Materials and Design 54 (2014) 32–42

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Materials and Design

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Mechanical behavior of hybrid steel-fiber self-consolidating concrete:

Materials and structural aspects
Dimas Alan Strauss Rambo, Flávio de Andrade Silva ⇑, Romildo Dias Toledo Filho
Civil Engineering Department, COPPE, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, P.O. Box 68506, CEP 21941-972, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This work presents the preliminary results of an experimental investigation on the mechanical behavior
Received 24 April 2013 of self-consolidating concrete reinforced with hybrid steel fibers in the material and structural scale.
Accepted 5 August 2013 Straight and hooked end steel fibers with different lengths and diameters were used as reinforcement
Available online 14 August 2013
in fiber volume fractions of 1.0 and 1.5%. In the fresh state the concrete was characterized using the
slump flow, L-box and V-funnel tests. To determine the effect of the hybrid reinforcement on the plastic
Keywords: viscosity and shear yield stress a parallel plate rheometer was used. Following, the mechanical response
Hybrid reinforcement
was measured under tension and bending tests. In the flexural test, the movement of the neutral axis was
Round panel test
Crack formation
experimentally determined by strain-gages attached to compression and tensile surfaces. Furthermore,
Steel fiber the mechanical response of the material under bi-axial bending was addressed using the round panel
Self-consolidating concrete test. During the test the crack opening was measured using three linear variable differential transformers
(LVDT’s). The cracking mechanisms were discussed and compared to that obtained under four point
bending and direct tension. The obtained results indicated that the fiber hybridization improved the
behavior of the composites for low strain and displacement levels increasing the serviceability limit state
of the same through the control of the crack width. For large displacement levels the use of the longer
fibers led to a higher toughness but with an expressive crack opening. Due to its structural redundancy
the round panel test allowed the formation of a multiple cracking pattern which was not observed in the
four point beam tests. Finally, the obtained material’s properties were used in a nonlinear finite element
model to simulate the round panel test. The simulation reasonably agreed with the experimental test
data.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction can also present a strain-hardening type of response accompa-

The first works on fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) were real-
ized in the 1950s and 60s decades of the last century with the
aim of understanding the mechanical behavior of steel fiber rein-
forced concrete [1,2]. Since that period, other fibers have been
evaluated as reinforcement in concrete elements, but steel is still
the most used fiber. Its popularity is associated with the fact that
steel presents a good affinity with concrete, the ease of use, the
high toughness and resistance to static and dynamic loads [3].
Several categories of fiber reinforced concrete have been devel-
oped over the past three decades presenting different mechanical
properties. Conventional FRC presents an increase in the ductility
when compared with the plain matrix showing a strain softening
behavior after the appearance of the first crack. On the other
hand the high performance fiber reinforced cementitious com-
posites (HPFRCC) exhibit a deflection hardening behavior and
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +55 (21) 2562 8493x48; fax: +55 (21) 2562 8484.
E-mail address: fsilva@coc.ufrj.br (Flávio de Andrade Silva).
nied by multiple cracking in tension which leads to an improve-
ment in strength and toughness compared to the non-reinforced
matrix [4–6].
In the last few decades significant improvements in the devel-
opment of cement based materials have been achieved resulting
in high performance concrete that can present uniaxial compres-
sive strength ranging from 150 to 400 MPa [5,7,8]. These
improvements were only possible due to developing techniques
of cement paste microstructure densification using efficient
superplasticizing chemical additives and ultra-fine particles. The
production of hybrid fiber reinforced self-consolidating concretes
aims to combine the mechanical properties of two or more differ-
ent fibers to the rheological characteristics of self-consolidating
matrices. Hybrid reinforcement systems can be used in order to
take advantage of each individual fiber properties [9], which de-
pend on the shape, type, size and the volume fraction of the used
fibers [1]. These composite systems can improve not only flexural
and tensile strength, but can also lead to a change in the cracking
mechanisms. The manufacturing, the fiber dispersion and the fi-
ber orientation are very important to improve the post-cracking

0261-3069/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2013.08.014
 D.A.S. Rambo et al. / Materials and Design 54 (2014) 32–42 33

