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Flexural creep of steel fiber reinforced concrete

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Article in Construction and Building Materials August 2014
Impact Factor: 2.3 DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2014.04.139

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Construction and Building Materials 65 (2014) 321329

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Flexural creep of steel ber reinforced concrete in the cracked state

E. Garca-Taengua a,, S. Arango b, J.R. Mart-Vargas b, P. Serna b
a

Queens University of Belfast, David Keir Bldg., Stranmillis Rd., BT9 5AG Belfast, UK
ICITECH Institute of Concrete Science and Technology, Universitat Politcnica de Valncia, 4G Bldg., Cam de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain

h i g h l i g h t s
 Fiber slenderness and content modify effect of load ratio on SFRC exural creep.
 Fiber length does not have a signicant effect on SFRC exural creep.
 Increasing ber slenderness leads to reduced creep strains.
 Creep control, bers: no high amounts required, slender bers is the best choice.

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 10 December 2013
Received in revised form 28 April 2014
Accepted 30 April 2014

Keywords:
Bending
Concrete
Creep
Cracked state
Steel ber
Test

a b s t r a c t
This paper aims at assessing the effect of a number of variables on exural creep of steel ber reinforced
concrete in its cracked state, namely: ber geometry (slenderness and length), ber content, concrete compressive strength, maximum aggregate size, and exural load. Notched prismatic specimens have been
subjected to sustained exural loads for 90 days following a test setup and methodology developed by
the authors. Several experimental outputs have been measured: initial crack width, crack width at 90 days,
and crack opening rates and creep coefcients at 14, 30, and 90 days. Multiple linear regression has been
applied to relate these creep parameters to the variables considered. Semi-empirical equations have been
obtained for these parameters. Statistical inference has been applied to identify the variables that have a
statistically signicant effect on SFRC exural creep response. Fiber slenderness and ber content have
been found to signicantly modify the effect that load ratio has on exural creep response of SFRC.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The evolution of strains and crack openings through time is fundamental for the durability of concrete structures. Time-dependent
phenomena such as shrinkage and creep must be taken into
account besides instantaneous strains and cracking [1,2].
Creep refers to the tendency of materials to develop increasing
strains through time when they are subjected to a sustained load.
As a result, deection or elongation values tend to increase through
time in relation to the initial strain, i.e. right after the load is
applied. Codes for structural concrete consider compressive creep
of concrete within the usual ranges in service conditions. On the
contrary, tensile creep of either concrete or reinforcing bars is
not usually considered. However, in the case of concrete structures,
their long-term performance is basically affected by the behavior
of cracked concrete [3].
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: e.garcia-taengua@qub.ac.uk (E. Garca-Taengua), samo_59@
hotmail.com (S. Arango), jrmarti@cst.upv.es (J.R. Mart-Vargas), pserna@cst.upv.es
(P. Serna).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2014.04.139
0950-0618/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete (SFRC hereafter) members are

designed in most applications to take advantage of SFRC differential features with respect to conventional concrete: when SFRC is
brought to perform in the cracked state, cracks are under control
and residual strength provides the structural member with further
load-bearing capacity. There is no reason to expect differences
between SFRC and conventional concrete regarding compressive
creep. Any difference in terms of exural creep behavior between
SFRC and conventional concrete is related to the possibility of
creep phenomena in the cracked zone of the section. Therefore
the relationship between tensile creep and exural creep of SFRC
has attracted attention in recent studies [4]. Tensile creep of SFRC
has been studied by some authors [5], but is not possible to easily
extend their conclusions to exural creep behavior.
Flexural creep of SFRC in the cracked state and the role that different factors play in creep behavior are quite understudied topics
within the general eld of SFRC mechanical properties. There are
relatively few publications directly related to exural creep behavior of pre-cracked SFRC beams, and therefore every contribution is
a step further [2]. The need of developments in the understanding
of tensile and exural creep behavior of SFRC is motivated by

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E. Garca-Taengua et al. / Construction and Building Materials 65 (2014) 321329

