The 3rd ACF International Conference ACF/VCA 2008

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FLEXURAL BEHAVIOUR OF HIGH-STRENGTH CONCRETE BEAMS REINFORCED WITH CONVENTIONAL STEEL BARS AND HIGH-PERFORMANCE CARBON FIBRES
Ibrahim M. Metwally - Assistance Professor Building Research Centre, Egypt

ABSTRACT:

The effects of a combination of conventional steel reinforcement and high-tensile strength carbon fibre on the flexural behaviour of high-strength concrete beams were investigated. High-strength concrete mixes incorporated various doses of high-tensile strength carbon fibres (0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0%) by concrete volume were used. Deflections, yielding loads, as well as cracking pattern and ultimate failure loads for each beam are presented and discussed. Steel bars reinforced concrete beam without carbon fibres was also cast and tested for comparison. Preliminary tests were carried out on plain concrete beams reinforced only with carbon fibres. It was found that the use of combination of carbon fibres and conventional steel reinforcement increased the ultimate load carrying capacity, ductility, toughness and decreased the cracks numbers, and widths compared to beam reinforced only with steel bars. beams; carbon fibres; flexural response; high-strength.

KEYWORDS:

1. INTRODUCTION
Recently, high-strength concrete has been increasingly used in practice. With the development of concrete technology and the introduction of superplasticizer and silica fume, the use of high-strength concrete is attractive for longer spans and taller structures. But highstrength concrete is considered to be a relatively brittle material and have low ductility. This can be overcome by the inclusion of discrate fibres in the concrete mix. The inclusion of fibres in the concrete mix has been found to convert the brittle characteristic to a ductile one and also improves the post-cracking tensile strength of hardened concrete[1,2]. Fibre addition to reinforced concrete has been the subject of many studies during the last four decades. Fibres investigated included steel, glass, asbestos, carbon, Kevlar, nylon polypropylene, polyethylene, polyester and cellulose [3]. Some of these fibres have been studied in extensive research works. But, the experimental data on carbon fibre and its impact on the behaviour of high-strength structural concrete elements are nearly limited. Carbon fibres can be obtained from different raw materials, such as polyacrylonitile, rayon, pitches, resins [4] and gases, such as methane and benzene [5]. The first pitch-based carbon fibre was prepared in 1963 by Otani and Oya [6]. The pitches used as starting materials for carbon fibre preparation are by-products of the coke-making and petro-chemical industries. Therefore, these materials have the main advantage of being cheap precursors of carbon fibre. The carbon fibre was prepared from pitches are mainly classified into two groups according to their properties and precursors [7]: general-purpose carbon fibre prepared from isotropic pitches and high-performance carbon fibre, the latter have excellent tensile strength and elastic modulus [8]. Reinforcement with high-performance carbon fibres can lead to important 478

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gains in flexural strength and toughness characteristics, tensile performance, impact resistance, and durability of cementitious materials [9]. The objective of the present work was to investigate the flexural behaviour of high-strength concrete beams reinforced with both traditional steel bars and high-performance carbon fibres (polyacrylonitrile base ,with high tensile strength) in order to explore the possibility for optimizing the advantages of the two types of reinforcement. Although the use of high-performance carbon fibres in construction means an important cost increase, the highly promising benefits of their use, not only because of the improvement of mechanical properties, but also in obtaining more efficient smaller concrete sections, make it interesting. Based on these advantages and a price reduction, a high growth of demand is expected.

2. EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
2.1. Preliminary Study In the early stages of the research, preliminary tests were carried out on plain concrete beams reinforced only with carbon fibres in high-strength concrete mixtures. The preliminary tests were carried out on five concrete beams each of 100100500 mm dimensions representing five percentages of carbon fibres (0, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, and 2.0% by volume of concrete). The concrete beams were cured in air in the laboratory atmosphere for 28 days after casting. The beams were testing under four point loading test as shown in Fig. 1. The ultimate flexural strength (modulus of rupture) was recorded. Compressive strength test was carried out on the half beams obtained from the flexure test as shown in Fig.2.

