Seminar

on
Properties of Fiber Reinforced Concrete:
Comparative Studies of Steel Fibers &
Polypropylene Fibers
By Pawan Kumar Tiwari

(7259368)

Under the Guidance

of
Prof. Dr. Arabinda Sharma

CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

BRCM COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLGY
BAHAL-127028, BHIWANI, HARYANA
 INTRODUCTION
 GENERAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE:
 Fresh concrete has a property of plasticity, which
means before casting it behaves like plastic but as
time goes, it gets hard like rock. These hardening
properties happens due to chemical reactions
between cement and water, it gets stronger with
long time period.

 Steel always behaves as tension member and

concrete shows brittle behavior. So, it can be used
as compressive member.

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 INTRODUCTION
 FIBER REINFORCED CONCRETE:
 For FRC, steel, glass, synthetic and natural fibers
can be used. Here, only Polypropylene and Steel
fibers is considered. Since, they are most common
used types of fibers.

 The physical improvement of strengths depends

upon the type, size, configuration and amount of
fibers.

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 INTRODUCTION
 WHY STEEL FIBERS???
o Because Steel fibers can:
» Improve structural strength
» Reduce Steel reinforcement requirements
» Improve ductility
» Reduce crack widths and control the crack
width tightly
» And many more….

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 INTRODUCTION
 WHY POLYPROPYLENE FIBERS???
o Because polypropylene fibers can:
» Improve mix quality over long time
» Improve resistance to explosive spalling in case
of fire
» Improve impact resistance
» Improve resistance to plastic shrinkage during
curing
» Reduce steel reinforcement requirements
» Improve ductility
» Improve freezing point where exposed concrete
contain many cracks

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 OBJECTIVE OF STUDY
 Conventional concrete strengths at normal temperature &
pressure.
 Comparison of conventional concrete strengths with steel fiber
reinforced concrete.
 Comparison of conventional concrete strengths with
polypropylene fiber reinforced concrete.
 Comparison of strengths of both steel and polypropylene fiber
reinforced concrete with each other.
 Statistical techniques which are useful to compare for analytical
interpretation of strengths for all.

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 LITERATURE REVIEW
 REVIEW ON FIBER CONCRETE:
– Asbestos was first material used in beginning of
20th century.
– Synthetic monofilament fibers were used in blast
resistant structures for the U.S. Army corps of
Engineer Research Development Section in 1965.
– Portland Cement Association investigated fiber
reinforcement in 1950.
– Since 1960s, steel fibers were introduced in road
and floor slabs, refractory materials and concrete
products.

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 LITERATURE REVIEW
 REVIEW ON STEEL FIBER CONCRETE:
YEAR AUTHORS OBJECTIVE RESULTS
2009 S.O. Santos, R.Toledo Effect of tempreture on FRC Polypropylene fibers in concrete
compositions prevented spalling.
2010 Rashid Hameed Three-point bending for mono- & Improved behavior in terms of
hybrid fiber reinforced concretes small crack openings at peak
resistance. Strength also
depends on fiber geometry
and their tensile strength.

2013 J. Turmo, N. Banitha Increase in material toughness In SFRC, maximum load can be
with mixes of fibers increased by approx. 20% w.r.t.
Plain concrete
2013 Jaroslav Beno & Use of Steel fiber in tunnel linings SFRC segments were able to
Matous Hilar place simply, longer durability
2014 Khaled Abdelrahman Cost and ductility effectiveness of 1. Cost effective on SFRP sheets
concrete columns with CFRP & 2. Also depends on Size, Shape
SFRP Sheets and Slenderness.
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 LITERATURE REVIEW
 REVIEW ON POLYPROPYLENE FIBER CONCRETE:
YEAR AUTHORS OBJECTIVE RESULTS
2013 K.Srinivasa Rao, Temperature effects on Flexural strength of Standard
S.Rakesh Kumar High performed fiber concrete & FRC will be equal in
reinforced concrete range of 500-800 Degree Celsius.
2013 V.M. Southararajan Unconditional failure of Failure restricted by providing
plain concrete Polypropylene fibers and gradual
release of fracture energy was
anticipated.
2014 Amit Rai & Dr. Y.P. Comparison of Flexural FRC continue to sustain
Joshi strengths of conventional considerable loads at deflections too
and FR concrete
2016 Saadun et al Impact of parameters with FRC can be applied on structures
mixing of polypropylene like slabs, beams and wall
fibers bearing load and also increase
the ultimate dynamic
compressive strength.

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 MATERIAL USED
 Cement:
 Ordinary port land cement (OPC) is the basic Portland cement and is best suited
for use in general concrete construction.
 OPC 53 Grade were used in FRC Mix.
 Sand:
 Passed from 4.75mm sieve
 Taken out from Zone-II, Mahanadi River, Situated near Raipur, Chattishgarh
 Aggregates:
 60% of 10mm and 40% of 20mm size aggregates were used.
 Water:
 Water used in all mixes, was local tap drinking water provided by Greater Noida
Authority.

