Study on characteristics of self compacting concrete with hybrid fibers

Abstract

Concrete has become inevitable material in everyday life and the per capita consumption has raised to a greater extent. With its diverse applications, different forms of special concrete-like self-compaction concrete, self-consolidating concrete are evolving to meet out the demands of the industry. Self-compaction concrete has the ability to flow and fill up the formwork without any vibration and also resistance against segregation. The high workable mix of SCC increases the speed of construction and reduces the manpower requirement. The production and characteristics of SCC depend mainly on mix proportioning and workability of the concrete mix. The rheological characteristics and strength parameters should meet the prescribed limits to achieve SCC. The high workability of SCC was achieved through reduction of water content/coarse aggregate, use of superplasticizer/ viscous modifying agent, and increase in powder content in the form of fly ash, silica fume, GGBS and rice husk ash. The SCC mix was evaluated based on an experimental procedure such as slump test, L-box test, U-box test, V-funnel test, and J-ring test. Construction technology has taken a new shape after the introduction of fibres in concrete. The inclusion of fibres in concrete leads to an increase in strength, durability, impact resistance, and ductility and also controls the bleeding and cracking of fresh and hardened concrete respectively. SCC concrete was reinforced with different types of man-made fibres viz., steel, basalt, and natural fibres viz., banana as single reinforcement. Some of the combinations of hybrid reinforcement in the form of Steel and carbon, steel and nylon, steel and polypropylene, steel and basalt, glass and polypropylene are also used in SCC. newline