J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551

Review
REVIEW

High-performance fiber-reinforced concrete: a review

Vahid Afroughsabet1,*, Luigi Biolzi1, and Togay Ozbakkaloglu2

1
Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
2
School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia

Received: 3 February 2016 ABSTRACT

Accepted: 19 March 2016 In recent years, an emerging technology termed, ‘‘High-Performance Fiber-Re-
Published online: inforced Concrete (HPFRC)’’ has become popular in the construction industry.
30 March 2016 The materials used in HPFRC depend on the desired characteristics and the
availability of suitable local economic alternative materials. Concrete is a com-
Ó Springer Science+Business mon building material, generally weak in tension, often ridden with cracks due
Media New York 2016 to plastic and drying shrinkage. The introduction of short discrete fibers into the
concrete can be used to counteract and prevent the propagation of cracks.
Despite an increase in interest to use HPFRC in concrete structures, some doubts
still remain regarding the effect of fibers on the properties of concrete. This
paper presents the most comprehensive review to date on the mechanical,
physical, and durability-related features of concrete. Specifically, this literature
review aims to provide a comprehensive review of the mechanism of crack
formation and propagation, compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, stress–
strain behavior, tensile strength (TS), flexural strength, drying shrinkage, creep,
electrical resistance, and chloride migration resistance of HPFRC. In general, the
addition of fibers in high-performance concrete has been proven to improve the
mechanical properties of concrete, particularly the TS, flexural strength, and
ductility performance. Furthermore, incorporation of fibers in concrete results in
reductions in the shrinkage and creep deformations of concrete. However, it has
been shown that fibers may also have negative effects on some properties of
concrete, such as the workability, which get reduced with the addition of steel
fibers. The addition of fibers, particularly steel fibers, due to their conductivity
leads to a significant reduction in the electrical resistivity of the concrete, and it
also results in some reduction in the chloride penetration resistance of the
concrete.

Address correspondence to E-mail: vahid.afroughsabet@polimi.it

DOI 10.1007/s10853-016-9917-4
6518
Introduction
Concrete is a widely used material throughout the
world, and large quantities of various types of con-
crete are commonly used. Due to the extensive usage
of this material, many researchers are investigating
its engineering properties [1–7]. Development of
modern civil engineering construction has generated
a high demand for new types of concretes which are
required to possess improved qualities including
strength, toughness, and durability [8–12]. Some
examples of new types of concrete include high-
strength concrete (HSC), high-performance concrete
(HPC) and high-performance fiber-reinforced con-
crete (HPFRC). HPC can be designed to have higher
workability, higher mechanical properties, and
improved durability compared to those of the tradi-
tional concrete [13–18]. In addition, supplementary
cementitious materials such as silica fume (SF),
ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS), and fly
ash (FA) as a part of binders can be used for pro-
duction of HPC [19, 20]. These additives can be
added into the concrete mix, individually or in vari-
ous combinations, to enhance the mechanical, phys-
ical, and durability features of concrete [21–26]. The
addition of mineral admixtures has many advan-
tages. One advantage is that their small size allows a
better compactness of the cement paste. Another
advantage is that the inclusion of mineral admixtures
in concrete leads to an increase in the ultimate com-
pressive strength [27–30]. Furthermore, better work-
ability and durability can be obtained through the
addition of these materials [31–33]. On the other
hand, introducing mineral admixtures in concrete
also have negative impacts and results in an increase
in the brittleness of concrete [34]. Cracks generally
develop over time, impairing the waterproofing
properties and exposing the interior of the concrete to
the destructive substances containing moisture, bro-
mine, acid sulfate, etc. [35–39].
Fibers can be incorporated into cementitious con-
crete to produce materials with increased tensile
strength (TS), ductility, toughness and improved
durability properties [40–46]. HPFRC is introduced
as a special type of HPC, characterized by a low
water–binder ratio, inclusion of pozzolanic materials
of high-quality, high-TS, and high-durability fea-
tures [47–51]. The most significant contribution from
the fibers is the ability to delay crack propagation in
the hardened concrete. The internal stresses in the
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551
hardened concrete cause the formation of microc-
racks. The inclusion of randomly distributed steel
fibers is able to transfer the stress within the con-
crete microstructure and prevent the propagation of
the cracks [52, 53]. Because of this fiber character-
istic, the flexural strength, fracture toughness, ther-
mal shock strength, and resistance under impact
and fatigue loadings properties can be improved
[54–60]. It was observed that incorporation of steel
fibers in HPC can reduce the brittleness of concrete
and alter the mode of failure of the concrete struc-
ture [61–64].