several purposes, mainly: to improve the prediction of cracking

and the stress evaluation in prestressed members [6].
There is a considerable consensus in relation to the main
sources of SFRC time-dependent exural strains [7]: creep in the
compression zone, time-dependent bond strains between concrete
and bers sewing cracks, and creep of the bers material. However,
there are some discrepancies among experimental results concerning the effect of bers on tensile and exural creep which call for
further research, as observed by Garas et al. [8]. While several
authors have found out that bers reduce creep and shrinkage
[1,2,8,9], other studies have concluded that hooked-end steel bers
increase tensile creep [6].
Therefore, and considering that bers contribution to loadbearing capacity is mainly related to exural response in the
cracked state, it is very important to evaluate how the material
keeps crack opening values low enough so as to guarantee reinforcement effectiveness [10].
However, most of the studies on FRC exural creep have compared the role of plastic or glass bers to that of steel bers, not
focusing on the effect of steel bers themselves. When some of
these papers and reports [1015] are brought together, the following general aspects arise:
 There is a variety of test setups and methodologies. Considering
that SFRCs mechanical properties usually show considerable
scatter, the lack of a standardized methodology contributes to
uncertainty concerning SFRC creep behavior. An attempt to
develop a consistent methodology based on a creep test setup
for pre-cracked FRC specimens was needed.
 Most of the times the goal is not to characterize SFRC exural
creep but to compare the effect of steel bers to that of synthetic bers.
 Most studies limit their scope to one mix design, one type of
steel ber, or certain ber content. In these cases, it is not considered how the variation of these parameters may affect SFRC
creep behavior.
 In relation to the values considered for the stress/strength ratio,
it is usual to consider different values. However, the way they
are selected and the criteria this selection is based upon is not
usually the same.
 There is an important heterogeneity concerning testing
procedures and experimental approach. This leads to important
differences between studies concerning several aspects, for
instance: how load is applied to specimens, whether they are
notched or not.
The aforementioned general aspects motivated two major goals
for the research to be carried out. Firstly, to propose a general,
standard-like methodology to study exural creep of concrete.
And second, to study the case of pre-cracked SFRC members in a
comprehensive fashion, analyzing the effect of several parameters
simultaneously.
In relation to the rst aspect, the authors have made an effort to
develop a test setup and methodology which have been extensively described elsewhere [16]. The test setup and methodology
proposed in [16] is susceptible of standardisation and can be used:
(a) to analyze creep behavior under some given conditions (for a
determined concrete mix design, load level, etc.), and (b) to characterize the effect of particular ber types and/or dosages under
standard conditions (materials, concrete mix design, ber concrete,
pre-cracking level, load). This way creep of concrete is studied in
standard-like conditions so that future results can be easily compared. This is the methodology that has been followed in the
experimental program reported herein. It is based on a structural
test, where creep occurs in bending. This creep test has two major
advantages: it is easier to perform and control than the direct

tension test, and it can be directly correlated to the bending test

as used for SFRC characterization (EN 14651). As compressive
creep and tensile creep can occur simultaneously in the section,
results may be affected by creep in the compressed zone of midspan section if the derived peak compressive stress is close to concrete compressive strength. As a result, it is not easy to dissemble
the contributions of both phenomena on exural creep. In spite of
this, further developments in the interpretation of the phenomena
converging in exural creep response as obtained from this test are
very interesting, as well as their possible implementation in codes,
but these aspects fall out of the scope of this paper.
2. Objectives and scope
The major purpose of this research was to analyze the effect
that different variables have on SFRC response to sustained exural
loads in the cracked state.
These variables have been selected to represent both SFRC composition and the load applied. Accordingly, different types of
hooked-end steel bers (in terms of length and slenderness), ber
contents, and concrete mix designs have been considered. A number of prismatic specimens have been produced and subjected to
different sustained exural loads covering usual values of these
parameters in real applications.
Several creep parameters have been analyzed. The analysis of
experimental results has followed a rigorous, statistical approach
to assess the signicance of the variables considered. The result
is therefore a unied perspective on the relative contribution of
the variables considered to exural creep response of SFRC in the
cracked state. This perspective offers a further conceptualization
of the phenomenon under study.
3. Methodology and experimental outputs
3.1. The creep test
Prismatic 150  150  600 mm specimens have been produced, notched, precracked, and then tested under exural loads sustained for 90 days in agreement
with the creep test setup and methodology developed by the authors [16]. An overview of this methodology is given in Fig. 1.
In a rst stage, specimens are pre-cracked: each specimen is notched and
loaded according to a four-point scheme based on the standard bending test
[17,18], with a 450 mm span between supports, until a crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD hereafter) of 0.50 mm is reached. The load corresponding to this
crack width, Fw, is retained and the specimen is then totally unloaded.
Pre-cracked specimens are reloaded and subjected to sustained load conditions
according to the test setup shown in Fig. 2 (for dimensions and further details see
[16]). Specimens are tested in columns of three to rationalize the requirements of
time and space. The creep frame and all its components, in particular loading members and supports, have been conceived to be stiff enough to avoid undesirable,
abrupt movements as well as friction in supports in order not to interfere the development of creep strains. This, together with the gravity loading on top of the specimens column (by means of a counterweight applied through a lever arm),
guarantees the application of a constant load. This way all three specimens are
loaded according to the four-point bending test and the load is kept constant for
a determined lapse of time. In the case of this research, this timespan was 90 days,
since the largest part of time-dependent strains occurs within the rst 2 months [6].

Specimens
Production
Pre-Cracking
Loading up to
Unloading
CMOD=0.5 mm

Loading

Creep Test
Unloading
and Recovery
Complete 4-Point
Bending Test

Fig. 1. General testing procedure.

E. Garca-Taengua et al. / Construction and Building Materials 65 (2014) 321329

323

Fig. 2. Creep test setup.

