fibre content of 0.9% and 1.1% should be provided for 50 MPa FRC containing high aspect ratio fibres and low aspect ratio fibres, respectively. In addition, the results indicated the importance of fibre content and fibre aspect ratio on the effectiveness of fibre reinforcement.

In prestressed precast segmental concrete bridges, conventional longitudinal reinforcement serves only as shrinkage crack controllers. The presence of this reinforcement, however, has restricted the ability to reduce the cross-section of the segments when high strength concrete is used because of the minimum dimensions required to accomodate the reinforcement. Research on fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) indicated that the addition of steel fibres to concrete significantly improved the tensile behaviour and the crack control characteristics of the concrete. This research investigates the feasibility of fibres to replace the conventional shrinkage reinforcement, allowing for the design of thinner and lighter structures with comparable or better crack control characteristics. Extensive work was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of hooked-end steel fibres to control cracks. Seven types of material tests were performed: uniaxial tension test, cylinder compression test, modulus of rupture test, splitting test, free and autogenous shrinkage test, and restrained shrinkage test. In addition, ten 890×890×70 mm concrete panels were tested under in-plane pure-shear loading using the Panel Element Tester. The parameters of study were the fibre volume content (0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5%), the concrete compressive strength (50 and 80 MPa), and the fibre geometry and tensile strength. In addition to the experimental study, a model was developed to investigate the behaviour of a 1D restrained FRC member subjected to shrinkage. The experimental results indicated that the addition of fibres significantly improved the behaviour of the concrete, particularly the crack control characteristics, the post-peak compressive response, the post-cracking tensile response, the toughness, and the ductility of the concrete. The results also indicated that steel fibres were as effective as conventional reinforcement in controlling shrinkage cracking, provided that sufficient fibre volume content was added to the concrete. For example, in order to achieve a maximum crack width of 0.35 mm, a minimum fibre content of 0.9% and 1.1% should be provided for 50 MPa FRC containing high aspect ratio fibres and low aspect ratio fibres, respectively. In addition, the results indicated the importance of fibre content and fibre aspect ratio on the effectiveness of fibre reinforcement.

Recent attacks and accidental explosions have demonstrated the necessity of ensuring the blast resistance of critical buildings and infrastructure in Canada such as federal and provincial offices, military buildings and embassies. Of particular importance is the blast resistance of ground-story columns in buildings which must be properly detailed to provide the necessary strength and ductility to prevent progressive collapse. There exists a need to explore the use of innovative materials that can simultaneously improve the performance of such columns, while also allowing for a relaxation of required detailing to ease construction. Advancements in concrete material science have led to the development of ultra-high performance fiber reinforced concretes (UHPFRC) which show superior mechanical properties when compared to conventional concrete, such as increased compressive strength, tensile resistance and toughness. These enhanced properties make UHPFRC an attractive material for use in the blast design of reinforced concrete columns. This thesis presents the results of a research program examining the performance of UHPFRC columns under simulated blast loads. As part of the experimental program twelve half-scale UHPFRC specimens, six built with regular grade steel reinforcement and six built with steel high-strength steel reinforcement, are tested under blast loading using the University of Ottawa shock tube. The specimens were designed according to CSA A23.3 standard requirements for both seismic and non-seismic regions, using various fibre types, fibre amounts and longitudinal reinforcement ratios, allowing for an investigation of various design parameters on blast behaviour. The results demonstrate that the use of UHPFRC improves the blast performance of columns by reducing displacements, increasing resistance and enhancing damage tolerance. The results also indicate that fiber content, fiber properties, seismic detailing, longitudinal reinforcement ratio and longitudinal reinforcement strength are factors which can affect the behaviour and failure mode of UHPFRC columns. As part of the analytical study the response of the UHPFRC columns is predicted using dynamic inelastic analysis. The dynamic responses of the columns are predicted by generating dynamic load-deformation resistance functions for UHPFRC and conducting single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) analysis using software RC-Blast.

