UNIT-1

LECTURE - 4
LIGHT WEIGHT CONSTRUCTION
MATERIALS

Brig. S.K. Sharma (Retd.)

Pro Vice Chancellor and Professor
Department of Civil Engineering,
The Northcap University,
Gurgaon
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INDEX
FIBRE REINFORCED CONCRETE

SLURRY INFILTRATED FIBER CONCRETES

(SIFCON)
SLURRY
INFILTRATED
MAT
CONCRETE
(SIMCON)
USES OF SIMCON
PROPERTIES OF SIMCON
SIFCON VS SIMCON

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FIBRE REINFROCED CONCRETE

The presence of microcracks at the mortar-aggregate
interface is responsible for the inherent weakness
of pain concrete. The weakness can be removed
by inclusion of fibers in the mix. The fibers help
to transfer loads at the internal microcracks. Such a
concrete is called fiber-reinforced concrete.
Thus, the fiber-reinforced concrete is a composite
material essentially consisting of conventional
concrete or mortar reinforced by fine fibers.

Video: YouTube Fiber Reinforced Concrete, 06:25

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The addition of small, closely spaced and uniformly

dispersed fibres to concrete would act as crack
arrester and substantially improve its static and
dynamic properties. This type of concrete is known
as Fibre Reinforced Concrete.
Fibre reinforced concrete can be defined as a
composite material consisting of mixtures of
cement mortar or concrete and discontinuous,
discrete, uniformly dispersed suitable fibres.
Continuous meshes, woven fabrics and long wires or
rods are not considered to be discrete fibres.

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DISCRETE
CONCRETE

FIBER

REINFORCED

As brought out above, in this system, the concrete is

reinforced by the random dispersal of short,
discontinuous and discrete fine fibers of
specific geometry.
The fibers can be imagined as an aggregate with an
extreme deviation in shape from the rounded smooth
aggregate. The fibers interlock and entangle around
aggregate particles and considerably reduce the
workability, while the mix becomes more cohesive
and less prone to segregation.

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The fibers suitable for reinforcing the concrete have

been produced from steel, glass and organic
polymers. Naturally occurring asbestos fibers and
vegetable fibers, such as jute, are also used for
reinforcement. Fibers are available in different sizes
and shapes.
They can be classified into two basic categories:
Those having a higher elastic modulus than
concrete matrix called hard intrusion. Those with
lower elastic modulus called soft intrusion.

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DISCRETE
FIBER
REINFORCED
CONCRETE (CONTINUED..)
In contrast to reinforcing bars in reinforced concrete
which are continuous and carefully placed in the
structure to optimize their performance, the fibers are
dis-continuous and are generally randomly distributed
throughout the concrete matrix. As result the
reinforcing performance of steel fibers, for
example, is inferior to that of reinforcing bars.

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In addition, the fibers are likely to be considerably

more expensive than the conventional steel rods.
Thus, fiber-reinforced concrete is not likely to
replace conventional reinforced concrete. However,
the addition of fibers in the brittle cement and
concrete matrices can offer a convenient, practical
and economical method of overcoming their
inherent deficiencies of poor tensile and impact
strengths, and enhances many of the structural
properties of the basic materials such as fracture
toughness.

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DISCRETE FIBER REINFORCED CONCRETE

(CONTINUED..)
Essentially, fibers act as crack arrestor restricting the
development of cracks and thus transforming an inherently
brittle matrix, i.e., Portland cement with its low tensile and
impact resistances, into a strong composite with superior
crack resistance, improved ductility and distinctive postcracking behavior prior to failure.
Uses: Steel fibers are probably the best suited for
structural applications. Due to superior properties like
increased tensile and bending strengths, improved ductility,
resistance to cracking high impact strength and toughness,
spalling resistance, and high energy in hydraulic
structures, airfield and highways pavements bridge
decks, heavy duty floors and tunnel linings.

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SLURRY INFILTRATED FIBER

CONCRETES (SIFCON)
In general, the superior toughness and energy
absorption properties of FRC in comparison to
conventional concrete improve, as volume fraction
of fibers increases. Techniques for achieving high
fiber volumes include the strategy of pre-placing
dry fibers in the framework and infiltrating the bed
of fibers with a cementing slurry. This composite
is
called
slurry
infiltrated
fiber
concrete(SIFCON).