The creep test ends after 90 days, when specimens are unloaded and elastic
deformation is recovered. Thereafter each specimen is subjected to a complete
bending test until failure to characterize the exural response of the material in
the cracked state.
Any other conditions (namely humidity and temperature) are kept constant
throughout the testing process (for further details see [16,18]). An appropriate set
of measurement devices have been used to quantify and monitor CMOD values
regularly. Crack opening was monitored instead of deection because CMOD values
have been reported to be more sensitive to the number of bers than mid-span
deection values (most recently [1]). Some examples of the evolution of CMOD
values vs time can be found in [16].
In addition to prismatic specimens for the creep test, all batches of concrete
were characterized by assessing their exural response and compressive strength.
3.2. Denition of response parameters
According to the general testing procedure described in the previous section,
the complete process for each specimen leads to a exural load vs CMOD curve,
as the idealized one shown in Fig. 3 for illustration purposes.
The rst part of the curve corresponds to the pre-cracking stage. There is an
ascending linear branch until the rst crack occurs (A). The specimen is gradually
loaded until a crack width of 0.50 mm is reached (B), and then it is totally unloaded.
Each specimen has been pre-cracked individually by being subjected to the 4-point
bending test. After that, specimens have been transferred to the test setup shown in
Fig. 2 and subjected to the creep test.
The creep test as such begins at point (C): the ascending line (CD) corresponds
to the loading process, which is followed by a horizontal branch (DE) corresponding
to the increasing deferred deformations (load sustained through time). This horizontal line ends up when the specimen is unloaded 90 days afterwards (EF).
Finally, the specimen is subjected to the four-point bending test, which is represented by the third region of the plot: it begins with an ascending line (FG) and
continues with the residual performance curve of the specimen (GH).

Fig. 3. Idealized plot obtained after complete testing of a specimen.

Several parameters are obtained from the loadCMOD curve to characterize the
response of each specimen under sustained exural load. These parameters constitute the outputs of the experimental program. Therefore, the analysis of experimental results is focused on the values of these creep parameters. They can be grouped
as follows:
 Recovery ratio, r, is related to the pre-cracking stage. It measures the recovery of
strains right after pre-cracking. It is dened by Eq. (1), where: wp is the maximum CMOD reached when pre-cracking the specimen (namely 0.5 mm), and
wpr is the residual CMOD when the specimen is unloaded after pre-cracking.

wp  wpr
wp

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E. Garca-Taengua et al. / Construction and Building Materials 65 (2014) 321329

 Untransformed data regarding the materials strains: wci, the CMOD value at the
beginning of the creep test, measured 1 min after the load has been applied; and
wcd(90), the CMOD value measured 90 days after the load was applied, retained
as representative of the delayed, accumulated creep strains.
 Crack opening rates COR(t1t2) for different time periods, evaluated as the ratio
between the increase in crack opening and the lapse of time from t1 until t2.
Three crack opening ratios have been considered: COR(014), COR(1430) and
COR(3090).
 Specic crack opening rates spCOR(t1t2): spCOR(014), spCOR(1430), and
spCOR(3090), are dened as the corresponding crack opening rate typied by
the equivalent exural tensile stress corresponding to the exural load that is
applied.
 Creep coefcients u(j) are dened at different j times as the ratio between the
deferred crack opening at time j, wcd(j), and the initial crack opening at the
beginning of the creep stage, wci. In the case of this research the creep coefcients analyzed are u(14), u(30), u(90), i.e. at 14, 30, and 90 days, respectively.
 Creep coefcients referred to the origin uo(j) are evaluated as the ratio between
the deferred crack opening at time j, wcd(j), and the crack opening at the beginning of the creep test in the complete curve, which is wpr + wci. Three creep coefcients referred to the origin, uo(14), uo(30), and uo(90) have been considered,
at times of 14, 30, and 90 days respectively.

4. Experimental program and results

4.1. Selection of variables and levels
Table 1 summarizes the variables and the different levels considered for them, selected according to the criteria discussed in
the following paragraphs.
Several different concrete mixes have been produced. Each
particular concrete mix results from slightly modifying one of the
so-called base mix designs, adjusted to include different ber contents. Two different base mix designs have been considered corresponding to specied compressive strength (fc) values of 25 MPa
and 40 MPa, hence covering the range of low and mid-strength
concretes. The maximum aggregate size is 10 mm for all 40-MPa
mixes, and 20 mm for 25-MPa mixes with the exception of some
batches that were adjusted to a maximum aggregate size of
10 mm. Accordingly, maximum aggregate size has also been a variable. This was convenient because it might have an effect on creep
strains: aggregates are known to behave elastically while the paste
fraction of concrete is the primary agent of time-dependent strains
[9].
Five different steel bers have been considered: both ber slenderness (kf ) and ber length (Lf) have been considered as variables.
Fiber contents (Cf) used are 40 kg/m3 and 70 kg/m3, both below 1%
in volume as it is the most usual case in most of the applications
where SFRC is used.