Concrete is a strong material as to its compressive strength. However, it is a material with a low tensile and shear strength, and brittleness at failure. Concrete has to be reinforced with appropriate materials. Steel fibre is one of the most common materials currently being used to develop reinforced concrete, which may replace partially or completely conventional steel reinforcement. Successful reinforcement of concrete composite is closely related to the bond characteristics between the reinforcing fibre and matrix. The effective utilisation of steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) requires in-depth and detailed understanding of bonding mechanisms governing the tensile behaviour. In response to this demand, this study embraced two main areas: understanding the reinforcing mechanisms of fibres in SFRC and material's post-cracking behaviour. Comprehensive experimental and theoretical programmes have therefore been developed: the experimental work is subdivided into three parts. The first part was to investigate the effect of various physical parameters, such as fibre characteristics (i.e. geometry, inclination angle, embedded length, diameter and tensile strength) and matrix strength which controls the pull-out behaviour of steel fibres. The second part is concerned with the assessment of the bond mechanisms of straight and hooked end fibres after exposure to elevated temperatures and varying matrix strength. The third part is devoted to gain further insight on the bond mechanisms governing the post-cracking behaviour through uniaxial and bending tests. It was found that the varying hook geometry and matrix strength each had a major influence on the pull-out response of hooked end fibres. As the number of the hook's bends increased, the mechanical anchorage provided by fibre resulted in significant improvement of mechanical properties of SFRC. The reduction in bond strength at elevated temperatures is found to be strongly related to the degradation in properties of the constituent materials, i.e. the fibre and concrete. The most effective combination of matrix strength and fibre geometry was found to be as follows: 3DH (single bend) fibre with normal-medium strength matrix, 4DH (double bend) fibre with high strength matrix and 5DH (triple bend) fibre with ultra-high performance matrix. Two analytical models to predict the pull-out behaviour of hooked end fibres were developed. Both models were able to predict the pull-out response of SFRC made from a variety of fibre and matrix characteristics at ambient temperature. This work has established a comprehensive database to illustrate the bonding mechanisms of SFRC and anchorage strengthening of various hooked end fibres, and this should contribute towards an increasing interest and growing number of structural applications of SFRC in construction.

High performance cementitious composites have been increasingly used for a range of structural applications in many countries. More recently, a notable interest has been focused on structural performance under seismic loading. However, a critical lack of coherent information and experimental/numerical data available in the literature has to be recognized along with the absence of specific and well-accepted code-guidelines for use of FRC in seismic applications. More specifically, when dealing with seismic resistant frame systems, few researchers have investigated in the past the seismic response of beam-column joints reinforced with steel fibres. These preliminary experimental tests have shown that adding steel fibres in joints is an effective method for improving joint behaviour and energy absorption capacity as well as enhancing the damage tolerance of joints and reducing the number of stirrups in seismic joints. However, due to the limited number of experimental tests as well as of the wide dispersion in the type and mechanical properties of the fibres adopted in these independent researches, the actual contributions of concrete, steel fibres and stirrups to the overall joint shear capacity has not yet been clearly identified and understood. This research aims to investigate the seismic behaviour and failure modes of beam-column joint subassemblies reinforced with steel fibres with the intent to provide preliminary suggestions for a simple but rational analytical procedure to evaluate the joint shear strength when either fibres and/or stirrups are adopted. As part of a more comprehensive on-going research campaign on the seismic behaviour of FRC members and systems, six 2-D exterior beam-column joint subassemblies were tested under simulated seismic loading (quasi-static cyclic loading regime) at the Civil Engineering Laboratory of the University of Canterbury. In order to assess the contribution of steel fibres to the joint (panel zone) shear strength, both under-designed systems (with no transverse reinforcement in the joint, following older practice before the pre-1970s) and well designed systems (following the NZ concrete design standard NZS 3101:1995) were adopted as benchmark specimens. The performance of steel fibre reinforced beam-column joints were compared with that of conventional joints. Results showed that using steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) within beam-column joints can significantly enhance the shear resistance capacity of joints. However, using steel fibre reinforcement alone can not prevent buckling of the reinforcing bars when joints are under high intensity seismic loading. Furthermore, the test results also showed that using steel fibre reinforcement is an effective method to reduce the lateral reinforcement in the beam plastic hinge region. As part of the analytical investigation, a simplified procedure to evaluate the joint shear contribution provided by different amounts of fibres with or without the presence of stirrups has been also introduced. Influence of the axial load on the joint nominal shear capacity has been accounted for by adopting principle stresses. Tentative strength degradation curves (principle tensile stress vs. shear deformation) have also been calibrated on the experimental data which confirmed that a tentative relationship between the joint shear contributions provided by concrete, stirrups and steel fibres was a viable tool for designing SFRC joint. Furthermore, joint shear resistance coefficient contributed by steel fibres has been compared with previous experimental test available in literature to obtain an appropriate value for SFRC joint design guidelines. M_N performance based domain visualization has also been used to evaluate the hierarchy of strength and sequence of events of beam-column joint subassemblies.

