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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:764864 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Abdallah, Sadoon Mushrif |
| Contributors | Fan, Mizi ; Zhou, X. |
| Publisher | Brunel University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/15827 |
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