Table 1
Variables considered.
Variables

Levels

Compressive strength of concrete, fc

40 MPa
25 MPa

Maximum aggregate size (MAS)

10 mm
20 mm

Fiber slenderness, kf
Fiber length, Lf

80/35
80/50
65/40
45/50
50/30

Fiber content, Cf

40 kg/m3
70 kg/m3

Nominal load ratio, IFn

60%
80%

Position of specimen

1 (top)
2
3 (bottom)

Load ratio is the variable which takes into account the exural
load that has been applied and sustained. The nominal load ratio
(IFn) is dened as the ratio between the load that is applied to
the specimen at the top and the load corresponding to a CMOD
of 0.50 mm in the pre-cracking stage, Fw, in percentage. However,
the applied load ratio (IFa) is not directly IFn: different specimens
from the same batch are never identical and, since they are tested
in columns of three (see Fig. 1), the specimen at the bottom bears a
slightly higher load than the one at the top. Therefore the applied
load ratio (IFa) differs from the other variables considered: this is
not a variable that could be pre-xed at certain values. IFn has been
considered at 60% and 80%, so that the range of load ratios selected
by other authors is covered: 50% in the case of [1,6], and between
76% and 92% in the case of [3]. However, for the analysis of results
IFa values (ranging from 54.2% to 97.2%) are considered instead of
IFn, since they represent more exactly the loading applied to each
particular specimen.
Taking all that into consideration, the relative position of a
specimen in each group of three might somehow affect the results.
This is the reason why this relative position has been considered as
one more variable, so that its effect on creep parameters, whenever
present, could be detected and properly attributed instead of confounding the effects of other variables. As it is derived from Fig. 2,
there are three different positions: 1 for the top, 2 for the middle,
and 3 for the bottom.
Table 2 summarizes all specimens produced and tested in this
research as combinations of the variables considered. Each set of
three specimens listed consecutively in Table 2 corresponds to
the same batch.
4.2. Experimental results
The specimens tested in this research have shown residual
strength fR1 values (corresponding to CMOD of 0.5 mm) ranging
from 3.69 to 10.19 MPa. Therefore these SFRC mixes can be
referred to as normal or high performance. Accordingly, the equivalent exural stress applied in the creep test has ranged from 2.23
to 6.11 MPa. A kinematic analysis assuming plane strain state and
rectangular distribution for tensile stresses in the concrete section
reveals that peak compressive stress values are between 30% and
50% of concrete compressive strength. The aforementioned values
have been given only for informative purposes and they set the
ground for different approaches to the analysis of SFRC exural
creep behavior, being out of the scope of this paper. The analyses
reported herein are focused on the response parameters which
have been dened in a previous section.
Values obtained for the response parameters are extensively
reported. Table 3 presents the complete dataset of experimental
results obtained from the pre-cracking stage (r, wci) and the creep
test: wcd(90), crack opening rates, specic crack opening rates,
creep coefcients and creep coefcients referred to the origin.
5. Analysis and discussion
5.1. Overview of the analysis
The effects that the variables considered (Table 1) have on each
one of the outputs of the experiment (creep parameters) have been
assessed by means of multiple linear regression (MLR hereafter)
[19]. The objective of MLR modeling is to relate each creep parameter to the variables considered. Then, statistical inference regarding the relative importance of each variable is evaluated by means
of signicance tests on the coefcients estimated in MLR modeling.
To study separately the effect of each variable on creep parameters
on the basis of one-to-one regression lines instead of MLR models

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E. Garca-Taengua et al. / Construction and Building Materials 65 (2014) 321329

Table 2
Combinations of variables corresponding to the variables tested.
Id.

fc (MPa)

Max.
aggr. size (mm)

Cf (kg/m3)

kf

Lf (mm)

IFa (%)

Pos.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
a
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
a
30
31

40
40
40
40
40
40
40
40
40
40
40
40
40
40
40
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
25

10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
10
10
10
10
10
10
10

40
40
40
40
40
40
70
70
70
70
70
70
70
40
40
40
40
40
40
40
40
40
40
40
40
40
40
40
40
40
40
40
40

80
80
80
80
80
80
80
80
80
80
80
80
80
80
80
80
80
80
65
65
65
45
45
45
45
45
45
50
50
50
50
50
50

35
35
35
35
35
35
35
35
35
35
35
35
35
50
50
50
50
50
40
40
40
50
50
50
50
50
50
30
30
30
30
30
30

60.9
54.9
54.2
97.0
81.9
70.5
61.9
59.2
59.2
81.0
82.2
81.3
a
79.6
78.8
88.1
82.5
82.2
56.2
60.4
70.8
97.2
80.2
78.3
90.9
84.4
75.1
76.3
57.7
54.4
a
72.9
72.4

1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3

Specimens corresponding to unavailable data due to problems with the data acquisition systems.