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 MATERIAL USED
 Fibers:
 Steel Fibers and Polypropylene fibers were used with 50 and 60 Aspect Ratio.
 Aspect Ratio is the fiber length divided by the equivalent fiber diameter for an
individual fiber.
 Admixture:
 CICO Tapecrete P 151, provided by India’s largest leading company CICO
Technologies Limited.
 Enhances qualities of concrete making them excellent choices.
 Reinforcement:
 In order to investigate the influence of various fibers and their volume fractions in
concrete matrix, two types of fiber “steel fiber” and “polypropylene fiber”, were
used.
 According to the purpose of present research, the optimum mix design achieved
by M40 which was taken as reference for concrete mixes.

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 METHODOLOGY
 Mix Design Consideration:
– Since the purpose of the study was to investigate the
performance characteristic of FRC, 20 different
combinations were considered with 5 each samples of
0%, 1%, 2% and 3% fibers.

– In each combination, the proportions of cement content,

fine and coarse aggregate, water, admixture were kept
constant, while the corresponding fiber proportion by
volume of concrete mix were different as 1%, 2% and 3%.

– Curing of samples done for 28 days.

– Different Tests conducted after 28 days.

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 METHODOLOGY-TESTS
Compressive Strength Test:
• Cubes of size 150 x 150 x 150mm
taken after 28 days.
• Performed with reference of IS-516:
1959.
• Applied the load gradually without
shock and continuously at the rate of
140kg/cm2/minute till the specimen
fails on Compressive Testing
Machine.
• 5 cubes for conventional concrete,
15 for SFRC and 15 for PPFRC with
1%, 2% and 3% were tested.

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 METHODOLOGY-TESTS
Flexural Strength Test:
• Performed with reference of IS-516:
1959.

• 5 beams of size 100 x 100 x 500mm

for conventional concrete, 15 for
SFRC and 15 for PPFRC with 1%,
2% and 3% were casted and tested
after 28 days.

• The load was applied without shock

and increasing continuously at a rate
of 180Kg/minute until the specimen
failed.

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 METHODOLOGY-TESTS
Split Tensile Strength Test:
• Performed with reference of IS-516:
1959.

• 5 cylinders of 150mm diameter and

300mm length for conventional
concrete, 15 for SFRC and 15 for
PPFRC with 1%, 2% and 3% were
casted and tested after 28 days.

• Applied the load continuously

without shock at a rate of
approximately 14-21kg/cm2/minute.

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 RESULTS
 After addition of steel fibers,
compressive strength values
increases as compared to
polypropylene fibers.
 After addition of fibers with 1%,
2% and 3% small changes are
coming in steel fiber whereas in
case of polypropylene fiber,
maximum changes are coming
after 1% to 2%. In case of 2%
and 3% polypropylene addition, a
small change is there.
 If we compare between steel fiber
and polypropylene fiber at 1%,
27% of total strength increased
on addition of steel fiber.

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 RESULTS
 For steel fibers, changes are
very slow as compared to
polypropylene fibers.
 On addition of 1% steel fiber,
strength increased with 28%
whereas in case of
polypropylene fiber, strength
increased 15% for same
percentage.
 If we compare the changes in
1% to 2%, the strength gained
approximately 6% for steel
fibers and for polypropylene
fiber, it is 11%.

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 RESULTS
 At 1% mixing of fibers,
strength of steel fiber concrete
was 15% whereas strength of
polypropylene fibers was 80%.
 In case of 2% mixing of fibers,
21% gained for steel fibers,
and 81% gained for
polypropylene fibers.
 Similarly for 3% addition of
fibers, steel fiber strength
increased 32% whereas 83%
strength increased for
polypropylene fibers with
respect to conventional
concrete.

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 RESULTS
 After 3% addition of
polypropylene fibers, the
increased strength is 83.5%
with respect to nominal
concrete.
 Gained strength between 2%
to 3% in polypropylene fibers
is 4% whereas for steel fibers
these changes are 16% for
same.
 A comparison of steel and
polypropylene fibers at 1% is
78.5%, at 2% is 77% and at
3% is 73%.

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 RESULTS
 The strength of steel fibers at
1% with conventional concrete
i.e. fiber free is decreased with
9% whereas for polypropylene
fibers, strength increased with
14%.

 Split tensile strength

comparison between 1% and
2% of steel fibers is showing
25% change whereas in
polypropylene fibers 21%.