response of the fiber reinforced concrete [10]. Thus, the rheolog- 2. The compressible packing model
ical properties of the matrices should be suitable for the fiber
addition [11]. It is worth noticing that most of the research per- The compressible packing model (CPM) was developed by de
formed on FRC systems found in the literature uses in the mix Larrard and his collaborators and used in this research to design
design matrices that do not contain coarse aggregates, but in- the matrix of the self-consolidating fiber reinforced concrete
stead, fine aggregates [12–14]. [23,24]. Composite materials like concrete are made up of grains
Kim et al. [14] studied the flexural performance of hybrid ultra embedded in a matrix. The aim of the design is to use the least pos-
high performance FRC using one micro (L = 13 mm) and four types sible amount of binder by combining these grains in order to min-
of macro (L = 30 and 62 mm) high strength steel fibers. The results imize the concrete porosity [23]. The equation representing the
showed an improvement in deflection and toughness for hybrid virtual packing density of a granular mix containing n classes of
systems in comparison to systems reinforced by micro fibers only. grains, ordered in such a way that its diameters are
Akcay and Tasdemir [15], produced four different HSFRSCC’s d1  d2  . . . di  diþ1  . . .  dn , when the class i is dominant, is
(hybrid steel fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete) and re- expressed by the following equation:
ported that it is possible to add a volume fraction of fibers up to
bi
1.5% without affecting its workability. The mechanical behavior cðiÞ ¼ i1    X
ð1Þ
X n
showed that the fiber hybridization increased the concrete fracture 1 yj 1  bi þ bi;j bi 1  b1j  yj ð1  ai;j bbij Þ
energy and ductility. j¼1 j¼iþ1
A multi-scale reinforced cement composite was developed by
(i)
Rossi et al. at the Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussés (LCPC) where c is the virtual packing density when the ith class is dom-
[16]. Two types of materials were developed by using the multi- inant; yi is the volumetric fraction of the ith class; bi is the virtual
scale concept. A cement based compositewhich was reinforced packing density of the ith class; it represents the volume of grains
by 7% of two metal fibers of different geometries, and the CEM- contained in an unitary volume, compacted with an ideal compac-
Ò
TECmultiscale that was reinforced by 11% of three classes of steel fi- tion energy that would correspond to a maximum virtual packing;
bers [17,18]. Both materials present a tension hardening behavior ai,j and bi,j represent the loosening effect and the wall effect exerted
but the MSCC can achieve up to 15 MPa under direct tension while by the grains, respectively; they can be determined either experi-
the CEMTEC up to 20 MPa. mentally or by the following formulas:
The mechanical behavior of fiber reinforced concrete is usually qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
1:02
evaluated using bending tests, mostly performed in small prisms. ai;j ¼ 1  ð1  dj =di Þ
ð2Þ
This type of test does not represent the real structural behavior be- 1:50
bi;j ¼ 1  ð1  di =dj Þ
cause it results in a different cracking mechanism and normally
leads to a higher dispersion on experimental results [10,19–21]. The virtual compactness of the mix can be found by using the
Structural or quasi-full scale tests as ASTM: C-1550, however, have formula:
greater representation in relation to the concrete volume, failure
mechanisms and toughness. As reported by Bernard [20] the c ¼ inf ðcðiÞ Þ ð3Þ
mechanical tests need to reflect the material variations and not where inf indicates the least value.
variations associated to the test method. Round panel tests were The actual compactness depends on three main parameters: the
performed in steel fiber reinforced concretes with different dimen- size of the grains, the shape of the grains, and the method of pro-
sions. Results indicate that the main advantage of this test is to al- cessing the packing. The compressible packing model allows mak-
low the detection of a multiple crack pattern which is not observed ing the transition from virtual compactness, which cannot be
in tests with small beams. Bernard [22] investigated the influence obtained in practice, to the actual compactness of the mix, which
of support conditions on flexural and shear behavior of steel fiber depends on the energy being applied at the time of placing. A scalar
reinforced concrete slabs. According to the author, bending tests K called compaction index enables connecting the virtual compact-
performed on panels supported on three points show a consistent ness (c) with the actual compactness (/). This scalar is strictly
failure mode and allows a more reliable measure of the concrete dependent on the protocol implemented for the particular mix.
performance when compared to alternative methods of support. As K tends to infinity, the compactness / tends to the virtual com-
Minelli and Plizzari [19] performed a comparison between round pactness c.
panel and flexural beam tests. Results reported that the geometry The general shape of the compaction index equation, for n clas-
and fracture area involved in round panel tests leads to a lower dis- ses of grains, is as follows:
persion resulting in a better representation of the real structural
behavior. X
n
yi =bi
K¼ ð4Þ
The effects of the steel fiber hybridization on the rheological 1=/  1=cðiÞ
i¼1
and mechanical properties of self-consolidating FRC are addressed
in the present work. Two different hybrid FRC systems were pro- where / is the actual compactness of the granular mix.
duced, using straight and hooked end steel fibers with different The values of index K are calculated from the binary mixes for
lengths, in fiber volume fractions of 1.0% and 1.5%. The self consol- each placing processes. K assumes a value of 4.5 when the compac-
idating concrete matrix was designed and produced based on the tion process is the simple pouring, 6.7 for water demand and 9
compressible packing model. A parallel plate rheometer was used when the placing process is vibration plus 10 kPa compression
to determine the influence of fiber hybridization on the plastic vis- [23].
cosity and shear yield stress. Furthermore, empirical rheological If the actual compactness for a single granular class i (/i) is
tests were performed. Mechanical tests were carried out in the experimentally determined, by means of a compaction process
structural and materials scale and the changes in the cracking having compaction index K, it is possible to use Eq. (5), derived
mechanisms were investigated. Direct tension and four point from Eq. (4), to determine the virtual compactness of the granular
bending tests were performed in the materials scale while the class i.
round panel tests for the structural testing. A non-linear finite ele-
/i
ment model was used to simulate the mechanical behavior of the bi ¼ ð1 þ KÞ ð5Þ
studied FRC system in the structural scale. K
34 D.A.S. Rambo et al. / Materials and Design 54 (2014) 32–42

Eq. (4) is an implicit equation in / and allows the determination of Table 1

the actual compactness since the other variables are all known. Mix composition of concretes.