Fibers are categorized as either metallic, polymeric
or natural [65]. Among the various types of fibers,
steel fiber (Metallic) is the most commonly used for
most structural and nonstructural purposes [66]. This
is followed by polypropylene (PP), glass and other
fibers; however, these types of fibers are not com-
monly used for structural concrete applications [67,
68]. The reasons for the greater use of steel fibers
include economics, manufacturing facilities, rein-
forcing effects, and resistance to harsh environmental
conditions [69]. The efficiency of the fiber is depen-
dent upon factors such as properties of the fiber
matrix, volume of fiber inclusion, fiber geometry,
type of fiber, and orientation of fiber in the concrete
mixture [70–74]. Metallic fibers are made of either
carbon or stainless steel, which have TS in the range
of 200–2600 MPa. Elastic modulus of synthetic fibers
is an important factor affecting the properties of
concrete reinforced with these fibers. This results in a
significant change in the properties of HPFRC with
the incorporation of different fibers.
Most research studies on HPFRC are focused on
using steel fibers as either a single inclusion or
combined use with other nonmetallic fibers. A sum-
mary of review papers in the field of HPFRC, and
their contributions and limitations is shown in
Table 1 [1, 63, 75–79]. In addition, data from around
370 recent studies on the field of fiber-reinforced
concrete (FRC) have been reviewed to establish the
important properties of HPFRC for use in the devel-
opment of design guidelines and codes [80–83]. Even
though there are some overlap between goals of
previous studies and the present study, the main goal
of this work is to summarize the effects of different
types and contents of fiber on the mechanical, phys-
ical, and durability properties of HPFRC. This review
paper aims to make a significant contribution toward
the better understanding of the behavior of HPFRCs
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551 6519

Table 1 Summary of previous review papers in the field of fiber-reinforced concrete

Authors Year of Contributions Limitations

publication

Zheng and 1995 This paper reviewed the research on the performance This paper was published in1995, and since then the
Feldman of synthetic fiber-reinforced concrete based on effect of the addition of synthetic fibers on the new
[75] polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), acrylics types of concrete such as high-performance
(PAN), polyviny1 alcohol (PVA), polyamides concrete has not beenreviewed. In addition, the
(PA), aramid, polyester (PES) and carbon influence of synthetic fibers on the durability
reinforcements properties of concrete was not considered
Abtahi et al. 2010 This study reviewed methods of sample preparation, This paper mainly discussed application of different
[76] and the history of fiber reinforcement in pavement nonmetallic fibers for producing asphalt-concrete.
engineering. It was also reviewed the effect of Mechanical and durability properties of concrete
different fibers such as: polypropylene, polyester, were not considered in this work
asbestos, cellulose, carbon, glass, and nylon on the
properties of fiber-reinforced asphalt-concrete
Shah and 2011 This paper reviewed recent experimental results, In this review paper, a special attention was drawn to
Ribakov obtained in the field of steel fiber-reinforced high- steel fiber, and the influence of the addition of
[77] strength concrete, and nondestructive testing. It other fibers was not illustrated
also discussed about fresh concrete properties,
hardened concrete properties, durability properties,
and structural behavior of SFHSC elements.
Furthermore, normative rules, application, and
nondestructive methods for testing fiber-reinforced
concrete was presented
Hassanpour 2012 In this paper, the effect of fibers on the workability, The effect of the inclusion of fibers on the physical
et al. [1] density, compressive strength, stress–strain and durability properties of LWAC was not
diagram, modulus of elasticity, splitting tensile discussed
strength, and flexural strength of light weight
aggregate concrete (LWAC) was reviewed
Mechtcherine 2012 The long-term field performances of elements and The focus of this paper was on the long-term
[78] structures made from or strengthened with high- durability and service life of concrete, but
performance fiber-reinforced composites such as mechanical characteristics of composites were not
SHCC or TRC were reviewed reviewed
Ardanuy et al. 2015 This paper reviewed the research done in the last few This work particularly focused on the cellulose
[79] years in the field of cement-based composites fibers, and the use of other types of fiber was not
reinforced with cellulose fibers, focusing on their investigated
composition, preparation methods, mechanical
properties, and strategies to improve fiber–matrix
bonding and composite durability
Soltanzadeh 2015 In this study, an innovative mix design method was The durability characteristics of concrete were not
et al. [63] proposed by authors for the development of high- reviewed. Also, the main focus of this paper was
performance concrete reinforced with a relatively on the properties of fiber-reinforced concrete steels
high dosage of steel fibers. It was reviewed the
effect of fly ash, limestone filler, type of
superplasticizer, and dosage of superplasticizer.
The mechanical properties of designed HPFRC,
such as compressive strength, flexural behavior,
were evaluated, and a FEM model for shear
behavior was provided

through a comprehensive review it provides on the strain behavior, TS, flexural strength, drying shrink-
mechanism of crack formation and propagation, age, creep, electrical resistance, and chloride migra-
compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, stress– tion resistance.
6520
Mechanics of crack formation
and propagation
Concrete usually exhibits large numbers of microc-
racks even before it is subjected to any loads [84]. The
aggregate-mortar interface is typically the weakest
link in the composite concrete system [85–87]. During
loading, cracks will typically form at interfacial
transition zone, generally the weakest part of most
hardened concrete, and influence the mechanical
properties of the concrete. Cement-based materials
have a relatively low TS and low tensile strain
capacity. Due to its low tensile strain capacity, con-
crete has a brittle behavior, and cracks are almost
inevitable in any concrete structure [88, 89]. The
applied load surpassing the low TS of the concrete is
the primary reason of crack formation [90]. These
cracks propagate under loading and contribute to the
nonlinear behavior at low stress levels and volumet-
ric expansion until failure. The fiber has the ability of
transferring stress between the matrix and tensile
strains at rupture [91]. This fiber capability causes
improvements in the post-cracking behavior and the
toughness of the concrete [92, 93].
