Experimental and Theoretical Investigations of Steel-Fibrous Concrete

In this chapter, main disadvantages of concrete as a construction material are first described. Next, positive aspects from an application of short discrete fibres in concrete are stressed. In addition, parameters influencing the properties of concrete with fibres are briefly discussed.

The book consists of 2 main parts. The first one summarizes the most important mechanical and physical properties of steel-fibre-added concrete and reinforced concrete on the basis of experiments described in the scientific literature. The second one describes a fracture process at meso-scale in plain concrete and in fibrous concrete using a novel discrete lattice model. 2D and 3D calculations of plain concrete were performed for a uniaxial compression, uniaxial tension and shear-extension test. In addition, a size effect was studied. In 2D and 3D analyzes of fibrous concrete specimens under uniaxial tension and three-point bending, the effect of the fibre volume, fibre distribution, fibre orientation, fibre length, fibrous bond strength and specimen size on the load-displacement curve and fracture process was carefully analyzed. The calculated results were qualitatively in good agreement with the experimental results.