To use the model it was determined the virtual compactness, Constituent Mixtures
size grading distributions and specific gravity of the constituents Matrix C1.0%H C1.0% C1.5%H C1.5%
as well as the cement contribution to compressive strength and
Coarse aggregate (G) (kg/m3) 494 468 468 454 454
the saturation dosage of the chemical additive. Sand (S1) (kg/m3) 830 830 830 830 830
*
Sand (S2) (kg/m3) 100 100 100 100 100
Silica mesh 325 (kg/m3) 70 70 70 70 70
3. Materials and processing Cement (kg/m3) 360 360 360 360 360
Fly ash (kg/m3) 168 168 168 168 168
Silica fume (kg/m3) 45 45 45 45 45
The matrix was designed following the CPM routine described Superplasticizer (kg/m3) 45.1 45.1 45.1 45.1 45.1
in Section 2. For the fiber addition the rheological behavior of the Viscosity modifier (kg/m3) 0.36 0.36 0.36 0.36 0.36
matrix was adjusted through the use of superplasticizer and a vis- Water (kg/m3) 150 150 150 150 150
cosity modifier. The materials used in the self-consolidating con- Straight fiber (SF1) (kg/m3) 0 39 0 39 0
Hooked end fiber (SF2) (kg/ 0 39 78 78 117
crete composition were a Brazilian slag cement type CPIII 40
m3)
with a 28 days compressive strength of 40 MPa, river sand with Superplasticizer (%) 4 4 4 4 4
two classes of particle size: one ranging from 0.15 mm to 4.8 mm Water/binder ratio 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50
and the other from 0.15 mm to 0.85 mm, coarse aggregates with *
Sand (S2): sand (S1) with diameter less than 0.85 mm.
maximum diameter of 9.5 mm, fly ash, silica flour (ground quartz),
silica fume, and a polycarboxilate superplasticizer with solid con-
tents of 31.2%. The water/cementitious material ratio of the self- For the production of the samples, the concrete mixtures were
compacting composite was 0.32. Fig. 1 shows the grain size distri- placed in the steel molds in one layer. The round panel forms were
bution of the used binder materials and aggregates. made using a thin steel sheet and a wood base with thickness of
Two steel fiber types, one straight (SF1) and one with hooked 20 mm. After consolidation, the round panel surfaces were leveled
ends (SF2), were used as reinforcement. The straight fiber pre- with a steel plate. The samples did not suffer any kind of vibration.
sented a tensile strength of 1100 MPa, elastic modulus of The specimens were covered in their molds for 48 h prior to moist
200 GPa and a density of 7.85 g/cm3, and the fiber with hooked curing for 28 days in a cure chamber with 100% RH and 23 ± 1 °C.
ends (SF2) a tensile strength of 1150 MPa, elastic modulus of
200 GPa and a density of 7.85 g/cm3. The length and aspect ratio 4. Rheological tests
of the SF1 fiber were 12 mm and 67 and those presented by SF2
were 35 mm and 65, respectively. The SF1 fiber was produced with The effect of the hybrid reinforcement on the plastic viscosity
a brass coating providing the fiber a relatively smooth surface. and shear yield stress was measured with a parallel plate rheome-
Five concrete mixtures, with the proportions presented in Ta- ter developed at the LCPC [25]. Ten rotation speeds ranging from
ble 1 were produced. One control mixture without steel fibers, 0.2 rev/s to 0.8 rev/s were used to perform the tests. These speeds
two mixtures with a fiber volume fraction of 1.0% (78 kg/m3) correspond to strain rates of 0.25 s1 and 6.0 s1.
named as C1.0% (1.0% of SF2) and C1.0%H (0.5% of SF1 + 0.5% of The tests with V funnel were performed in an apparatus with
SF2) and two mixtures with a fiber volume fraction of 1.5% rectangular top and bottom sections of 515 mm  75 mm and
(117 kg/m3) named as C1.5% (1.5% of SF2) and C1.5%H (0.5% of 65 mm  75 mm (length and width), respectively [26]. Through this
SF1 + 1.0% of SF2). test the elapsed time (in seconds) between the opening of the bot-
The concretes were produced in a room with controlled temper- tom and the time when all the concrete flows through the lower sec-
ature of 21 °C ± 1 °C using a planetary mixer (previously mois- tion can be determined in order to measure the concrete flow ability.
tured) of 100 l capacity. The cementitious materials were The L box test was used to measure the filling and passing abil-
homogenized by dry mixing for 60 s prior to the addition of sand. ity of the studied concretes [27]. Three different configurations of
The dry ingredients were mixed for an additional 60 s prior to addi- bars (12 mm of diameter) were used. The space between bars
tion of superplasticizer and water. The mixture was blended for was 94 mm (one bar), 58.66 mm (two bars) and 41 mm (three
8 min. bars).