Pre-cracking mechanisms (stress transfer)
Concrete is a heterogeneous material with pores and
microcracks caused by shrinkage and thermal strains,
which have been restrained by coarse aggregates and
boundary conditions. Hence, during loading, the
matrix transfers part of the load to the fibers before
any macrocracks are initiated [94]. As a consequence,
Figure 1 Schematic description of the stress-crack opening relationships for the plain concrete and FRC. Reproduced from [102] with
permission from Author.
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551
it has been shown that the strength of the concrete
can be increased by adding fibers with a higher
elastic modulus than that of the matrix [95].
Post-cracking mechanisms (crack bridging)
In FRC, the main effect from fibers comes after the
initial cracking of the matrix. The steel fibers are able
to bridge the cracks and transfer the stress across the
cracks. The presence of steel fibers is also able to limit
the propagation of the cracks [96, 97]. The TS of the
steel fibers is higher than that of the hardened con-
crete. Therefore, the failure of a FRC is mainly due to
the failure of the bonding between the concrete paste
and the fibers. This pull-out effect of fibers was
observed in the failure of FRC tensile tests. The
inclusion of deformed-end fibers (e.g., hook-end steel
fibers) results in a considerable energy dissipation
that takes place to straighten and plastically deform
the fibers [98–101].
There will be also the combined effect of aggregate
and fibers bridging in FRC. Comparing the two types
of bridging effect from the aggregate and steel fibers,
the effect of steel fibers bridging is significantly
greater as shown in Fig. 1. The process from crack
initiation to failure of the specimen can be broadly
divided into three zones: (1) a zone of microcracking
and macrocrack growth, (2) bridging zone, and (3)
traction-free zone [102]. Depending on the amount of
fibers crossing the crack and on the fiber–matrix
bonding, the post-crack stress can be larger than the
cracking load, resulting in a so-called strain harden-
ing behavior where multiple cracks occur. However,
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551
for normal fiber content (\1 %) the concrete exhibits
strain softening behavior, which the damage localizes
immediately after initiation of the first crack.
Fiber orientation and its effect
on the mechanical properties of FRC
Efficiency of fibers in enhancing mechanical proper-
ties is significantly influenced by their orientation
with respect to the cracks formed in concrete [103,
104]. The positive effect of fibers on the performance
of FRC is maximized when the fibers are aligned
perpendicular to the crack openings in the direction
of stress [105, 106]. Mechanical property results of
FRC show scatter as a result of variations in the fiber
orientation in different specimens [107–111]. The
orientation of fibers is generally characterized
through the so-called orientation number, gh, which
varies from 0.0 to 1.0, denoting fibers parallel and
orthogonal to the analyzed cross section, respectively
[112]. The parameters that affect the fiber orientation
in composites include the fresh-state properties,
casting method, vibration, flow direction, and form-
work geometry [113–116]. Among these, the wall-ef-
fects produced by the formwork and the fresh-state
characteristics of SFRC are recognized as most
influential [117, 118].
There are different techniques to measure the
alignment of steel fibers in concrete, which can be
classified as destructive and nondestructive methods.
Researchers have studied the fiber orientation in the
composites by using different techniques, such as the
manual counting [119, 120], image analysis [121, 122],
electrical AC-Impedance measurement [117, 123–
125], electrical resistivity [108, 126, 127], and X-ray
computed tomography [109, 128–130]. The last of
these techniques is a nondestructive method that
investigates the internal structure of materials. This
technique has recently become popular among
researchers owing to its advantages such as higher
accuracy and simplicity over the other techniques
[128].
Lin [131] investigated the effect of fiber orientation
on the compressive strength of specimens were dril-
led from a concrete block with dimensions of
1060 9 1060 9 300 mm. It was found that the sam-
ples taken vertically from the concrete block had a
larger compressive strength compared to that of the
specimens taken horizontally. This can be attributed
6521
to the fact that fibers were aligned more horizontally
in the specimens taken vertically, and consequently
they arrested the propagation of vertical cracks cre-
ated during compression. This is in agreement with
the findings of Bonzel and Schmidth [132]. Barnett
et al. [108] studied the effect of fiber orientation on
the flexural strength of ultra-HPFRC by assessing the
effect of flow direction to evaluate the influence of
fiber orientation on the results. It was found that the
fibers tended to incline perpendicularly to the flow of
concrete. It was also shown that panels poured from
the center had the highest strength compared to those
poured randomly or at several locations around the
perimeter of the panel. Edgington and Hannant [133]
reported that the flexural strength of specimens that
were cast horizontally increased by 75 % over that of
the specimens cast vertically. In another study,
Ponikiewski et al. [129] investigated the effect of fiber
orientation on the flexural strength of beams that
were cut from a wall with dimensions of
1200 9 1200 9 150 mm. In this study, the concrete
was pumped from the upper middle section of the
formwork to fill the structure. It was shown that the
specimens taken from the bottom part of the wall
exhibited the best post-cracking behavior, which was
also verified by the better dispersion and alignment
of fibers seen in the X-ray computed tomography
results. As evident from the summary presented in
this section, the fiber alignment has a considerable
influence on the mechanical properties of FRC, and it
should be taken into consideration in the design of
different structural elements manufactured with
FRC.