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 RESULTS
 At 1% of steel fiber addition,
6% strength decreased
whereas at 2% addition of
same, strength increased 25%
with respect to conventional
concrete.
 In polypropylene fiber mixing
with conventional concrete,
strength increased at 1% is
35% and at 2% is 40%.
 At 3% for both, polypropylene
fibers are showing 13% more
capable to check the strength
as compared to steel.

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 T-TEST RESULTS
S.No. Description P- Value Remarks
1 Compressive strength of steel fiber with AR-50 & AR-60 0.0011 Significant

2 Compressive strength of Polypropylene fiber with AR-50 & AR-60 0.0209 Significant

3 Flexural strength of steel fiber with AR-50 & AR-60 0.0738 Significant

4 Flexural strength of Polypropylene fiber with AR-50 & AR-60 0.0611 Significant

5 Split Tensile strength of steel fiber with AR-50 & AR-60 0.3454 Significant

6 Split Tensile strength of Polypropylene fiber with AR-50 & AR-60 0.0009 Significant

7 Compressive strength of steel and polypropylene fiber with AR-50 1.238 x 10-6 Significant

8 Compressive strength of steel and polypropylene fiber with AR-60 8.641 x 10-5 Significant

9 Flexural strength of steel and polypropylene fiber with AR-50 2.407 x 10-21 Significant

10 Flexural strength of steel and polypropylene fiber with AR-60 4.56 x 10-13 Significant

11 Split Tensile strength of steel and polypropylene fiber with AR-50 0.00047 Significant

12 Split Tensile strength of steel and polypropylene fiber with AR-60 9.68 x 10-5 Significant

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 CONCLUSIONS
 With the use of superplasticizer, it is possible to get a mix with low water to
cement ratio to get the desired strength.
 In case of ordinary portland cement with the use of steel fiber, the 28 days
compressive strength at 3% fiber content the result obtained is maximum.
 When polypropylene fiber mixed with nominal concrete, it shows compressive
strength is less than steel i.e. 11%.
 After mixing of fibers (i.e. steel & polypropylene) with by 1%,2% and 3%, the
compressive strengths increases gradually. Which means slightly changes
comes by increasing the percentage fibers for both aspect ratios.
 As shown in graphs for aspect ratios i.e. 50 and 60, compressive strength
changes maximum limit in aspect ratio 60. This shows if the length of fibers is
more, then compressive strengths will be more.
 When there is no mixing of fibers, no changes will come in any strength.
 Maximum flexural strength is coming in polypropylene, it means for casting of
beams is helpful by using the polypropylene fibers.

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 CONCLUSIONS
 The orientations of fibers also giving a good result for polypropylene fibers.
Because as compared to steel, it is more flexible and able to resist the
uniformly distributed loads.
 The flexural strength for aspect ratio 60 and polypropylene fibers is showing a
long gap between steel and polypropylene fibers.
 If we compare the split tensile strength, for the aspect ratio 50, it is 10%
variation between steel and polypropylene. Whereas for aspect ratio 50, it is
approximately 20% variation in same.
 Polypropylene fibers will be more effective in tensile zone because they have
property of plasticity.
 The null hypothesis in T-Test for compressive strength with aspect ratios 50
and 60 for steel and polypropylene fibers shows that values 0.0011 and 0.020
which is showing the results obtained by tests is correct.

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 CONCLUSIONS
 The value 0.0009 for split tensile strength is there in T-Test, it is more
effective to show that samples taken for these test are accurate.

 The statistical technique i.e. T-Test for steel and polypropylene fiber of aspect
ratio 50 and 60 in case of compressive strength are 1.23x10-6 and 8.64x10-5.
The result came from these are showing that assumed hypothesis is null
hypothesis and the result is best i.e. 95% true.

 The approximated characteristic strength values for sample in split tensile

strength for steel and polypropylene and aspect ratio 50 and 60 is 0.000479
and 9.68x10-5. It gives the result assurance is more than 95%.

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 SCOPE OF FUTURE WORK
Following aspects are considered for future study and investigation:
 Percentage and actual fineness of sand require as partial cement
replacement for good strength development.

 Research on steel fiber and polypropylene fiber greater aspect

ratios as a partial cement replacing material, by which we can
minimize the cost and at the same time achieve the durability and
strength for the production of high performance concrete.

 It requires a proper mixing proportions for the development of high

strength, high performance concrete which may not be possible
manually. So it needs some global optimization techniques to
develop the desire result with greater accuracy and time saving.

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 PUBLICATIONS

 Research Paper published in National Conference, Recent

Advancements in Civil & Environmental Engineering i.e. RACEE (28-29
Nov. 2015) organised by BRCM College & Technology, Bahal, Bhiwani.

 Research Paper published in International Journal of Engineering

Research & Technology i.e. IJERT, Volume 5, Issue 06, June 2016.

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