Table 3
Experimental results from the creep tests performed.
Id.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

0.469
0.414
0.377
0.467
0.434
0.452
0.542
0.503
0.466
0.499
0.503
0.513
0.511
0.46
0.497
0.421
0.437
0.193
0.282
0.349
0.298
0.302
0.353
0.301
0.294
0.327
0.212
0.249
0.332
0.285
0.469

wci

0.263
0.231
0.147
0.764
0.544
0.207
0.278
0.294
0.153
0.617
0.649
0.294
0.457
0.306
0.506
0.401
0.220
0.312
0.221
0.191
0.404
0.357
0.195
0.615
0.353
0.268
0.212
0.127
0.102
0.161
0.263

wcd(90)

0.229
0.208
0.123
0.798
0.496
0.146
0.259
0.348
0.131
0.470
0.479
0.278
0.334
0.332
0.585
0.497
0.406
0.153
0.129
0.160
0.553
0.652
0.320
0.770
0.830
0.550
0.499
0.162
0.143
0.533
0.229

COR (103)

spCOR (103)

014

1430

3090

014

1430

3090

11.2
10.9
6.5
32.8
26.0
6.8
13.3
17.7
6.3
25.8
28.4
15.8
15.6
15.3
26.3
24.0
19.0
6.5
5.4
7.5
27.9
30.2
14.8
34.7
23.7
19.2
24.3
6.7
5.4
14.1
12.3

1.42
1.22
0.78
13.80
2.67
1.01
1.96
1.63
0.90
1.97
2.08
1.38
2.26
1.56
4.40
3.54
3.01
1.05
1.06
1.49
1.44
2.83
1.82
5.72
19.48
8.82
3.03
1.16
1.28
46.26
7.09

0.82
0.60
0.34
1.96
1.50
0.58
0.70
1.23
0.46
1.29
0.81
0.58
1.32
1.55
2.45
1.75
1.53
0.75
0.60
0.51
2.34
3.07
1.40
3.21
3.12
2.32
1.84
0.82
0.78
6.43
4.13

3.44
3.23
1.85
5.58
4.34
1.11
1.96
2.57
0.91
3.35
3.63
2.00
2.85
2.73
6.67
5.91
4.56
3.77
2.97
3.87
8.79
9.19
4.36
9.69
6.41
5.05
12.9
3.36
2.55
4.92
4.16

0.44
0.36
0.22
2.35
0.45
0.17
0.29
0.24
0.13
0.26
0.27
0.17
0.41
0.28
1.12
0.87
0.72
0.61
0.58
0.77
0.45
0.86
0.54
1.60
5.27
2.32
1.60
0.58
0.61
16.15
2.40

0.25
0.18
0.10
0.33
0.25
0.10
0.10
0.18
0.07
0.17
0.10
0.07
0.24
0.28
0.62
0.43
0.37
0.44
0.33
0.26
0.74
0.94
0.41
0.90
0.84
0.61
0.97
0.41
0.37
2.24
1.40

u(14)

u(30)

u(90)

u0(14)

u0(30)

u0(90)

0.598
0.662
0.616
0.601
0.668
0.459
0.668
0.844
0.582
0.585
0.612
0.754
0.478
0.699
0.727
0.837
1.208
0.291
0.345
0.551
0.965
1.182
1.062
0.791
0.940
1.003
1.611
0.742
0.739
0.599
1.070

0.684
0.746
0.702
0.889
0.746
0.536
0.781
0.932
0.676
0.636
0.663
0.829
0.557
0.780
0.866
0.977
1.427
0.344
0.421
0.675
1.021
1.309
1.211
0.940
1.824
1.529
1.839
0.888
0.940
2.849
1.774

0.870
0.902
0.839
1.043
0.911
0.706
0.932
1.183
0.856
0.761
0.738
0.947
0.730
1.084
1.156
1.239
1.846
0.489
0.585
0.835
1.368
1.824
1.642
1.253
2.354
2.047
2.360
1.277
1.401
4.022
3.314

0.297
0.288
0.197
0.443
0.435
0.193
0.362
0.455
0.208
0.415
0.440
0.410
0.309
0.366
0.484
0.479
0.520
0.081
0.117
0.202
0.513
0.592
0.392
0.500
0.464
0.441
0.555
0.184
0.168
0.276
0.328

0.340
0.325
0.224
0.657
0.486
0.225
0.424
0.502
0.241
0.451
0.477
0.451
0.360
0.408
0.576
0.560
0.615
0.096
0.143
0.247
0.543
0.655
0.448
0.594
0.901
0.672
0.634
0.221
0.214
1.311
0.544

0.432
0.393
0.268
0.771
0.593
0.297
0.506
0.638
0.306
0.540
0.531
0.515
0.472
0.568
0.770
0.711
0.795
0.137
0.198
0.306
0.727
0.913
0.607
0.792
1.163
0.900
0.814
0.317
0.318
1.850
1.016