This research was undertaken for studying the bond behaviour of Lightweight Fibre-reinforced Concrete (LWFC). Lightweight concrete is inherently weak in tension and has higher brittleness than the conventional concrete. To improve these and other properties, it is generally reinforced with deformed bars and fibres. There are number of studies that favour the use of Steel fibres, however such studies are mainly focused either on normal weight concrete or on the mechanical properties of different concretes. There are also different committee reports and in some cases specific sections of codes that specifically deal with the normal weight fibre-reinforced concrete. However, such is not the case with lightweight fibre-reinforced concrete; there is limited literature available especially on the Bond of lightweight fibre-reinforced concrete. In current research work effect of fibres is studied on the bond behaviour of the lightweight reinforced concrete. Since most of code provisions for bond are based on experimental work originally carried out on conventional concrete, effect of fibres on bond of conventional concrete was therefore also included in present research domain. Main bond tests were carried out using Pull-out test methodology. Test results indicate that the ultimate bond strength of conventional concrete when reinforced with steel fibres increased by 29%. However due to very low density and high porosity of lightweight aggregates, no significant improvement on bond strength of LWFC, as a result of fibres’ addition could be observed. Nevertheless, there is noteworthy improvement in the post-cracking bond strength of LWFC. Besides this, current bond-stress slip law as defined by Model Code 2010 does not reflect the positive effect of fibres, hence some modifications are suggested. It is also found that among the existing code expressions for estimation of bond strength, expression proposed by Model Code 2010 presents better results and its effectiveness can be further increased if fibre factor and factor for lightweight concrete are considered.

O Concreto de Alto Desempenho (CAD) tem sido extensivamente estudado em muitos centros de pesquisas porque seu uso tem aumentado de maneira significativa na construção civil. Mas a fragilidade deste material, quando a resistência à compressão é alta, tem levado os pesquisadores a estudar maneiras de diminuir esta característica, como por exemplo aumentando as taxas de armaduras transversal e/ou longitudinal dos elementos estruturais em concreto armado. Este trabalho trata do uso de fibras adicionadas ao concreto para uso em pilares submetidos à compressão, visando dar subsídios técnicos em outra maneira de se obter ductilidade em elementos de concreto de alta resistência, utilizando taxas usuais de armadura transversal. Apresenta-se um estudo experimental sobre pilares em concreto de alto desempenho com adição de fibras metálicas, com seção transversal de 200 mm x 200 mm e altura de 1200 mm, submetidos à compressão centrada, onde o concreto apresenta uma resistência média à compressão de 80 MPa. As taxas volumétricas de fibras foram de 0,25%; 0,50%, 0,75% e 1,00%, adotaram-se taxas volumétricas de estribos de 0,55%, 0,82% e 1,63% e a taxa geométrica de armadura longitudinal de 2,41% permaneceu a mesma para todos os pilares. Percebeu-se que a ruptura dos pilares foi mais dúctil quanto maior era a quantidade de fibras adicionadas ao concreto. Na análise teórica feita com os modelos, constatou-se que somente a seção transversal do núcleo, ou seja, aquela delimitada pelos eixos dos estribos, contribui para a resistência dos pilares, para pequenas taxas de fibras adicionadas ao concreto. / High Performance Concrete (HPC) has been studied extensively at many centres of research, because of its increasing use in reinforced concrete buildings. Since HPC is a brittle material, mainly when its strength is high (HSC), studies have been done to increase its ductility. Increases in longitudinal and/or transverse steel ratios can improve the ductility of HPC elements. This work shows a research about concrete with steel fibres for columns under compression load, in another way to obtain ductility in high strength concrete elements with usual stirrups ratio. It was made a experimental studied about columns in HSC with steel fibres addition, with 20 cm x 20 cm of cross section and 120 cm high, under compression load. The concrete strength was about 80 MPa, the volumetric fibres ratio were 0,25%, 0,50%, 0,75% and 1,00%, the stirrups ratio were 0,55%, 0,82% and 1,63% and the longitudinal bars ratio was constant for all columns. It was noted that the columns failure was more ductile when the fibres ratio was higher. It was verified on theoretical analyses made with the models that only the cross-sectional core, it means the section delimited by the stirrups, effectively contributed to the load capacity of the columns.

