Experimental evaluation of the effect of steel and polypropylene fibers and recycled aggregates on the mechanical properties of concrete

Abstract

In recent years, a new type of fiber-reinforced concrete, consisting of several different types of fibers, known as hybrid fibers reinforced concrete, has attracted the attention of researchers. The aim of this paper for experimental evaluation of the effect of replacement ratio of recycled aggregates with natural aggregates on the mechanical properties of reinforced concrete with hybrid fibers (steel and polypropylene fibers). To this end, reinforced concrete with hybrid fibers with volume fractions of "0.0%" , "0.5%" , and "1%" of steel fibers and "0.0%" and "0.4%" of polypropylene fibers and replacement ratios of "0.0%" , "25%" , and "50%" recycled coarse aggregate of natural coarse aggregates were tested for compressive strength, Brazilian tensile strength, and flexural strength by four-point bending tests. The results show that increasing the replacement ratio of recycled aggregate leads to a decrease in compressive, tensile, and flexural strength. If polypropylene and steel fibers are added to concrete containing recycled aggregates, the compressive, tensile, and flexural strengths of concrete increase, whose steel fibers are more efficient in improving the tensile and flexural strength of concrete than polypropylene fibers. The combination of polypropylene fibers with steel fibers increases energy absorption and increases the flexural toughness of concrete containing recycled aggregates. Moreover, reinforced concrete with hybrid fibers does not disintegrate after breaking, and hybrid fibers play an important role in maintaining the cohesion of concrete.

Keywords

• recycled concrete
• recycled aggregate
• concrete reinforced by hybrid fibers
• steel fibers
• polypropylene fibers