Mechanical properties of FRC
It has been shown that different parameters of fibers
such as type, content, aspect ratio, and length
affecting the properties of FRC. Therefore, it is quite
essential to consider the influence of each factor on
the concrete mix design. This review paper was
aimed at making a significant contribution toward
the understanding of the effect of these important
factors on the properties of FRC. In this paper, special
focus is drawn on the steel FRC as their applications
are widespread. However, the influences of the other
fiber types and fiber hybridization on the properties
of concrete containing different fibers are also pre-
sented to make a comprehensive conclusion.
6522
According to the importance of other parameters
such as temperature and aggregate type on the fea-
tures of HPFRC, an overview is made to demonstrate
their effects on the properties of concrete.
Compressive strength
In general, HPFRC exhibits higher compressive
strength than concrete without fiber [26, 62, 134, 135];
however, there are instances where conflicting results
on the compressive strength of HPFRC are reported
in literature [136].
Steel FRC
Song and Hwang [16] studied the effect of steel fiber
on the compressive strength of HSC at various fiber
contents including 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 % by volume
of concrete. The maximum compressive strength
was obtained with the inclusion of 1.5 % fiber in
which the compressive strength was measured to be
15.3 % higher than that of the HSC without fiber. In
another study by Ding et al. [137], it was reported
that steel fiber had no significant influence on the
compressive strength of hardened concrete. In their
study, they introduced hooked-end steel fiber
(L = 35 mm and D = 0.55 mm) at the dosages of 25
and 50 kg/m3. It has been shown that the com-
pressive strength of HPFRC was almost equal to that
of plain concrete. Eren and Çelik [138] pointed out
that the content and aspect ratio of fibers are pri-
mary factors governing the compressive strength of
concrete. In this study, it was observed that the use
of steel fiber with higher content and aspect ratio led
to a higher increase in the compressive strength.
Köksal et al. [139] also studied the influence of steel
fiber on the compressive strength of FRC containing
silica fume. To investigate the effect of silica fume,
three different percentages including 5, 10, and 15 %
were used. In addition, steel fiber was used with
aspect ratios of 65 and 80 at two fiber contents of 0.5
and 1.0 %. It was reported that the compressive
strength values of concretes having aspect ratio of 80
were higher than that of concretes with aspect ratio
of 65 for the same silica fume and steel fiber content.
The addition of 1 % steel fiber content with aspect
ratios of 80 and 65 resulted in increases up to 117.6
and 113.8 %, respectively, in the compressive
strengths of steel FRCs having 15 % silica fume
compared to that of control specimen.
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551
In another study, the effect of inclusion of mineral
admixtures and steel fiber content on the behavior of
HPC was investigated [134]. Two varieties of mineral
admixtures such as silica fume and blast-furnace slag
were used for 10 and 20 % by weights of cement,
respectively. In addition, a commercial corrugated
steel fiber (L = 55 mm and L/D = 69) was added
into the mix. It was reported that the presence of steel
fiber had a significant effect on the compressive
strength of HPC. The addition of 2 % steel fiber
content caused an increase of about 30 % on the
compressive strength of the mix with 20 % slag. In
addition, the aspect ratio of fibers is another impor-
tant factor that influences on the properties of con-
crete. Yazici et al. [55] showed that the compressive
strength of SFRCs increased from 4 to 19 % as a result
of addition of steel fiber. Furthermore, SFRCs with
fiber contents of 1.5, 1.0, and 0.5 % were observed to
have the highest compressive strength for aspect
ratios of 45, 65, and 80, respectively. Chen and Carson
[140] have also reported that for a given fiber content,
the concrete mix with shorter fiber had higher com-
pressive strength than that of with longer fiber.
Hybrid FRC
Some researchers studied the influence of fibers
hybridization on the properties of concrete. The basic
purpose in using hybrid fibers is to control cracks at
different size levels, in different zones of concrete, at
various curing ages, and at multiple loading stages.