Fig. 1. Particle size distribution of (a) the used cementitious materials and (b) aggregates.
 D.A.S. Rambo et al. / Materials and Design 54 (2014) 32–42
Finally, the slump flow test was used to describe the flow ability
of the fresh mixtures in unconfined condition [28]. The determina-
tion of the concrete spread was performed by the arithmetic aver-
age of two measurements of the perpendicular concrete mass
diameter.
5. Mechanical testing
5.1. Direct tensile test
Direct tensile tests were performed in a Shimadzu universal
testing machine model UH-F1000kN with a computer-controlled
hydraulic servo system. The tests were controlled by the actuator
displacement at a rate of 0.1 mm/min (strain rate of
1.6  105 s1). Four dumbbell shaped specimens measuring
400 mm  100 mm  48.5 mm (length  width  thickness) were
tested using a gage length of 100 mm with fixed-hinged boundary
conditions for each concrete mix produced. Fig. 2 shows the testing
arrangement for the tensile test. Steel plates were glued on both
ends of the specimen at the gripping regions. A set of mechanical
grips were used. The tensile load and actuator displacement were
recorded.
5.2. Four point bending test
The bending tests were performed in the same Shimadzu uni-
versal testing machine used in direct tensile tests. Three specimens
were produced for each concrete mix produced, with cross sec-
tional dimensions of 100 mm  100 mm (width  thickness) and
Fig. 2. Direct tensile test set-up.
35
length of 400 mm. The span used between supports was 300 mm
long and between the loading knives 100 mm. The tests were con-
trolled by the actuator displacement at a rate of 0.5 mm/min. The
deflections of the beams at the mid-span were measured using
one LVDT. The neutral axis movement was experimentally deter-
mined by strain-gages (51.1 mm of length) attached to compres-
sion and tensile surfaces. The crack opening in the bottom
sample face of the beams was measured using one LVDT positioned
on the mid-span and aligned with the length. Furthermore, the
cracking development was also recorded during the loading cycle
of the bending test at regular time intervals for posterior image
analysis. A Nikon D90 digital camera with an AF Micro Nikkor
60 mm lens (f/2.8D) and frame grabber captured images of
4288  2848 pixels in resolution at 60 s intervals. The images were
used to measure the crack width during bending tests.
6. Round panel test
Structural tests were performed through round panel tests
based on the ASTM: C-1550. The nominal diameter and the thick-
ness of all tested specimens were 750 mm and 75 mm, respec-
tively. Three symmetrically arranged pivots (40 mm of diameter)
were used to support the samples (see Fig. 3). Three round panel
specimens were tested to failure in a Shimadzu servo-controlled
testing machine for each concrete mix produced. The load was ap-
plied using a rigid steel cylinder (50 mm of diameter) onto the
upper surface of the specimen at an actuator displacement rate
of 0.5 mm/min. The deflection response (until 40 mm) was mea-
sured using a LVDT positioned at the central part of the bottom
surface of the specimens. During the tests the crack opening, in
the bottom surface, was measured using a triangle shaped system
of three LVDT’s with three equal sides of 190 mm.
7. Discussion and analyses
7.1. Rheological properties
Fig. 4 shows the influence of steel fibers on the self-compacting
concrete flow measured with the parallel plate rheometer used in
this study. It can be seen that while the unreinforced concrete be-
haves linearly following the Bingham model the FRC curves are
non-linear. The rheological parameters of the fiber reinforced con-
cretes were then calculated using the Herschel–Bulkley model
where, s0o a and b are characteristics material parameters that de-
scribe the fresh behavior of concrete.
s ¼ s0o þ ac_ b ð6Þ
To correlate the material parameters s00 and ‘‘a’’ of the Herschel–
Bulkley model with the numerical parameters Co, A and b the
expressions derived by De Larrard and co-workers [29], shown in
Eqs. (7) and (8), were used. In those expressions R1 and R2 are
the internal and external sample radii of the rheometer (20 mm
and 120 mm, respectively), and h is the height of the sample
(100 mm).
3
s0o ¼ Co ð7Þ
2pðR32  R31 Þ
b
ðb þ 3Þ h
a ¼ 0; 9 bþ1
A ð8Þ
ð2pÞ ðRbþ3
2  R1bþ3 Þ
The plastic viscosity was determined using the equivalent
parameters a and b using Eq. (9), which correlates the Herschel–
Bulkley and Bingham models, where c_ max represents the maximum
strain rate used during the test ðc_ max ¼ 6 s1 Þ.
36 D.A.S. Rambo et al. / Materials and Design 54 (2014) 32–42

Fig. 3. Round panel test set-up: (a) details of the supports and LVDT’s and (b) detail of the crack opening measurement system.

Fig. 4. Influence of steel fibers on the self-compacting concrete flow of (a) concrete reinforced with 1.0% of steels fibers and (b) with 1.5%. The experimental points of the FRC
were adjusted by the Herschel–Bulkley model.