Fig. 1 Four Point Loading Bending Test

Fig. 2 Compression Test

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2.2. Description of R. C. Beam Specimens All beams are 150 250 mm in cross section with clear span 1500 mm (total length = 1700 mm).Steel reinforcement of all beams was constant, details of beams reinforcement and concrete dimensions are shown in Table 1 and Fig. 3.

Table1. Reinforcement Details of Tested Beams Tension Beam No. Carbon Fibre, % Reinforcement, (Deformed high grade steel bars) As= 214 fy =409.8 N/mm2 Compression Reinforcement, (Deformed high grade steel bars) Stirrups, (Smooth bars)

B1 B2 B3 B4 B5

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0

As= 210 fy =439 N/mm2

As= 58/m fy=351.2 N/mm2

Fig. 3 Details of Tested Beams

2.3. Materials Concrete mix design was made to produce high-strength concrete having a 28-day cubic compressive strength of 60 N/mm2.

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The 3rd ACF International Conference ACF/VCA 2008 The dose of ordinary Portland cement was constant for all beams = 450 kg/m3 and local natural sand were used. The coarse aggregate was gravel with a maximum nominal size of 20 mm. To enhance the concrete strength, silica fume was used at a dose of 10% as a partial replacement of cement. Water / (cement+ silica fume) ratio was constant = 0.30 by weight. The workability of the mix was improved by using a high-range water reducing admixture (superplasticizer) at a dosage of 1.5% by weight of (cement + silica fume). Deformed high grade steel bars of about 409.8 N/mm2 yield strength and of 14 mm diameter was used as tension reinforcement. Deformed bars of 10 mm diameter and of 439 N/mm2 yield strength were used as compression reinforcement. The stirrups used were made of 8 mm diameter smooth bars of 351.2 N/mm2 yield strength. Only one type of carbon fibres called high-performance carbon fibres (polyacrylonitrile base, with high tensile strength) was used by mixing 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 % by volume of concrete in high strength concrete mixes. Table 2 and Fig.4 show the characteristics and shape of the used carbon fibres. Table 2. Properties of the Used High-Performance Carbon Fibres Length Cross section Size of cross section Specific gravity Tensile strength Elastic modulus Ultimate elongation 20 mm Rectangular 1.60.04 mm 1.67 g/cm3 3773 N/mm2 233,926 N/mm2 1.1 %

Fig. 4 Carbon Fibres Shape 2.4. Test Method and Measurements All tested beams were simply supported and the static load was applied through two symmetrical concentrated loads dividing the beam span to the three equal lengths (500mm). The load was incrementally applied up to and beyond the ultimate loads. At each load increment, the following measurements were recorded:481

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1- Vertical deflection at midspan was measured using one linear voltage differential transducers (LVDT) at the bottom face of the beam (tension side). 2- Strain at the centre of the longitudinal tension reinforcing bars was measured using electrical strain gauges, which were attached to the surface of tension reinforcement to check the yielding of this reinforcement. The crack width was measured using the WEXHAM microscope of high magnification (X 40) and an accuracy of 20m (0.02mm). Also, for all beams, the ultimate load and the patterns of crack propagation were recorded. 2.5. Experimental Results: Analysis & Discussion When carbon fibres were added to the matrix, the flexural behaviour of high-strength plain and reinforced concrete beams was affected clearly as followings: 2.5.1. For Plain Concrete Beams Tests carried out on the plain high-strength concrete beams incorporating carbon fibres indicated a distinct improvement in their behaviour under loading in comparison with the reference beam without carbon fibres. Ultimate flexural strength (modulus of rupture) was improved. The enhancement increased with the increase of the carbon fibres percentage. Compressive strength of concrete was also improved, but with low level (not as flexural strength) as shown in Table 3 and Fig. 5. Modulus of rupture of beams P2, P3, P4, and P5 were 112%, 141%, 165%, and 191% respectively of that recorded for the reference beam P1. On the other side, compressive strength of the half beams; P2, P3, P4, and P5 were 106%, 122%, 131%, and 138% respectively higher than the reference beam P1. Table 3. Results of Plain Concrete Beams Beam No./ Carbon Fibre Ratio, % P1/0 P2/0.5 P3/1.0 P4/1.5 P5/2.0 28-day Concrete Comp. Strength, N/mm2 59.5 63.4 72.7 78.2 82.3 28-day Flexural Strength (Modulus of rupture), N/mm2 9.1 10.2 12.8 15 17.4

