Flexural performance of HPFRC plates using PPC and variation of steel fiber composition

Abstract

High-Performance Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (HPFRC) is widely used in infrastructure applications due to its mechanical properties such as fracture toughness, ductility, control of crack width, and plate thickness reduction compared to normal concrete. However, there are still doubts about the strategy to develop the concrete technology to meet the sustainability requirements in the construction process. This study aims to investigate the improvement of flexural performance on HPFRC plates that utilize Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC) with various compositions of steel fiber. This research uses PPC, Lumajang sand, gravel from the Malang area, water, silica fume, superplasticizer, and steel fiber. Tests were performed on 1600 mm x 900 mm x 80 mm HPFRC plates. The average HPFRC compressive strength is 59.59 MPa. The splitting tensile strength is 3.54 MPa. Steel fibers vary from 0.2% to 1.0% of the HPFRC plate volume. The test was performed with the three-point bending method. Observations were made to the load capacity, deflection and the crack pattern of the HPFRC plates. The study shows that the optimum bending strength failure of the HPFRC plate is obtained when the steel fiber composition is about 0.8% with an external load value of 31.76 kN and a deflection of 14.99 mm.