3a b1
l ¼ c_
b þ 2 max
From Fig. 4 and Table 2 it can be seen that, although a non-lin-
ear (Herschel–Bulkley) behavior was noticed, the non-hybrid sys-
tems presented a shear yield stress and viscosity lower than that
observed in the unreinforced matrix. On the other hand the hybrid-
ization of fibers (i.e. the addition of the 12 mm straight steel fiber)
increased the viscosity of the mix. This behavior was more pro-
nounced for the reinforcement ratio of 1.5%. Comparing the hybrid
system reinforced with 1.0% (Fig. 4a) to the one with 1.5% (Fig. 4b)
it can be seen that the shape of the curves are different and that for
speeds above 0.5 rev/s the non-linearity increases in a different
rate. This behavior indicates that the shear yield strength increases
when increasing the fiber volume fraction of the hybrid systems.
This was confirmed when computing the shear yield stress which
was found to be 111 Pa for the mix reinforced with 1.0% and
220 Pa for that reinforced with 1.0% of steel fiber.
As showed in Table 2, even with the incorporation of steel fi-
bers, all concretes had adequate viscosity and deformability under
their own weight. All studied concretes can be classified as self-
ð9Þ
compacting as they presented values of slump flow consistent with
the lower limit given by EFNARC 2005 [30] (P550 mm). The slump
flow diameter values ranged from 620 to 700 mm. The unrein-
forced matrix and the concretes produced with 1.0% of fibers
(C1.0% and C1.0%H) also meet the EFNARC specification for viscos-
ity (V funnel) and passing ability (L-box). The concrete reinforced
with 1.5%H was blocked in the V funnel and in the L-box with 2
bars. All the fiber reinforced concrete mixes were blocked in the
L-box test with three bars. This occurs due to the small spacing be-
tween the bars that is not common in structures where such fiber
reinforcement dosages (1.0% and 1.5%) and aspect ratios are used.
7.2. Mechanical behavior
Fig. 5 presents one representative curve obtained in the direct
tensile test for each material investigated in the present work.
The results of evaluation of all curves are given in Table 3. A small
branch of hardening was only observed for the mixtures C1.5% and

Table 2
Results of rheological tests.

Mixtures Spread (mm) V-funnel (s) L-box (H2/H1) Viscosity (Pa s) Shear yield stress (Pa)
I II III
Matrix 620 18.15 0.95 0.90 0.85 187 183
C1.0%H 705 18.39 0.95 0.90 BL 230 111
C1.0% 720 19.28 1.00 0.86 BL 157 178
C1.5%H 620 BL 0.53 BL BL 341 220
C1.5% 700 19.56 0.86 0.50 BL 156 131

BL = congestion of flow section.

I, II, III = number of steel bars.
 D.A.S. Rambo et al. / Materials and Design 54 (2014) 32–42 37

Fig. 5. Influence of the steel fiber reinforcement ratio in the direct tensile behavior
of the self-consolidating concretes.
C1.5%H. The composites reinforced with 1.0% of steel fiber pre-
sented a strain softening behavior. The tensile curves were de-
picted in 3 distinct phases. Phase I corresponds to the elastic-
linear range where both matrix and the fiber behave linearly.
Due to low volume fraction of fibers (61.5%) the stiffness of the
composite is dominated by matrix properties and this zone is lim-
ited to strain measures of up to 0.016%. This was confirmed by the
elastic modulus value of approximately 30 MPa computed for all
concretes. Phase II is marked by the bend over point (BOP) which
corresponds to the formation of matrix cracking. Phase III was
characterized by a strain softening behavior for composites rein-
forced with 1.0% and strain hardening for 1.5% of reinforcement.
The addition of the 12 mm fibers did not affect the ultimate tensile
strength (UTS) and rBOP. The maximum UTS of 4.46 MPa was ob-
served for the C1.5%. The strain hardening was marked by the for-
mation of only one visible cracking. This crack was able to widen
from 0.1% to 0.3% of deformation where a strain softening behavior
started.
Fig. 6a presents one representative curve obtained in the four-
point bending tests for each reinforcement ratio and hybridization
investigated in the present work. The results of evaluation of all
curves are given in Table 4. All fiber reinforced concretes presented
a deflection hardening behavior with a single cracking formation
surrounded by ramifications. The curves can be divided in four
main phases. The phase I corresponds to the linear elastic region
where both matrix and fiber behave linearly. In this region both
compression and tension strains are compatible. The limit of pro-
portionality (LOP) delimit the phase II. The LOP increased with
the addition of fiber reinforcement from 7.58 MPa (unreinforced
matrix) to 10.70 MPa (C1.0%H) (see Fig. 6b). This can be explained
by the action of the 12 mm fibers that bridges the micro-cracks.
When further increasing the reinforcement ratio to 1.5% it was no-
ticed a tendency of decreasing in LOP probably due to an increase
in the matrix porosity. The post LOP range (phase III) is character-
ized by a deflection hardening behavior but with the formation of
one single crack. Phase IV is characterized by the strain softening
response due to the widening of the crack. The highest flexural
behavior was observed for the composite C1.5% which presented
strength of 17.66 MPa. This represents an increase of 2.3 times in
comparison to the unreinforced matrix. It seems that the fiber
hybridization did not influence the flexural strength. The tough-
ness computed as the total area under the load displacement curve
showed to be sensitive to the hybridization of fibers. At low levels
of displacement (i.e. 0.2 mm) the hybrid composites (C1.0%H and
C1.5%H) showed a higher efficiency on energy absorption capacity
in comparison with non-hybrid systems (C1.0% and C1.5%). For
example, the concrete C1.0%H presented a toughness of 6.72 J
while the C1.0% 5.61 J. This can be attributed to the ability of the

Table 3
Average results of the direct tensile test. Standard deviation values are presented in parentheses.