O Concreto de Alto Desempenho (CAD) tem sido extensivamente estudado em muitos centros de pesquisas porque seu uso tem aumentado de maneira significativa na construção civil. Mas a fragilidade deste material, quando a resistência à compressão é alta, tem levado os pesquisadores a estudar maneiras de diminuir esta característica, como por exemplo aumentando as taxas de armaduras transversal e/ou longitudinal dos elementos estruturais em concreto armado. Este trabalho trata do uso de fibras adicionadas ao concreto para uso em pilares submetidos à compressão, visando dar subsídios técnicos em outra maneira de se obter ductilidade em elementos de concreto de alta resistência, utilizando taxas usuais de armadura transversal. Apresenta-se um estudo experimental sobre pilares em concreto de alto desempenho com adição de fibras metálicas, com seção transversal de 200 mm x 200 mm e altura de 1200 mm, submetidos à compressão centrada, onde o concreto apresenta uma resistência média à compressão de 80 MPa. As taxas volumétricas de fibras foram de 0,25%; 0,50%, 0,75% e 1,00%, adotaram-se taxas volumétricas de estribos de 0,55%, 0,82% e 1,63% e a taxa geométrica de armadura longitudinal de 2,41% permaneceu a mesma para todos os pilares. Percebeu-se que a ruptura dos pilares foi mais dúctil quanto maior era a quantidade de fibras adicionadas ao concreto. Na análise teórica feita com os modelos, constatou-se que somente a seção transversal do núcleo, ou seja, aquela delimitada pelos eixos dos estribos, contribui para a resistência dos pilares, para pequenas taxas de fibras adicionadas ao concreto. / High Performance Concrete (HPC) has been studied extensively at many centres of research, because of its increasing use in reinforced concrete buildings. Since HPC is a brittle material, mainly when its strength is high (HSC), studies have been done to increase its ductility. Increases in longitudinal and/or transverse steel ratios can improve the ductility of HPC elements. This work shows a research about concrete with steel fibres for columns under compression load, in another way to obtain ductility in high strength concrete elements with usual stirrups ratio. It was made a experimental studied about columns in HSC with steel fibres addition, with 20 cm x 20 cm of cross section and 120 cm high, under compression load. The concrete strength was about 80 MPa, the volumetric fibres ratio were 0,25%, 0,50%, 0,75% and 1,00%, the stirrups ratio were 0,55%, 0,82% and 1,63% and the longitudinal bars ratio was constant for all columns. It was noted that the columns failure was more ductile when the fibres ratio was higher. It was verified on theoretical analyses made with the models that only the cross-sectional core, it means the section delimited by the stirrups, effectively contributed to the load capacity of the columns.

This research was undertaken for studying the bond behaviour of Lightweight Fibre-reinforced Concrete (LWFC). Lightweight concrete is inherently weak in tension and has higher brittleness than the conventional concrete. To improve these and other properties, it is generally reinforced with deformed bars and fibres. There are number of studies that favour the use of Steel fibres, however such studies are mainly focused either on normal weight concrete or on the mechanical properties of different concretes. There are also different committee reports and in some cases specific sections of codes that specifically deal with the normal weight fibre-reinforced concrete. However, such is not the case with lightweight fibre-reinforced concrete; there is limited literature available especially on the Bond of lightweight fibre-reinforced concrete. In current research work effect of fibres is studied on the bond behaviour of the lightweight reinforced concrete. Since most of code provisions for bond are based on experimental work originally carried out on conventional concrete, effect of fibres on bond of conventional concrete was therefore also included in present research domain. Main bond tests were carried out using Pull-out test methodology. Test results indicate that the ultimate bond strength of conventional concrete when reinforced with steel fibres increased by 29%. However due to very low density and high porosity of lightweight aggregates, no significant improvement on bond strength of LWFC, as a result of fibres’ addition could be observed. Nevertheless, there is noteworthy improvement in the post-cracking bond strength of LWFC. Besides this, current bond-stress slip law as defined by Model Code 2010 does not reflect the positive effect of fibres, hence some modifications are suggested. It is also found that among the existing code expressions for estimation of bond strength, expression proposed by Model Code 2010 presents better results and its effectiveness can be further increased if fibre factor and factor for lightweight concrete are considered.