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250
Compressive Strength Modulus of Rupture
Rate of increase of strength

200

150 100

50 0 0.50% 1.00% 1.50% 2.00%

Carbon fibre percentage

Fig. 5 Effect of Carbon Fibre on Rate of Strength Increase Based on Reference Beam

2.5.2. For Reinforced Concrete Beams Yielding Load Adding of carbon fibres caused a distinct growth in yielding loads of tested beams. This result is very clear by comparing the yielding loads for beams B2, B3, B4, and B5 which containing different doses of carbon fibres ( 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0% respectively) with the reference beam B1 ( without fibres),as shown in Table 4. Table 4. Results of Reinforced Concrete Beams Beam No./ Carbon Fibre Ratio, % B1/0 B2/0.5 B3/1.0 B4/1.5 B5/2.0 Yielding Load (Py), kN Ultimate Load (Pu), kN Deflection at Py, mm Deflection at 0.80Pu,mm Final Ductility Factor Flexural Tough., kN.mm

73 74 84.1 90.4 95

104.4 113.3 129.4 132.9 135.2

1.75 1.15 1.5 1.3 1.3

2.1 4.8 15.5 18 23

1.2 4.2 10.3 13.8 17.7

267.5 315 320 370 373

Ultimate Load Table 4 and Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 show that the increase of percentage of adding carbon fibres from 0 to 2% by volume causes a clear increase in ultimate loads for all beams. The gain in ultimate loads for beams B2, B3, B4, and B5 are 1.08, 1.24, 1.27, and 1.29 respectively times the ultimate load for B1(reference beam). This is due to that the carbon fibres reinforced concrete matrix takes part in carrying the external load throughout the whole 483

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range of loading, in contrast to conventionally reinforced concrete, in which the concrete matrix in the tensile zone is ineffective. This may also account for the increase in rigidity and change in the cracking pattern.
110 100 90 80 Load, KN 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 Deflection, m m Py 0.8Pu 0% Carbon Fiber B1

Fig.6 Load-Deflection Curve for Beam B1

120 100 80 Load, kN 60 40 Py 20 0 0 1 2 3 Deflection, m m 4 5 6

B2 0.5 % Carbon Fiber

0.8Pu

Fig.7 Load-Deflection Curve for Beam B2

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140 120 100 Load, kN 80 60 1 % Carbon Fiber 40 Py 20 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Deflection, m m 0.8 Pu B3

Fig.8 Load-Deflection Curve for Beam B3

140 120 100 Load, kN 80 60 Py 40 20 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 Deflection, m m B4 1.5 % Carbon Fibe r 0.8 Pu

Fig.9 Load-Deflection Curve for Beam B4

160 140 120 Load, kN 100 B5 80 60 Py 40 20 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 Deflection, m m 2 % Carbon Fiber 0.8 Pu