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SIFCON was first developed in 1979 by Lankard Materials

Laboratory, Columbus, Ohio, USA, by incorporating large
amounts of steel fibers in steel fiber reinforced cement-based
composites.
SIFCON is similar to fiber reinforced concrete in that lends
significant tensile properties to the composite matrix. The fiber
volume fraction, Vf (volumetric percent of fibers), of traditional
fiber reinforced concrete is limited by the ability to effectively
mix the fibers into the fresh concrete. This limits the fiber
volume Vf to between 1% and 2%, depending upon the type of
fiber used and the required workability of the mix. On the other
hand, SIFCON specimens are produced with V r between 5% and
30%.
The fiber volume depends upon the fiber type, i.e. length and
diameter, and the vibration effort utilized to fill the form.
Smaller or shorter fibers will pack denser than longer fibers, and
higher fiber volumes can be achieved with added vibration time.

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Placement of Steel fibers in a mold

The first step in the preparation of SIFCON
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Attention should be paid to the orientation of fibers.

If fibers are aligned along the diameter of the
cylinder (Core) a much higher compressive strength
can be expected compared to a cylinder in which
fibers are aligned along the axis of the cylinder.
Actually, it is reported that specimens with fibers
perpendicular to loading axis may exhibit twice the
strength of specimens with fibers placed parallel to
load direction, Cylinders shown in the figure are
cored vertically and horizontally from a slab with
horizontally placed steel fibers.

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Fiber orientation and

edge effect in a molded
SIFCON cylinder
specimen
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Orientation of fiber in
cored SIFCON as
influenced by the coring
direction with respect to
fiber placement direction

SLURRY INFILTRATED MAT CONCRETE

(SIMCON)
Recently, another form of slurry infiltrated fiber composite
called slurry infiltrated mat concrete (SIMCON) has
been developed. SIMCON is a new generation of high
performance fiber reinforced concrete (HPFRC) made
by infiltrating continuous steel fiber-mats with a
specially designed cement-based slurry. Thus, instead of
reinforcing concrete with steel bars, it is reinforced with
sheets of stainless steel fibers injected with a mixture of
cement, aggregates and water, called slurry.
Uses: Fiber mats (available in rolls) are shaped and wrapped
around existing columns and beams and injected with
concrete slurry for repairing or strengthening existing
structures. The mats are made of recycled stainless steel
fibers.

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USES OF SIMCON
SIMCON can be used in new construction or to reinforce
existing
structures.
In
conventional
concrete
reinforcement is designed to fail before the concrete and
at failure large slabs chunks of concrete break apart
from the reinforcement and fall from the structure.
In SIMCON at failure, the mass of fibers and
concrete does not collapse. Instead of large chunks
breaking and falling from a structure, the material
crumbles into small harmless flakes which pose little
danger to people or property below.
This controlled form of failure is a key advantage
of SIMCON.

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PROPERTIES OF SIMCON
The advantage of steel fiber mats over a large
volume of discrete fibers is that the mat with
predecided configuration provides inherent strength
and can utilize fibers with much higher aspect
ratios. The fiber volume is less than half that
required for slurry infiltrated fiber concrete
(SIFCON), while achieving similar flexural strength
and energy absorption capacity. Since the mat is
already in a pre-formed shape, handling problems
are minimized and balling does not become a factor.
The superior performance of the SIMCON over
SIFCON is related to the bonding of the mat fibers in
the composite concrete. In SIFCON, the relatively
short embedment lengths of 25 mm fiber, results in
fiber pullout as the primary failure mode. In the
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17 SIMCON
composites, the failure mode comprises

SIFCON vs SIMCON
SIMCON is also easier to handle and construct than
with SIFCON. SIMCON is also better suited for
applications where one dimension is much smaller
than the remaining two, such as bridge deck
overlays.
On the other hand, SIFCON is better suited for threedimensional applications, such as zones of
reinforcing bar anchorage or of beam column joint.

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Thank you

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