Steel fibered high-strength concrete (SFHSC) became in the recent decades a very popular material

in structural engineering. High strength attracts designers and architects as it allows improving the
durability as well as the esthetics of a construction. As a result of increased application of SFHSC,
many experimental studies are conducted to investigate its properties and to develop new rules for
proper design. One of the trends in SFHSC structures is to provide their ductile behavior that is
desired for proper structural response to dynamic loadings. An additional goal is to limit development
and propagation of macro-cracks in the body of SFHSC elements. SFHSC is tough and
demonstrates high residual strengths after appearance of the first crack. Experimental studies were
carried out to select effective fiber contents as well as suitable fiber types, to study most efficient
combination of fiber and regular steel bar reinforcement. Proper selection of other materials like
silica fume, fly ash and super plasticizer has also high importance because of the influence on the
fresh and hardened concrete properties. Combination of normal-strength concrete with SFHSC
composite two-layer beams leads to effective and low cost solutions that may be used in new
structures as well as well as for retrofitting existing ones. Using modern nondestructive testing
techniques like acoustic emission and nonlinear ultrasound allows verification of most design
parameters and control of SFHSC properties during casting and after hardening. This paper
presents recent experimental results, obtained in the field SFHSC and non-destructive testing. It
reviews the experimental data and provisions of existing codes and standards. Possible ways for
developing modern design techniques for SFHSC structures are emphasized.

iber reinforced concrete is a material that found wield field of applications in structural engineering as
a material with improved brittleness and ductility comparing to plain concrete. Application of
randomly distributed short fibers significantly improves the tensile strength, post-peak behavior
under tension and compression as well as the response to dynamic loading of concrete [1][2][3]. The
effectiveness of the fibers in the concrete matrix is affected by many factors like: fiber material,
volume ratio and geometrical parameters of fibers, their orientation in the matrix and strength of the
matrix. ...
... The effectiveness of the fibers in the concrete matrix is affected by many factors like: fiber
material, volume ratio and geometrical parameters of fibers, their orientation in the matrix and
strength of the matrix. Considering the material used for fibers, besides synthetic, organic, glass etc.,
steel is the most commonly used, because the biggest enhancement in mechanical parameters can
be obtained by incorporation of this kind of fibers into brittle matrix [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. The greatest
variety of the types of fibers can be found among the steel ones [4]. ...
... Currently produced fibers can be hooked, crimped, twisted, flattened and many others. The cross-
section of the fiber may be circular, rectangular, part of a circle or other irregular [1,2,4]. The length
of the fibers is crucial as fibers attract the cracks according to their length.
Fibre reinforcement can complement traditional reinforcing bars or replace them, thereby skipping
the time-consuming task of placing the reinforcing bars (Bekaert, 2012;Abbas, 2013;Ross, 2015). In
both scenarios, fibre reinforcement of concrete offers great advantages, since the fibres provide
support all throughout the matrix's cross-section, as opposed to just where the reinforcing bars are,
thereby increasing ductility, tensile strength, shear strength, flexural strength, durability, impact
resistance and toughness and reducing cracking and fatigue (Kang, Lee et al., 2011;Shah and
Ribakov, 2011;Mehta and Monteiro, 2013;Mukhopadhyay and Khatana, 2014;Söylev and Özturan,
2014;Abbas, Soliman et al., 2015). ...
... cracks at different stages of growth (Lawler, Zampini et al., 2005). Fibres can be categorised
alternately as nanofibres, microfibres and macrofibres, where nanofibres are defined as fibres
having a diameter smaller than 100 nm and length much greater than the other two dimensions,
macrofibres defined as those with a diameter greater than the size of a cement grain (which is
typically 10-20 µm) and microfibres as those of a diameter between nano-and macro-fibres ( Katz
and Li, 1996;Morisi, 2014; Jia, Chen et cracks into micro-scale and then macro-cracks and finally the
rapid expansion of macro- cracks until failure (Ferro, Tulliani et al., 2011;Shah and Ribakov, 2011).
