Combined effects of expansive agents and glass fibres on the fracture performance of seawater and sea-sand concrete

Abstract

The effects of expansive agents (EAs) and glass fibres (GFs) on the splitting strength and fracture performance of seawater and sea-sand concrete (SSC) were investigated. It was found that adding sole EAs or GFs improved the splitting strength, flexural strength, fracture energy, and initial and unstable fracture toughness of SSC. The combination usage of EAs and GFs maximumly increased the aforementioned indexes by 65%, 75%, 155%, 101%, and 82%, respectively. The optimal EA content was 3%–6% and increased with the increase of GF contents. The constitutive model of SSC reinforced with EAs and GFs under tension proposed in this study agreed well with the experimental results.

Keywords

• Seawater
• Sea-sand
• Glass fibre
• Expansive agent
• Fracture performance