The large and strong fibers control large cracks, while
the small and soft fibers control crack initiation and
propagation of small cracks [141]. For example,
Mohammadi et al. [56] studied the effects of addi-
tions of corrugated steel fiber with two aspect ratios
of 40 (fiber size 0.6 9 2.0 9 50 mm) and 20 (fiber size
0.6 9 2.0 9 25 mm) on the compressive strength of
concrete. The longer and shorter steel fibers were
used in weight proportions of 100–0 %, 65–35 %,
50–50 %, 35–65 %, and 0–100 %, respectively, at dif-
ferent fiber contents of 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 %. It was
pointed out that, in general, the increase in the
compressive strength varied from 3 to 26 % upon the
addition of fiber into concrete. The best performance
was attained by the mix with 2 % fiber content con-
taining 100 % short fiber, which its compressive
strength was increased by 26 % compared to that of
the plain concrete. The maximum increase in the
compressive strength for other mixes was observed at
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551
the fiber content of 1.5 %. Similar findings were
reported by Komlos et al. [142], Qian and Stroeven
[143], Glavind and Aarre [144], and Kim et al. [145].
A reduction in the compressive strength through
the addition of fibers was also observed [58, 138,
146, 147]. Eren and Celik [138] showed that intro-
ducing 2 % content by volume of steel fiber
(L = 60 mm and D = 0.8 mm) into a high-strength
concrete with a 28-day compressive strength of
56 MPa, resulted in a reduction up to 41 % in the
strength of concrete. In addition, Hossain et al. [148]
illustrated that the addition of polyvinyl alcohol
(PVA) fiber did not improve the compressive
strength of concrete. In most cases, the reason for
decrease in the compressive strength is likely that
the dispersion of fibers, specifically in the concrete
with high fiber content is very difficult and conse-
quently causes poor workability and incomplete
consolidation [149–153]. In general, it can be con-
cluded that the compressive strength of FRC is rel-
atively less affected by the presence of fibers
compared to the strengths of concrete under the
tension and flexural load [154].
Modulus of elasticity
In homogeneous materials, a direct relationship exists
between density and modulus of elasticity. In
heterogeneous, multiphase materials such as con-
crete, the density, the modulus of elasticity of the
principal constituents, and the characteristics of the
transition zone determine the elastic modulus
behavior of the composite [67]. The experimental test
results indicate that the use of fibers has no signifi-
cant influence on the modulus of elasticity of con-
crete, particularly at a low fiber’s content [155, 156]. It
was reported by some researchers [157–161] that
introducing fibers, and specifically steel fibers caused
an increase in the modulus of elasticity of concrete,
whereas other researchers could not comply with it
[162–165].
Influences of fiber type, fiber aspect ratio, and fiber content
Beigi et al. [166] studied the influence of fiber types
on the properties of self-consolidating concrete. Steel
fiber at the content of 0.2, 0.3, and 0.5 %,
polypropylene fiber at the content of 0.1, 0.15, and
0.2 % and glass fiber at the content of 0.15, 0.2, and
0.3 % were used. It was reported that the inclusion of
6523
fibers did not significantly affect the modulus of
elasticity of the concrete, and in the most cases, a
slight reduction in the modulus of elasticity was
observed compared to that of the control concrete.
Köksal et al. [139] investigated the effect of steel fiber
aspect ratio on the HSC containing different per-
centages of silica fume. It has been shown that at the
same silica fume content, the modulus of elasticity of
the concretes was decreased with an increase in the
steel fiber content for all the aspect ratios. The mod-
ulus of elasticity of the steel FRC with an aspect ratio
of 80 was observed to be greater than that of the
concrete with aspect ratio of 65. This was in agree-
ment with the finding of Gul et al. [167]. Atiş and
Karahan [58] pointed out that elastic modulus of
concretes with 0.25 and 0.5 % steel fiber content was
slightly higher than that of the concrete without fiber.
In general, the addition of steel fibers did not
improve the values of modulus of elasticity but rather
this resulted in a reduction in the modulus of elas-
ticity with an increase in the fiber content.
In another study performed by Suhaendi and
Horiguchi [168], it was reported that the incorpora-
tion of polypropylene fiber led to a reduction in the
modulus of elasticity. However, introducing steel
fiber in concrete resulted in an increase up to 7 and
22 % in the modulus of elasticity of concrete with
0.25 and 0.5 % fiber content, respectively, compared
to that of the control specimen. Aulia [169] studied
the effect of addition PP fiber at the content of 0.2 %
on the elastic modulus of concretes with different
types of aggregate. He showed that the inclusion of
polypropylene fiber in concrete did not significantly
affect the modulus of elasticity of the HSC. The
average increase in the modulus of elasticity of
concrete with different aggregates containing
polypropylene fiber was up to 6 % and the average
decrease amounted up to 5 %. This indicates that
the use of 0.2 % polypropylene fiber resulted in a
low influence on the modulus of elasticity of con-
crete rather than the influences contributed by the
other compositions of the concrete. The effect of
addition fibers on the modulus of elasticity of con-
crete at different ages is investigated by Aslani and
Nejadi [170]. They reported that the incorporation of
30 kg/m3 steel fiber content led to a reduction on
the elastic modulus of concrete at the ages of 3, 7,
and 14 days; however, this resulted in an increase
on the modulus of elasticity at the ages of 28, 56,
and 91 days compared to that of the plain concrete.
6524
Furthermore, the effect of use 5 kg/m3 PP fiber on
the modulus of elasticity of concrete was negligible.
An increase in the modulus of elasticity was
observed, through the combined used of fibers.