Short and/or narrow fibres inhibit the formation of nano-, micro-and macro-cracks, whilst long and/or
thick fibres are best for the final of these stages and the strength of the composite material (Lawler,
Zampini et al., 2005;Konsta-Gdoutos, Metaxa et al., 2010a; Al-Rub, Ashour et al., 2012;Abbas,
Soliman et al., 2015). ...
... Increasing the concentration of fibres generally improves the concrete strength (at the expense of
workability) until a maximum limit is reached, which is dependent upon such factors as their aspect
ratio (i.e. length ÷ diameter), the tensile strength of the matrix and their ability to be dispersed (Vikan,
2007;Htut, 2010;Shah and Ribakov, 2011;Al-Rub, and Feldman, 1995;Uchida and Takeyama, 2010).
Polymeric fibres are cheap but lack elasticity and form a weak bond with cement (Abbas,
2013;Jiang, Fan et al., 2014). ...
. The tensile strength of the steel fibre is 1250 N/mm 2. Hooked end steel fibres is chosen in order to
enhance the anchorage between the steel fibre and the surrounding concrete matrix. The hooked
end produces greater friction between the fibres and the aggregates in the matrix as compared to
straight fibers [7] as well as higher toughness and residual strength [6], [15] as well as greater pull
out forces [15]. Similar fibre dosage of 80 kg/m 3 , which is equivalent to 1% of the total volume was
used for the construction of all slab samples. ...
... The tensile strength of the steel fibre is 1250 N/mm 2. Hooked end steel fibres is chosen in order
to enhance the anchorage between the steel fibre and the surrounding concrete matrix. The hooked
end produces greater friction between the fibres and the aggregates in the matrix as compared to
straight fibers [7] as well as higher toughness and residual strength [6], [15] as well as greater pull
out forces [15]. Similar fibre dosage of 80 kg/m 3 , which is equivalent to 1% of the total volume was
used for the construction of all slab samples. ...
... This volume fraction was chosen based on findings from previous research [16]. The fibres are
glued in bundles to facilitate the fibre distribution during concrete mixing and avoid the fibre balling
effect [15], [17], [18]. This type of fibres conforms to the requirement of BS EN 14889-1 (2006). ...
As a new high-performance concrete, steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) has been widely
investigated [1,2]. With proper mix design and preparation, performances of concrete related to
tensile and volume stability, such as cracking resistance, flexural resistance, shear resistance,
shrinkage resistance, post-cracking resistance, control of crack expansion/elongation and durability,
could be improved [3][4][5]. Moreover, some defects of high-strength concrete, such as the high
brittleness, low tensile strength and low strain capacities, can be overcome by the addition of steel
fibers [5][6][7]. ...
... With proper mix design and preparation, performances of concrete related to tensile and volume
stability, such as cracking resistance, flexural resistance, shear resistance, shrinkage resistance,
post-cracking resistance, control of crack expansion/elongation and durability, could be improved
[3][4][5]. Moreover, some defects of high-strength concrete, such as the high brittleness, low tensile
strength and low strain capacities, can be overcome by the addition of steel fibers [5][6][7]. ...
... The key issue is how to make the steel fibers randomly distributed in the matrix of SFRC and
ensure the steel fibers are well bonded with the binder paste of SFRC [4,8,9]. Aiming to improve the
inherent defects of ordinary concrete due to the internal micro- and macro-cracks, the mix proportion
design of SFRC is always based on ordinary concrete, and the performances of SFRC are evaluated
comparing with those where ordinary concrete is used as the matrix of the SFRC
[4][5][6][7][10][11][12]. With an increase of steel fiber content, the rack-type effect of steel fibers
always resulted in a decrease of the workability of fresh SFRC [13,14], and a decrease of the effects
on the improvement of the hardened properties of SFRC [6,7,10]. ...