Fig.10 Load-Deflection Curve for Beam B5 485

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Deflection Figures from 6 to 10 show the load-deflection diagrams for the studied beams. It can be seen that, increasing the percentage of carbon fibres, the maximum deflection is decreased. For example, under 100 kN applied load, B5 (2% carbon fibre) deflected 0.45 times the reference beam B1 under the same load. Ductility For plain reinforced concrete beam without fibres, a maximum load of 104.4 KN was recorded at a deflection of 3.5 mm. beyond this load brittle flexural compression failure was observed, as shown in Fig.6. When fibres were added to the matrix, the beams displayed more ductile behaviour. Beyond the peak load the slope of the softening branch of the loaddeflection curve decreased, and became practically flat for beams reinforced with carbon fibres, which exhibited ductile behaviour even at large deflections, as indicated from Fig 7 to 10. It is significant to explain that the final ductility factor is defined as the ratio between the final deflection (the deflection when the load decreases to 80% of its ultimate value along the descending branch of the load-deflection curve) and the deflection at the point of first yield of tension steel reinforcement [10]. The gain in final ductility factor of tested beams due to the incorporation of carbon fibres in the concrete matrix is very noticeable. The final ductility factors for beams B2, B3, B4, B5 were 3.5, 8.6, 11.5, 14.7 times respectively the final ductility factor of B1( without fibres). Ductility factors are shown in Table 4. It can be seen that the use of carbon fibres increases the ductility factors from 1.2 in the case of plain high strength concrete beam reinforced with steel bars only to 17.7 for high strength concrete beam reinforced with both steel bars and 2% carbon fibres. Toughness One of the most desirable benefits of adding fibres to concrete is to increase its energy absorbing capability [11]. Toughness is an important attribute of fibre reinforced concrete. This section deals with discussion of toughness computed using the load-deflection behaviour of tested beams under four-point loading. This method is based on the total amount of energy required to deflect the beam to a specified deflection. Toughness is defined as the area under the load-deflection curve for beams up to specific point [12]. The flexural toughness for various beams calculated at the designated deflection of 4 mm is shown in Table 4 and Fig.11. From these, it can be concluded that carbon fibres cause a significant improvement in toughness or energy-absorption capabilities of concrete and B5 (which contained 2% fibres) attained the biggest flexural toughness equal 373 kN.mm. It realized 39.4 % increase in toughness over the reference beam (without fibres). Carbon fibres showed positive effect in increasing both flexural ductility and flexural toughness of high strength concrete beams. Fig. 12 confirms this phenomenon.

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400
Flexural Toughness, kN.mm

350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 B1 B2 B3

Beam Num ber

B4

B5

Fig.11 Flexural Toughness of the Tested Beams

400 350
Flexural Tough., kN.mm

300 250 200 150 100 50 0 0 5 10

Ductility Factor

15

20

Fig. 12 Relationship between Flexural Ductility and Flexural Toughness Cracking Behaviour The addition of carbon fibres was associated with a decrease in the width of cracks and its intensity (number of cracks) as shown in Table 5 and Fig. 13. Table 5 contains the maximum observed crack-widths of the studied beams. The cracks in the 2% carbon fibre beam (B5) were less wide than those in the reference beam (without fibres) by about 87%. This a big difference in crack-widths can be attributed to the use of the carbon fibre in concrete, which affects the mechanism of development of cracks by reducing the crack-widths. The desirable performance of carbon fibres in reinforced concrete results from their small cross sectional dimensions, which lead to relatively close spacing of fibres, and also from their strong and durable bonding to cementitious matrixes. The closely spaced carbon fibres intersect many micro cracks in the matrix, thus effectively arresting and deflecting these cracks.

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Table 5 Average Crack-Width of the Studied Beams Beam No./ Carbon Fibre Ratio, % B1/0 B2/0.5 B3/1.0 B4/1.5 B5/2.0 Average Crack Spacing at failure, m 1200 480 330 210 160

Fig.13. Crack Pattern at Failure of the Tested Beams Containing 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2% Carbon Fibres from Top to Bottom Respectively.