326

E. Garca-Taengua et al. / Construction and Building Materials 65 (2014) 321329

would have been a defective approach: there would have been no

possibility of evaluating their relative importance.
The aim of this research was not to arrive at a set of descriptive
equations but to identify the variables that have a statistically signicant effect on most of the creep parameters. Once identied,
these key variables can be regarded as a general and therefore
valuable conclusion. To do that successfully, MLR models must
be conceived taking into account the conceptual basis of the phenomenon under study.
Fig. 4 summarizes the process that has been followed to analyze
the experimental results obtained for creep parameters:
1. The as-obtained dataset includes the values of all creep parameters for all specimens (Table 3).
2. Deletion of outliers: anomalous results or outliers are detected
and cleared out from the results dataset. This has been
performed by means of cluster analysis, namely the k-means
algorithm [20]. Only one out of the thirty-one specimens tested
has been discarded: data corresponding to specimen 30 in
Table 3 are excluded. The clean dataset is subjected to statistical
analysis in the following steps.
3. Analysis based on additive models: a rst stage deals with
tting MLR models which relate each creep parameter to the
simple effects of the variables considered.
4. Analysis based on semi-empirical models: a conceptual basis is
searched for within the results of the previous step. New MLR
models are developed for the creep parameters to include
interactions between the variables in addition to their simple
effects. These interactions are selected on the basis of previous
knowledge: that is the reason why these models are called
semi-empirical.
5. Interpretation: the results of previous analyses concerning the
effects detected and their signicance are put together and
interpreted.
5.2. Additive models
The so-called additive MLR models follow this general
expression:

cpi m0;i ni IFa mc;i fc ma;i MAS rf ;i C f

where cpi stands for a certain creep parameter; IFa is the applied
load ratio (in %); fc is the specied compressive strength of concrete
(in MPa); MAS is the maximum aggregate size (in mm); m0,i, ni, mc,i,
and ma,i are coefcients to be tted; and Cf is the ber content (in
kg/m3), whose effect may vary depending on ber geometry according to the following expression:

rf ;i r0;i rk;i kf rL;i Lf

where r0;i , rk;i , and rL;i are coefcients to be tted; kf is ber slenderness; and Lf is ber length (in mm).
MLR models following this structure are called additive since
they imply that the effect of the loading (given by the term ni  IFa
in the equation) is simply added to that of the material (all other
terms). Therefore each creep parameter is modeled as the sum of
these two contributions.
For each creep parameter cpi, coefcients m0,i, ni, mc,i, ma,i, r0;i ,
rk;i , and rL;i are estimated by least squares when the model is
tted to experimental data. Table 4 summarizes the results of
signicance tests on these coefcients. Each row in Table 4 corresponds to a creep parameter: each row summarizes a MLR analysis,
R-squared values are given in the last column. Blank cells correspond to effects which are not statistically signicant. In the case
of signicant effects, the sign of the estimated coefcient is given
for interpretative purposes.
The process followed to come to MLR models as summarized by
Table 4 has been stepwise regression [21]. The threshold considered for p-values identifying signicant effects is 0.05 in all cases,
which assumes a condence level of 95%.
There are differences among the creep parameters considered
with respect to the variables that have a statistically signicant
effect on them. A very simple way of looking at the overall significance of each variable is counting the number of creep parameters
on which this particular variable has a statistically signicant
effect. This count is given in the last row of Table 4. It is clearly
detected that ber slenderness (kf ) and load ratio (IFa) are the
key parameters on exural creep behavior.
The relative position of a specimen (Pos. in Table 4) in the creep
test setup has turned out to be relevant concerning some of the
creep parameters. The effect of this variable on creep parameters
has been explored by means of box-and-whisker plots, shown in
Figs. 5 and 6. A very similar tendency has been found for those
creep parameters on which relative position has a signicant
effect. It is observed in Fig. 5, where each box stands for the interquartile length and the notches represent the 95%-condence
interval for the mean in each case. Signicant differences between
position 3 and position 1 are observed, since their corresponding
condence intervals for the mean do not overlap. In the opinion
of the authors, this is due to the different support and loading
conditions under specimen 3 (at the bottom) with respect to
specimens 1 and 2. For contrastive purposes, Fig. 6 shows boxand-whisker plots corresponding to a creep parameter on which

Table 4
Results from the MLR analyses (additive models) on creep parameters.
fc

As-Obtained
Dataset

Deletion of
Outliers

Significant
Variables

Significant
Interactions

Clean
Dataset

Additive
Model

Semi-Empirical
Model
MLR-based inference

Interpretation
of Effects
Fig. 4. Steps followed to analyze experimental results.

r
wci
wcd(90)
COR(014)
COR(1430)
COR(3090)
spCOR(014)
spCOR(1430)
spCOR(3090)
u(14)
u(30)
u(90)
uo(14)
uo(30)
uo(90)
(Count)

MAS

Cf

kfCf

LfCf

IFa

Pos.

R2

()

()

(+)

(+)

(+)

()

()3
()3
()3

(+)

()
()
()
()
()

(+)
(+)
(+)
(+)
(+)
(+)
(+)
(+)
(+)

0.84
0.80
0.77
0.83
0.27
0.63
0.71
0.30
0.69
0.40
0.47
0.55
0.56
0.58
0.55

(+)

()

()
()
()
()

()

()
()
()
()

()
()
(+)
(+)
5

()
()
11

(+)

()3

(+)
(+)

(+)
(+)
(+)
12

+/ in each case indicates the sign of the coefcient multiplying the corresponding
simple effect or interaction. In the case of Pos., the sign is that of the coefcient
multiplying the boolean variable which equals 1 when the specimen is in position 3.