Mixtures Tensile strength, deformation and modulus Tensile toughness

rBO (MPa) eBOP (%) Et (GPa) rUTS (MPa) eUTS (%) T0.5mm (J) T1.0mm (J) T2.0mm (J) T3.0mm (J) T4.0mm (J)
Matrix 2.19 (0.57) 0.0097 (0.0022) 28.93 (1.56) – – – – – – –
C1.0% 3.75 (0.49) 0.0163 (0.0087) 30.40 (1.33) 3.89 (0.59) 0.0888 (0.12) 5.7 (1.1) 10.4 (2.9) 16.9 (5.7) 20.5 (7.5) 22.5 (8.1)
C1.0%H 3.74 (1.31) 0.0162 (0.0048) 30.53 (2.43) 3.85 (1.31) 0.0650 (0.071) 5.8 (2.1) 9.9 (4.1) 15.0 (5.3) 18.5 (6.4) 20.3 (7.5)
C1.5% 3.89 (0.59) 0.0113 (0.0016) 32.07 (3.28) 4.46 (0.36) 0.174 (0.092) 6.3 (1.4) 11.1 (2.8) 16.8 (4.7) 21.1 (6.1) 25.0 (9.2)
C1.5%H 3.09 (0.25) 0.0142 (0.0024) 31.11 (3.53) 3.74 (0.22) 0.257 (0.040) 5.7 (0.5) 12.3 (1.1) 19.2 (1.9) 23.8 (2.2) 26.1 (4.5)

Fig. 6. Influence of the steel fiber reinforcement in the mechanical behavior of the self-consolidating concrete in the materials scale: (a) stress vs. displacement curves and (b)
zoom in (a) up to 0.4 mm of displacement.
38 D.A.S. Rambo et al. / Materials and Design 54 (2014) 32–42

small fibers (SF1) to delay micro-cracks in the concrete matrix.

140.68 (43.71)
105.28 (11.02)
However, for high displacement levels, the opposite occurs, and

163.21 (6.95)
112.9 (10.23)
the hybrid reinforced mixtures showed a more pronounced soften-

T4.0mm (J)
ing branch and lower toughness values than that of the non-hybrid
reinforced mixtures. Kim et al. [14] performed a similar work and

–
their results for bending tests of FRC’s reinforced with a mix of
hooked end and micro fibers resulted in an increase of bending

117.77 (34.65)
strength and toughness. It should be noted that they have used a

133.60 (6.51)
95.24 (7.20)
91.37 (8.90)
higher fiber dosage and a fine mortar matrix which resulted in
T3.0mm (J)

higher efficiency of fiber–matrix stress transfer.

The data acquisition of strains from the compression and ten-
–

sion faces during the bending test allowed the computation of

the neutral axis, NA (normalized with specimen depth, h) as seen
in Fig. 7a and b. During the bending test the section remains con-
(24.13)
(4.53)
(6.56)
(5.41)

stant at the centroidal location (0.5 h) until the first crack forma-
T2.0mm (J)

tion which happens at a deflection of about 0.05–0.06 mm. A

71.25
71.92
97.67
87.53

sudden change of the NA to 0.3 h happens for the non-hybrid sys-

–

tem and is observed after the formation of the first crack. This NA
continues to reduce until the displacement of 0.1 mm to a value of
(12.05)

approximately 0.23–0.25 h. This value indicates that assuming

(2.56)

(2.11)
(3.73)

plane sections remaining plane, 76–78% of the sample cross section

T1.0mm (J)

is in tension while the rest is in compression. For the hybrid sys-

38.57

49.87
45.24
40.82

tems (in special the C1.5%H mixture) a gradual decrease in NA is

Flexural Toughness

observed as a result of stress redistribution due to crack formation.

This value reaches 0.3 h at a displacement of 0.1 mm indicating
(0.72)
(0.56)
(0.15)
(0.26)

that the fiber hybridization was effective in mitigating the micro-

T0.2mm (J)

crack development as previously indicated by the toughness re-

5.61
6.72
7.16
7.33

sults calculated at low displacements.

–

The bending and tensile responses are compared in Fig. 8. The

inset plot shows the relationship between LOP vs. BOP and MOR
dMOR (mm)

(0.16)
(0.22)
(0.07)
(0.05)

(modulus of rupture) vs. UTS. It can be seen that under bending,

loads associated with the formation of the first crack occur at stress
0.83
0.53
0.72
0.67

levels 2.5 times higher as those observed for the direct tension
–

tests. At these stress levels a similar response was observed for

all composites. Although a greater variability was noticed at ulti-
(3.32)

(1.34)
(0.89)

(4.00)
MOR (MPa)

mate stress states, it can be concluded that values reported for

MOR is approximately four times greater than that of the UTS.
12.93

17.66
15.43
13.30

The localized strain measured from the electrical resistance gage

Average results of the flexural beam test. Standard deviation values are presented in parentheses.

positioned at the tensile surface is also shown in Fig. 8. The results

show that strains corresponding to first crack formation (from
(13.35)

0.01% to 0.016%) are in the same range for bending and tensile
(11.06)
(2.97)
(4.49)

loads. It can also be seen that the strain response agrees well with
Pu (kN)

the LVDT́s results until the crack appearance (LOP).

44.36
58.89
51.46
43.08

Fig. 9a shows one representative curve obtained in the round

–

panel test for each studied material. Table 5 presents the results
and calculations related to the tests. In the same way as that ob-
(0.007)
(0.002)
(0.007)
(0.007)
(0.007)

served for the flexural beam tests the round panel test results
dLOP (mm)

can be divided in four phases. Phase I corresponds to the linear

0.049
0.059
0.053
0.056
0.049

elastic region where the compressive and tensile strains are com-
patible. The formation and propagation of the first crack delimits
the second phase. During phase III all FRC’s exhibited a strain
Flexural strength and displacement

deflection behavior with the formation of three major axial cracks.