3. CONCLUDING REMARKS
1. Flexural or tensile strength of the plain high-strength concrete can be improved clearly by incorporating carbon fibres. 2. The addition of carbon fibres to high-strength concrete resulted in strength and ductility improvements under static loading which were much smaller than those obtained by conventional reinforcement. 3. The addition of carbon fibres to reinforced concrete beams increased both the yielding and ultimate loads by about 30 % with 2 % fibres. 4. Carbon fibre showed positive effect in reducing the beam deflection. 5. The ductility factors for beams increased very clearly due to the increase of percentage of carbon fibres, 2 % fibres gave a great improvement in ductility equal nearly 15 times the ductility of the reference beam without fibres. 488

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6. The addition of carbon fibres to conventionally reinforced concrete beams changed the cracking pattern, the number of cracks, and their widths decreased clearly. 7. Energy absorption capacity or toughness of reinforced concrete beams increases with the introduction of carbon fibres into the concrete mix. Increasing of percentage of fibres gradually (from 0 to 2 % by concrete volume) is very effective in improving toughness. 2% carbon fibres realized nearly 40 % increase in toughness over the reference beam (without fibres). 8. This study confirms a certain concept that the ductility and toughness of high-strength fibre reinforced concrete are directly proportional and fairly strong.

Future Research
It is recommended that, several studies must be carried out concerning: Shear behaviour of high-strength carbon fibre reinforced concrete beams Behaviour of high-strength carbon fibres reinforced concrete columns Flexural & shear behaviour of high-strength lightweight carbon fibres reinforced concrete beams. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The research described in this paper was sponsored by King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support. Gratitude is also extended to Dr. Hala El-Kady, Associate Professor, Civil Engineering Department, National Research Centre, for her suggestions, and valuable advice. REFERENCES 1. Khuntia, M., Stojadinovic, B., and Goel, S. C.,Shear Strength of Normal and HighStrength Fibre Reinforced Concrete Beams without Stirrups, ACI Structural Journal, V. 96, No. 2, Mar.-Apr. 1999, pp. 282-289. 2. Abdel Hafez, A., and Ahmed, S., Shear Behaviour of High-strength Fibre Reinforced Concrete Beams, Journal of Engineering Science, Assuit University, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 79-96, Jan. 2004. 3. Nishioka, K.; Yamakawa, S.; and Shirakawa, K., Properties and Applications of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Cement Composite, Proceedings, RILEM Symposium on Developments in Fibre Reinforced Cement and Concrete, Sheffield, V. 1, July 1986. 4. "The Economics of Carbon Fibre", 2nd ed., Roskill Information Services, 2 Clapham Road, London SW9 OJA, 1990. 5. A. Madronero, "Possibilities for the Vapour-Liquid-Solid Model in the Vapour-Grown Carbon Fibre Growth Process", Journal of Material Science, 30, 1995. 6. S. Otani, A. Oya," Progress of Pitch-Based Carbon Fibre in Japan", PetroleumDerived Carbons, ACS Symposium Series, Vol. 303, 1986, pp. 323-334. 7. T. Maeda, S. M. Zeng, K. Tokumitsu, J. Mondori, I. Mochida," Preparation of Isotropic Pitch Precursors for General Purpose Carbon Fibres by Air Blowing: I. Preparation of Spinnable Isotropic Pitch Precursor from Coal Tar by Air Blowing", Carbon Vol.31, No. 3, 1993, 407pp. 8. J. B. Donnet (Ed.), "Carbon fibres", Marcel Dekker, New York, 1998, pp. 311-369. 9. Kureha Carbon Fibres, Product Information Brochure, Kureha Chemical Industry Company, Tokyo, 1986, 16pp.

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10. Shin, S.; Ghosh, S.; and Moreno, J., Flexural Ductility of Ultra-High-Strength Concrete Members, ACI Structural Journal, V. 86, No. 4, July-August1989, pp. 394-400. 11. Imam, M., Flexural Strength and Toughness of Steel Fibre High-Strength Concrete, Proceedings, Third CANMET/ACI International Conference on: High-Performance Concrete: Design and Materials and Recent Advances in Concrete Technology, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 1997, pp.517-533. 12. Japan Society of Civil Engineers, Method of Test for Flexural Strength and Flexural Toughness of Fibre Reinforced Concrete, Standard, SF-4, 1984, pp. 58-66.

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