E. Garca-Taengua et al. / Construction and Building Materials 65 (2014) 321329

0.025
0.015

cpi m0;i ni mc;i fc ma;i MAS rf ;i C f  IFa

0.005

COR (0-14)

0.035

semi-empirical MLR models where the creep parameter is related

to the load ratio, IFa, whose effect is modied by the variables
which are related to the material. As a result, MLR semi-empirical
models follow this general expression:

Position

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

Fig. 5. Box-and-whisker plot showing the effect of position on COR(014).

o (90)

327

Position
Fig. 6. Box-and-whisker plot showing the effect of position on u0(90).

position has no signicant effect: all condence intervals for the

mean overlap.
The effect of ber content is more important than it seems at
rst sight. First of all, the effect of bers on creep behavior is somewhat covered by the effect of load ratio. It is worth recalling that
load ratio, IFa, is the ratio between the applied load and Fw, which
corresponds to wp. Since Fw clearly depends on ber content, the
fact that load ratio is statistically signicant means that ber content is also signicant, because residual load bearing capacity of
concrete (and therefore Fw) is increased with ber content.
5.3. Semi-empirical, constitutive models
From the additive models summarized in Table 4 it follows that
ber slenderness (kf ) and ber content (Cf), together with load
ratio (IFa), are the capital factors inuencing most of the creep
parameters.
A further step in the analysis is concerned with MLR models
which are rooted on the theoretical background of the phenomenon under study. Since they involve putting together this
background and the experimental results, they have been called
semi-empirical. This is an effort to interpret the statistical analysis
of experimental results from a physical, mechanical perspective.
Other authors have previously underlined the convenience of
approaching creep strains by means of empirical equations after
the form of constitutive laws [6]. Considering that constitutive
equations relate strain to stress, it has been decided to formulate

where the term that multiplies IFa does not only relate to IFa itself
(such standalone simple effect is represented by coefcient ni) but
is also affected by concrete compressive strength (fc), maximum
aggregate size (MAS), and bers geometry (rf ;i , as dened by Eq.
(3)) and ber content (Cf). It is worth noting that assuming this formulation is similar to have results for all creep parameters typied
by IFa.
The process followed to come to MLR models that best ts
experimental results and considers only statistically signicant
variables has been, as in the previous section, stepwise regression
[21]. The threshold assumed for p-values identifying signicant
effects is 0.05 in all cases. Table 5 summarizes the signicance tests
for the semi-empirical MLR models.
Load ratio, IFa, has a standalone simple effect which is statistically signicant on most of the creep parameters. This is clearly
observed in Fig. 7, which shows creep coefcient u0(90) vs IFa:
u0(90) clearly increases when load ratio is increased. The coefcient associated to this effect is positive in all cases, which is coherent with the fact that increasing load ratios lead to increasing crack
widths, regardless of the particular creep parameter considered.
Specied concrete compressive strength signicantly interacts
with load ratio concerning some creep parameters. However, the
coefcient corresponding to this interaction is positive in some
cases and negative in some others: at this point it is not clear
whether high concrete compressive strength directly implies
higher creep strains or not.
Concerning bers, all considerations given in the previous subsection can be recalled here. Fiber length does not interact with
load ratio. On the contrary, ber slenderness and ber content
clearly modify the effect of load ratio on exural creep: the effect
of their interaction with load ratio is statistically signicant concerning several of the creep parameters considered.
The sign of the coefcient corresponding to the interaction
between ber content and load ratio is positive in all cases. This
is clearly due to the following fact: the greater ber content is,
the higher the load bearing capacity. Therefore, for a given load
ratio, the applied load will be higher when higher ber contents
are considered. As a result, this coefcient being positive does
not mean that bers increase creep strains for a certain load ratio.
Rather, their presence makes the load applied higher for a given
load ratio and therefore creep strains are increased.
On the other hand, the sign of the coefcient corresponding to
the interaction between ber slenderness, ber content and load
ratio is negative in all cases. This clearly indicates that the use of
bers with higher slenderness lessens the effect that high load
ratios have on creep strains. In consequence, it can be said that
the use of bers is a good strategy in order to control creep strains
and the best choice is clearly bers with high slenderness.
5.4. Comparison of additive and semi-empirical models
The experimental results obtained from the creep test have
been analyzed on the basis of two alternative perspectives in terms
of MLR modeling: additive models, and semi-empirical, constitutive models. They point out to ber slenderness (kf ) and ber content (Cf) together with the applied load ratio (IFa) as the most
important variables to account for.
There are two key conclusions with respect to the role that
bers play in exural creep. The rst is that ber length does not

328

E. Garca-Taengua et al. / Construction and Building Materials 65 (2014) 321329

Table 5
Results of the MLR analyses (constitutive models) on creep parameters.
IFa
r
wci
wcd(90)
COR(014)
COR(1430)
COR(3090)
spCOR(014)
spCOR(1430)
spCOR(3090)
u(14)
u(30)
u(90)
uo(14)
uo(30)
uo(90)
(Count)

