An experimental study on the tensile strength of steel fiber reinforced concrete

This paper deals with steel fiber reinforced concrete mechanical static behaviour and with its classification with respect to fibers content and mix-design variations. A number of experimental tests were conducted to investigate uniaxial compressive strength and tensile strength. Different mixtures were prepared varying both mix-design and fiber length. Fibers content in volume was of 1% and 2%. Mechanical characterization was performed by means of uniaxial compression tests with the aim of deriving the ultimate compressive strength of fiber concrete. Four-point bending tests on notched specimens were carried out to derive the first crack strength and the ductility indexes. The tensile strength of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) was obtained both from an experimental procedure and by using an analytical modelling. The experimental tests showed the different behaviour of SFRC with respect of the different fiber content and length. Based on the experimental results, an analytical model, reported in literature and used for the theoretical determination of direct tensile strength, was applied with the aim of making a comparison with experimental results. The comparison showed good overall agreement.