Hybrid FRC
An experimental study was conducted by Dawood
and Ramli [171] on the high-strength mortar (HSM)
reinforced with steel fiber and hybrid fibers consist-
ing of steel, palm, and synthetic fibers (Barchip). It
was reported that the use of 2 % steel fiber by volume
of concrete led to an increase up to 36 % on the static
modulus of elasticity. This can be explained by the
fact that steel fibers have a higher stiffness compared
to nonmetallic fibers, which resulting in a higher
modulus of elasticity in HSM [172, 173]. The com-
bined use of 0.25 % palm fiber, or 0.5 % palm fiber
and synthetic fiber with steel fiber (total fiber content
of 2 %), was found to be very effective in improving
the elastic modulus of concrete. These combinations
of fibers caused increase of 44 and 52 %, respectively,
in the static modulus of elasticity of concrete. This is
likely due to the optimization of fiber content to
develop a higher bond strength behavior and thus
providing a higher modulus of elasticity [173, 174].
Stress–strain curve
Typically, the stress–strain curves of most normal
strength concretes are roughly linear to about one-
third to one-half of the concrete’s ultimate strength
[175]. In the case of high-strength concrete, it has
been found to be straight up to 85 % or more of the
peak stress [176]. Such a high linearity of the stress–
strain relationship can be attributed to the absence of
microcracks at low load levels [67, 177], which causes
sudden failure and high brittleness behavior of con-
crete. It was reported that the addition of steel fibers
into concrete has little-to-no effect on the ascending
part of the stress–strain relationship, while it has a
significant effect on the descending branch of the
curve [146, 178–180]. However, Ding and Kusterle
[95] found that at early age, fiber reinforcement has a
significant effect on the ascending portion of the
stress–strain curve. In addition, it has been shown
that the descending part of the stress–strain curve is
an essential key element in the nonlinear analysis and
design of reinforced concrete members under com-
pression loads.
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551
Influences of fiber type, fiber aspect ratio, and fiber content
Marar et al. [181] indicated that increases in the
content and aspect ratio of fiber led to an increase in
the compression toughness of concrete. It was
reported that the use of 2 % steel fiber content with
aspect ratios of 60, 75, and 83 caused the compression
toughness energy of concrete to increase by 5.4, 7.0,
and 7.6 times, respectively, compared to that of the
plain HSC. As shown in Fig. 2, the slope of the
descending part decreased as the fiber content
increased, which resulted in an increase in the
toughness. An increase in the fiber content led to an
improvement in the post-peak ductility and energy
absorption capacity of the HSFRC. In addition, the
strain at the peak compressive stress was also
increased with an increase in the volume of fiber.
This finding was in agreement with the results of
Ünal et al. [182], Ezeldin et al. [183], Panzera et al.
[184] and Nataraja et al. [174]. Lu and Hsu [185]
investigated the effect of steel fiber on the stress–
strain curve of high-strength concrete. It was pointed
out that introducing 1 % hooked-end steel fiber
(L = 30 mm and D = 0.5 mm) in HSC caused the
compressive strength to increase from 67 to 69 MPa.
In addition, the axial and lateral strains at peak stress
were also increased. As they indicated, the ascending
parts of HSC and SFHSC followed the same trends
even though FRCs were more ductile on the
Figure 2 Typical stress–strain relationship for HSC containing
steel fiber with aspect ratio of 83 at fiber volume content of 0.5,
1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 %. Reproduced from [181] with permission from
Elsevier.
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551
descending branches compared to those of the con-
crete without fiber.
Influences of high temperature and aggregate type
There are several studies that investigated the behav-
ior of FRCs subjected to elevated temperature. Poon
et al. [62] studied the impact of steel and polypropy-
lene fibers on the stress–strain behavior of HPC. Con-
crete mixtures were prepared with 1 % steel fiber
(L = 25 mm and L/D = 60), 0.11 and 0.22 % PP fiber
(L = 19 mm and L/D = 360), and a combination of
1 % steel fiber and 0.22 % PP fiber by volume of con-
crete. As can be seen in Fig. 3, the addition of steel fiber
caused the toughness of the unheated concrete to
increase by approximately two times. Steel FRCs also
exhibited the highest toughness values after the high-
temperature exposure. In the case of unheated con-
cretes, the inclusion of PP fiber in concrete resulted in a
slight increase in the toughness of concrete. However,
introducing polypropylene fiber led to a quicker loss of
the compressive strength and toughness of the con-
crete after exposure to the elevated temperature com-
pared to the mix reinforced with steel fiber. The
combined use of PP fiber with steel fiber caused in a
slight increase in the toughness compared to the dis-
crete use of steel fiber. Taerwe [186] indicated that the
addition of fiber in HSC resulted in an improvement in
the toughness. The toughness index, which defined as
the ratio of the specific toughness (the ratio of the
toughness to the compressive strength) of the FRCs to
Figure 3 Typical stress–strain relationships for HPC containing
10 % silica fume and fibers of different contents (Note SF-0, SF-1,
SF-2, SF-3, and SF-4 indicate concrete without fiber, with 1 %
steel fiber, 0.11 % PP fiber, 0.22 % PP fiber, and hybrid-reinforced
concrete containing 1 % steel and 0.22 % PP fiber, respectively).