(+)
(+)
(+)

fcIFa

MASIFa

CfIFa

kfCfIFa

LfCfIFa

PosIFa

R2

(+)

()3
()3
()3

(+)

()

(+)
(+)
(+)
(+)

()
()
()
()
()

(+)
6

()
7

0.84
0.72
0.84
0.24
0.59
0.76
0.31
0.74
0.32
0.39
0.39
0.56
0.53
0.55

(+)
()
()

(+)
(+)
(+)
(+)

()
()

()3

()

(+)
(+)
(+)
10

()

0.004

1.2

COR (30-90)

0.000

0.001

0.002

0.003

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0

Creep coefficient at origin (90 days)

+/ in each case indicates the sign of the coefcient multiplying the corresponding simple effect or interaction. In the case of Pos., the sign is that of the coefcient multiplying
the boolean variable which equals 1 when the specimen is in position 3.

20

40

60

80

100

Applied load ratio, IFa(%)

45

50

65

80

Fiber slenderness
Fig. 7. Scatterplot showing the effect of load ratio on u0(90).

 The additive models dene each creep parameter as the result

of directly adding the so-called materials contribution (endogenous sources: variables describing the bers, the aggregates
and the cementitious matrix) to the effect of the loading (exogenous source).
 Differently, the semi-empirical or constitutive models are conceived on a mechanistic basis: creep parameters are determined
basically by load ratio, and the effect of load ratio is modied by
material properties.

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2

Creep coefficient at origin (90 days)

have a signicant effect on exural creep of SFRC (Tables 4 and 5).

The second is that ber slenderness has a statistically signicant
effect on most of the creep parameters, which is clearly detected
in Tables 4 and 5. This is also observed in Figs. 8 and 9, which
are given for illustration purposes. They show the box-and-whisker
plots of COR(3090) and u0(90) respectively vs ber slenderness,
the notches representing the limits of 95%-condence intervals
for the mean in each case. Both parameters tend to decrease when
ber slenderness is increased, a trend which has been detected to
be statistically signicant.
Both perspectives (additive models and constitutive models)
have led to very similar conclusions, and this underlines the consistency of the conclusions reached. Furthermore they are totally
coherent with one another in terms of the signs of the coefcients
tted for each. Therefore they constitute two alternative understandings of exural behavior of SFRC:

1.2

Fig. 8. Box-and-whisker plot showing the effect of ber slenderness on COR(30

90).

45

50

65

80

Fiber slenderness
Fig. 9. Box-and-whisker plot showing the effect of ber slenderness on u0(90).

On the whole, the semi-empirical, constitutive MLR models do

not improve the goodness of t obtained with additive MLR models
(compare Tables 4 and 5: the R-squared value is the same in 2
cases, is increased in 5 cases, and is decreased in 7 cases). This

E. Garca-Taengua et al. / Construction and Building Materials 65 (2014) 321329

means that the semi-empirical, constitutive MLR models are not

better than the additive MLR models if they are regarded as
predictive equations. However, they represent a perspective on
the phenomenon under study which is probably better justied
from a physical point of view.
It is important to bear in mind that the purpose of this research
was not to come to very accurate predictive equations, which is a
different task because of the following reasons. First, the number
of variables considered is rather high (7 variables) when compared
to the number of tests performed (31 tests): the experimental
program would have been more exhaustive if the authors had
aimed at obtaining very accurate equations for predictive
purposes. Second, SFRC exural response shows a considerable
scatter in the experimental results [22,23], which is mainly
dependent on the geometry of the bers used and their dosage
[1]. Third, the selection of creep parameters has been based on previous literature but they are probably susceptible of being reformulated and optimized in terms of their variability. The next
step is obviously directed to obtain accurate predictive equations
for different creep parameters which take into account the contribution of bers in SFRC and towards a more stable denition of
creep parameters. Such tasks are currently in progress, involving
new experimental programs and the use of statistical multivariate
techniques.
6. Conclusions
The experimental program carried out and the analysis of the
creep test results by means of statistical techniques has made it
possible to come to the following conclusions:
 The applied load ratio, IFa, has always a statistically signicant
effect on exural creep response, and increasing the load ratio
always leads to higher creep strains, regardless of the creep
parameter considered.
 Fiber content and ber slenderness together with load ratio
determine exural creep of pre-cracked SFRC members.
 Fiber length does not have a statistically signicant effect on the
creep parameters analyzed.
 Fiber content has a statistically signicant effect on most of the
creep parameters considered. Increasing ber content increases
load bearing capacity and higher loads can be applied without
increasing creep strains.
 Increasing ber slenderness leads to reduced creep strains. Furthermore, ber slenderness has an important synergic effect
with load ratio concerning the creep parameters considered:
using bers with high slenderness lessens the effect that load
ratio has on creep strains.
 As a consequence, adding bers is a good strategy in order to
control creep strains and, though they are not required in high
amounts, the best choice is to use bers with high slenderness.

329

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