(0.75)
(0.84)

(0.84)
(0.98)
(1.01)
rLOP (MPa)

Several multiple fine cracks (see the inset in Fig. 9a) were also no-
ticed. The localization and widening of one major crack leads the
7.58
8.88

10.48
9.42
10.70

FRC to failure which is followed by a strain softening behavior.

While the unreinforced concrete presented the formation of only
three major radial cracks all steel fiber reinforced concretes also
(2.51)

(2.82)
(3.29)
(2.78)
(3.31)

presented a formation of multiple micro-cracks. A similar behavior

PLOP (kN)

was also reported by Bernard when testing FRC round panel spec-
25.27

34.95
31.42
29.60
36.02

imens [20,22]. In a different manner than that observed for the

flexural beam tests the fiber hybridization in the panels were ben-
eficial in increasing the first crack and ultimate loads for both stud-
ied reinforcement ratios. For example, for the reinforcement ratio
Mixtures

C1.5%H
C1.0%H
Matrix

of 1% the first crack and ultimate load increased from 29.76 to

C1.5%
C1.0%
Table 4

41.16 MPa and from 39.66 to 45.50 MPa, respectively. When look-
ing at Fig. 9b it can be seen that for low displacements (i.e.
 D.A.S. Rambo et al. / Materials and Design 54 (2014) 32–42
Fig. 7. Neutral axis computation: (a) non-hybrid and (b) hybrid systems.
Fig. 8. Comparative of flexural and tensile response. The curve in red shows the
local strain measurement of the electrical gage positioned in the tensile surface of
the flexural specimen.
<2.5 mm) the fiber reinforcement plays a major role in the
mechanical behavior of the FRC’s. For displacements at phase I
(in the linear elastic region) it was observed that the hybridization
in the C1.5%H increased the load bearing capacity showing the
Fig. 9. Influence of steel fiber reinforcement on the round panel test: (a) load vs. displacement results and typical crack pattern at 40 mm for C1.5% and (b) a zoom in the
results up to 2.5 mm of displacement.
39
capacity of the short 12 mm fibers of bridging the micro-cracks
and increasing the serviceability limit of the structure. The tough-
ness values computed at 5 and 10 mm also confirmed this mecha-
nism. At these displacements the energy absorption capacity was
superior for hybrid concretes than that observed by the concretes
reinforced only with the 35 mm hooked end fibers (refer to
Table 5).
The crack opening was measured during the round panel and
beam flexural test for the concrete specimens reinforced with
1.5% of the hooked end fibers. Fig. 10a shows one representative
curve along with the crack opening measurements of the three ma-
jor cracks for the round panel and of the single crack for the flex-
ural beam. Fig. 10b presents a detail plot of the crack opening
until a central displacement of 6 mm. The crack opening develop-
ment for the round panel can be divided in three phases. The first
phase corresponds to the linear elastic range. It can be seen that
the three used LVDT’s only measured the matrix deformation
which was linear elastic up to a deformation of 1.2 mm. At this
point the several radial cracks start to form. At phase II, from the
central displacement of 1.2 mm (0.73Pu) until 2.0 mm (0.89Pu),
the originated cracks propagated across the radius of the round pa-
nel specimen. At the end of phase II (0.89Pu) a crack opening of
0.2 mm was measured. It should be noticed that codes and specifi-
cations for design of most reinforced concrete structures establish
that the maximum allowable crack widths should range from 0.15
to 0.38 mm. Phase III initiates at the displacement of 2 mm. From
this point and above the three cracks start a widening process
40 D.A.S. Rambo et al. / Materials and Design 54 (2014) 32–42

Table 5
Average results of round panel test. Standard deviation values are presented in parentheses.

Mixtures First crack strength Flexural strength Toughness

P (kN) d (mm) P (kN) d (mm) T5.0mm (J) T10mm (J) T20mm (J) T30mm (J) T40mm (J)
Matrix 30.71 (3.72) 0.72 (0.05) – – – – – – –
C1.0% 29.76 (2.66) 0.95 (0.08) 39.66 (3.86) 3.42 (0.26) 164 (13.1) 336 (40.3) 519 (111) 781 (150) 870 (280)
C1.0%H 41.16 (0.61) 1.46 (0.25) 45.50 (1.97) 3.26 (0.54) 189 (13.2) 368 (15.1) 547 (25.9) 627 (98.5) 649 (170)
C1.5% 40.25 (0.58) 1.23 (0.16) 53.82 (4.76) 5.30 (0.56) 207 (17.7) 481 (30.5) 841 (87.9) 1021 (144) 1077 (320)
C1.5%H 46.36 (2.62) 1.16 (0.51) 63.38 (5.96) 5.23 (0.65) 255 (30.8) 549 (64.8) 612 (105) 1207 (250) 1303 (325)

Fig. 10. Crack opening measurements: (a) correlation of the crack opening measurements using three LVDT’s and the load vs. displacement curve obtained in the round panel
and flexural beam test for the C1.5%; (b) Zoom in the crack opening measurements up to 6 mm.