Reproduced from [62] with permission from Elsevier.
6525
that of the control specimen was increased by more
than two times. Furthermore, it has been shown that
the addition of fiber into concrete led to an increase in
the compressive strain at the peak stress of concrete
[146, 179].
In a recent study, Carneiro et al. [187] studied the
influence of steel fiber on the recycled aggregate
concrete obtained from construction and demolition
waste (CDW). Hooked-end steel fiber (L = 35 mm
and L/D = 65) was used as a reinforcement at the
fiber content of 0.75 % by volume of concrete. It was
observed that the addition of steel fiber and recycled
aggregate resulted in an increase in all the mechani-
cal properties of the CDW-concrete, and also caused a
better performance in term of fracture process. The
addition of fiber was particularly useful to increase
the post-cracking resistance of the recycled concrete
mixtures. It was observed that the addition of steel
fiber resulted in an increase in the area under
descending part of stress–strain curves, and led to a
similar behavior to that of the FRC with natural
aggregate.
The effect of loading rate on the stress–strain curve
The behavior of concrete structures subjected to high
strain rate loadings is different from that of concrete
under static loading conditions due to the strain rate
effect. Wang et al. [164] reported that the loading rate
has an influence on the stress–strain behavior of high-
strength FRC. They studied HSC without fiber, con-
crete with 0.5 % straight steel fiber (L = 13 mm and
L/D = 81) (SF-HSC), concrete with 0.5 % poly-
ethylene fiber (PE-HSC), and concrete with combi-
nation of 0.5 % steel and 0.5 % PE fibers (HY-HSC)
subjected to loading rates varying from 40 to 300 s-1.
It was reported that an increase in the strain rate
caused an increase in the toughness of concrete based
on the area under full stress–strain curve. It has been
shown that there was no significant difference
between the toughnesses of SF-HSC and HY-HSC.
Considering the cost and effect on workability, add-
ing 0.5 % steel fiber alone appeared to be a better
choice than using the same amount of PE fiber or a
combined use of these fibers.
Splitting tensile strength
The TS of concrete is much lower than the compres-
sive strength, which is normally assumed to be equal
6526
to zero and is not considered directly in design [188,
189]. This is demonstrated that under tensile loading,
cracks propagate rapidly at much lower stress levels
than compared to compressive stress levels, which
cause brittle failure in the concrete [190]. Even for
reinforced concrete structural members, due to the
low TS of concrete, the concrete cover is likely to be
cracked under load. Dewar [191] studied the rela-
tionship between the indirect TS (cylinder splitting
strength) and the compressive strength of concretes
having compressive strengths of up to 85 MPa at
28 days. It has been shown that at low strengths, the
indirect TS may be as high as 10 % of the compressive
strength, but at higher strengths it appears to reduce
to 5 %. It was observed that the splitting TS was
about 8 % higher for crushed-rock-aggregate concrete
than that of the gravel-aggregate concrete.
Influences of fiber type, fiber aspect ratio, and fiber content
In the case of steel fibers, reports [192–194] showed
that incorporation of steel fibers into the concrete can
change the mode of failure. Lu and Hsu [185]
reported that HSC experienced a brittle splitting
tensile failure when the lateral deformation exceeded
its tensile capacity, while the SFHSC exhibited more
ductility without a sudden breakage of the cylinder,
which could be attributed to the reinforcement effect
of steel fiber. Previous researchers [26, 55, 70, 139,
195–199] have shown that the addition of steel fibers
in very low contents (Vf B 0.5 %) in concrete resulted
in a maximum increase in the splitting TS ranged
from 9 to 50 % compared to the concrete without
fiber. For low contents (0.5 % \ Vf B 1 %) and higher
contents (1 % \ Vf B 2 %) of fibers, improvements
were observed in the splitting TS values that varied
from 15 to 121 % and 40 to 143 %, respectively.
According to the results of Song and Hwang [16], an
increase in the steel fiber volume fraction up to 2 %
resulted in an increase in the splitting TS. It was
reported that the increase in the splitting TS ranged
from 19.0 to 98.3 %, depending on the fiber content
compared to that of the control concrete. An increase
up to 92.5 % was also shown with the addition of
2.0 % steel fiber (L = 32 mm and L/D = 50) in light
weight aggregate concrete [200].