.. In this sense, short fibers enhance the micro-cracking and cracking control within the range of SLS
while longer fibers are capable to bear stresses even in ULS conditions [24]. In any case, the type
and specifications of a fiber concrete mix is chosen to meet the target design requirements which
requires experience and testing efforts [25,26]. ...
... It must also be highlighted that the inclusion of fibers leads to an increase of both the compressive
and tensile strengths of FRC mixes comparing to plain concrete (41.1 N/mm 2 and 3.4 N/mm 2 ,
respectively). This effect has also been reported by other authors [26] and can be particularly
attributed to the capacity of short fibers to bridge the internal micro-cracks that govern the resistant
mechanism during the tests.
The use of steel fiber (SF) reinforced concrete has increased in worldwide (Mehran and Majid,
2018;Victor et al., 2018). Partial or full replacement of conventional reinforcement bars by SF has
become a popular solution for construction such as the prefabricated segmental lining of bored
tunnels, ground-supported slabs, thin-shell structures (Choi and Yuan, 2005;Shah and Ribakov,
2011;Victor et al., 2018). Using SF provides several advantages, such as improved durability and
compressive strength characteristics of concrete ( Aslani and Nejadi, 2013;El-Dieb and Amr,
2009;Hornbostel et al., 2013;Shi et al., 2012). ...
... Using SF provides several advantages, such as improved durability and compressive strength
characteristics of concrete ( Aslani and Nejadi, 2013;El-Dieb and Amr, 2009;Hornbostel et al.,
2013;Shi et al., 2012). There are numerous studies carried out on the effect of SF addition on the
performance of concrete (Aslani and Nejadi, 2013;Choi and Yuan, 2005;Deeb et al., 2012;El-Dieb
and Amr, 2009;Shah and Ribakov, 2011;Tokgoz et al., 2012). However, little study has been done
with concerning the influence of SF addition on the performance of medium
Fibre reinforcement is known to be effective at protecting against cracking in concrete by bridging
across micro-and macro-cracks [1,25], thereby making steel fibre-reinforced concrete (SFRC) highly
durable [40]. Based on extensive literature on modelling the behaviour of SFRC [5,31] and
optimising its mix proportions and design parameters [15], SFRC's effectiveness can be attributed
mainly to three key factors, viz. the relative quantity of fibres in the matrix, their dispersion within the
matrix and the quality of anchorage of fibres and the fibre-cement bond [7,19]. ...
... This research can be broadly categorised into: i) al- tering the physical shape of fibres; and ii)
chemical surface treatment of fibres. Numerous variations in fibre geometry have already been ex-
tensively studied, with favourable results achieved by end hooks, un- dulating patterns and plenty of
other configurations [40]. However, surface treatment of fibres for SFRC has received comparatively
scarce attention. ...
The greater friction was found from comparison matrix between the hooked end fibre and
aggregates with straight fibres [5]. Similar results were obtained with higher toughness and residual
strength [6,7] and greater pull out forces [7]. The dosage of the fibre used for all slab samples was
found to be 80 kg/m 3 , which is equivalent to 1% of the total mix volume. ...
... The greater friction was found from comparison matrix between the hooked end fibre and
aggregates with straight fibres [5]. Similar results were obtained with higher toughness and residual
strength [6,7] and greater pull out forces [7]. The dosage of the fibre used for all slab samples was
found to be 80 kg/m 3 , which is equivalent to 1% of the total mix volume.
herefore, it is of great significance to investigate the effects of various parameters on the dynamic
mate- rial performances of FRC and understand the structural response of FRC components before
implementing them into protective struc- tures. Among various types of reinforcing fibres, steel fibres
have often been used for resisting impact or blast loads [1], as the big- gest enhancement in
mechanical properties are normally obtained by incorporating steel fibres into the brittle cementitious
matrix [2,3]. Thus, steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) is the focus of this study. ...
... The DIF formulas recommended by the CEB-FIP model code 1990 [7] are given by Eqs. (1)
and (2). How- ever, these formulas may not be suitable for SFRC. ...