which for this specific specimen followed different rates. It was ob-
served a mean crack opening of 1.5 mm at the displacement corre-
sponding to the maximum load. During the strain softening region
the cracks continued to open until the final measured central dis-
placement of 40 mm. The final measured cracking opening was
12 mm for LVDT 1 and 27 mm for LVDT’s 2 and 3.
In the flexural beam test the crack initiated at the mid-span dis-
placement of 0.056 mm (0.6Pu). Results obtained from LVDT mea-
surement and image analysis showed similar values. The crack
opening was linear up to 2.0 mm (end of the strain softening
phase). Different from the round panel test it was not possible to
identify the point at which the crack crossed the specimen. At
the modulus of rupture point a crack width of 1.5 mm was mea-
sured (same value as reported for the round panel). It was observed
that for the same load ratios the crack width measured in the flex-
ural beam test was higher. For example the crack width computed
at 0.89Pu was found to be 0.36 mm in comparison to 0.2 mm ob-
tained at the same load ratio for the round panel. From the results
reported above it can be concluded that the 35 mm hooked end fi-
ber is effective in bridging the major and localized cracks leading to
a more stable crack propagation whereas the 12 mm fibers can
limit the initiation and propagation of microcracks. This behavior
is only visible in the structural scale testing performed in the round
panels.

7.3. Finite element analysis

A nonlinear simulation of the mechanical behavior of round pa-

Fig. 11. Uniaxial compressive and tensile stress strain relationship used in the finite
element simulation.
nel samples was performed in the finite element software ABAQUS
using the concrete damaged plasticity model [31]. The global ele-
ment was created according with the dimension of the real sample.
The round panel sample was discretized using 10404 shell ele-
ments with reduced integration (S4R). These type of elements are
usually employed in structures in which the thickness is approxi-
mately 1/10 the overall size. The three supports were fixed in three
mesh nodes spaced 120 °C radially in accordance with the test
geometry. Each support was modeled as hinges, unable to move
in the load direction. The used constitutive material relationship
is shown in Fig. 11. The experimental results were obtained in
the present work and in the author’s previous work [32].
In order to determine the load–displacement curves, incremen-
tal displacements were imposed at the central node and the reac-
tion force was measured. Fig. 12 compares the experimental
results with the simulation and shows the stress and displacement
 D.A.S. Rambo et al. / Materials and Design 54 (2014) 32–42
Fig. 12. Comparison of finite element analysis and experimental tests for the C1.5% and the stress and displacement fields immediately after the initiation of the first crack.
fields of the FEA. The simulation results obtained from the finite
element analysis showed a good correlation with the experimental
results, as the model accurately predicted the load vs. displace-
ment curve. The simulation at first crack reveals a maximum stress
of 3.69 MPa in the central part as well as over the three major
cracks. These agree well with the mean first crack stress of
3.89 MPa found in the direct tension tests. Central displacement
and load corresponding to first crack were smaller than the mean
values found in the experiments indicating that the modeled
boundary conditions were stiffer than the real tests. The use of
round panel tests to validate the finite element model is important
for further use in structural design. More research is needed to ver-
ify the model with others fibers in order to be able to use this
knowledge for the material and structural design purposes. The
use of the finite element analysis can be a powerful and unique
tool to design structural elements reinforced with fibers thus sav-
ing enormous time in laboratory.
8. Conclusions
The following conclusions can be drawn from the present work
on mechanical behavior of self-compacting concrete:
– The results obtained from the parallel plate rheometer showed
that while the unreinforced concrete behaves linearly following
the Bingham model the FRC curves are non-linear following
Herschel–Bulkley. The hybridization of fibers increased the vis-
cosity of the mix. Also for the hybrid system the increase in fiber
volume fraction lead to an increase in the shear yield strength.
– The direct tensile tests did not show any improvements for fiber
hybridization. Nevertheless for concretes reinforced with 1.5%
of fibers a small strain hardening branch has been observed.
– The flexural beam tests showed that all concretes have a deflec-
tion hardening behavior but with the formation of one macro
crack. The fiber hybridization was effective to increase the
toughness for central displacements up to 0.2 mm. The compu-
tation of the neutral axis by means of electrical strain gages
showed a gradual decrease when hybrid fibers are used in com-
parison to a sudden drop at 0.3 h observed for the non-hybrid
systems. Therefore, the fiber hybridization was effective in mit-
igating the micro-crack formation during bending tests.
– All FRC’s used in the round panel tests were characterized by a
formation of three major cracks and several micro-cracks. The
fiber hybridization was very effective in limiting the initiation
and propagation of micro-crack thus increasing the first-crack
41
and ultimate loads. A comparison of crack width performed in
the materials (four point bending) and structural scale (round
panel) showed that the widths related to same loading ratio
are smaller in the panel tests. Furthermore, crack widths com-
puted at up to 90% of the ultimate load were in the range
allowed in most of the design codes for reinforced concrete.
Finite element analysis was performed for the round panel
tests. The results showed a good correlation with the experimental
tests. Stresses at first crack were also similar in experimental FE
simulation and experiments. It seems that the boundary conditions
in the model are somehow stiffer than the ones used in the exper-
iments leading to lower displacements at first crack.
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