Yazici et al. [55] investigated the effect of aspect
ratio and fiber volume fraction on the splitting TS of
SFRC. Hooked-end bundled steel fiber at three aspect
ratios of 45, 65, and 80 and three dosages of 0.5, 1.0,
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551
and 1.5 % by volume of concrete were used. It was
pointed out that the use of fiber resulted in an
increase in the splitting TSs of SFRC varied from 11 to
54 % compared to that of the control mixture. This
increase in the splitting TS can be explained by the
fibers ability to restrain the extension of cracks,
reduce the extent of stress concentration at the tip of
cracks, bridging macrocracks, and anchoring mech-
anism created by their hooked-ends. An increase in
the aspect ratio of fiber led to an increase in the
splitting TS of SFRC. Particularly, the utilization of
1.5 % steel fiber was more effective in enhancement
of the splitting TS. Similarly, splitting TSs was raised
with an increase in the fiber content. Wafa and
Ashour [180] demonstrated that the addition of 1.5 %
hooked-end steel fiber resulted in an increase up to
159.8 % in the splitting TS of concrete compared to
that of the unreinforced concrete. Eren and Çelik
[138] reported that the TS was increased up to
129.9 % for the concrete manufactured with 2 % steel
fiber and with an aspect ratio of 60, which included
10 % silica fume. It was observed that silica fume in
addition to improving the characteristics of interfacial
layer of aggregate-paste, increased the bonding
between fibers and cement matrix, which conse-
quently caused an increase in the TS of concrete [201].
The effectiveness of simultaneous using of steel fiber
and pozzolanic materials, was also recommended by
Tsai et al. [202].
Synthetic FRC
Some other studies investigated the influence of
synthetic fibers on the splitting TS of concrete. For
instance, Song et al. [203] pointed out that the inclu-
sions of 0.6 kg/m3 nylon and polypropylene fiber in
concrete resulted in increases of up to 17.1 % and
9.7 % in the splitting TS, respectively, compared to
that of the control concrete. Noushini et al. [153] also
studied the effect of PVA fiber with the length of 6-
and 12-mm, at different contents on the strength of
concrete. It was reported that the 28-day splitting TS
of the plain concrete was significantly increased by
introducing PVA fiber into the mix. It has been
shown that the increase in the TS caused by the
addition of PVA fiber ranged from 11 to 32.5 %,
depending on the fiber length and fiber content. The
best performing mix was attained by the one with
0.25 % shorter length PVA fiber. It was observed that
the incorporation of fiber at content higher than
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551
0.25 % or with longer length (12-mm compared to
6-mm) did not lead to a higher splitting TS. However,
it resulted in an increase in the ductility of the con-
crete by improving its post-cracking resistance. Pre-
vious studies [204, 205], reported that the influence of
addition fibers in concrete is more in the nature of
energy absorption and crack control than in increas-
ing the maximum load-bearing capacity. Fibers are
helpful in increasing the concrete’s volumetric strain
capacity after cracking by bridging cracks and,
thereby, improving the post-peak behavior of FRC
[206–208].
Hybrid FRC
Mohammadi et al. [56] conducted an experiment to
study the behavior of hybrid FRC. As can be seen in
Fig. 4, a maximum increase up to 59 % was observed
in the splitting TS of the concrete with 65 % long fiber
(L = 50 mm and L/D = 40) and 35 % short fiber
(L = 25 mm and L/D = 20) at a fiber volume fraction
of 2 % with respect to control specimen. Furthermore,
the effect of three different fibers at low fiber volume
fraction was investigated by Yao et al. [199]. It was
reported that when fibers are introduced individually
into concrete, the additions of carbon and steel fibers
resulted in an increase in the TS, whereas the addi-
tion of PP fibers led to a reduction in the strength. In
addition, carbon fiber (CF) led to the highest splitting
TS, while PP fiber caused the lowest strength. In
hybrid FRCs, hybridization of carbon with steel fibers
resulted in the highest splitting TS, which was
Figure 4 Typical splitting tensile strength of fiber-reinforced
concretes with mixed aspect ratios of fibers at different fiber
volume fractions. Reproduced from [56] with permission from
Elsevier.
6527
remarkably higher than that of either using carbon or
steel fibers individually. Similarly, the benefit of
combined use of fibers in concrete was also reported
by other researchers [209–214].
Flexural strength
It has been reported that the inclusion of fibers in
HPC resulted in an increase in the flexural strength of
concrete [215–220]. The reason for this increase is that
after matrix cracking, the fibers will carry the load
that the concrete sustained until cracking by the
interfacial bond between the fibers and the matrix.
Therefore, the fibers resist the propagation of cracks
and tend to reduce the sudden failure of specimen,
which causes an increase in the load carrying
capacity of concrete [221, 222].
Influences of fiber type, fiber aspect ratio, and fiber content
Song and Hwang [16] showed that the addition of
steel fiber up to 2 % led to an increase in the modulus
of rupture (MOR). It was reported that the increase in
the MOR ranged from 28.1 to 126.6 %, depending on
the fiber content compared to that of the plain con-
crete. Balaguru et al. [223] investigated the influence
of fiber type, content, and length on the flexural
behavior of HSC. It has been shown that the use of
hooked-end steel fiber in concrete was very effective
in increasing the toughness compared to other types
of fiber. It was also pointed out that the fiber content
in the range of 30–60 kg/m3 was sufficient to obtain a
ductile behavior. However, it was shown that for
corrugated and deformed-end fibers, a higher fiber
volume fraction is needed to obtain the same amount
of the toughness. Furthermore, in case of hooked-end
steel fiber, the lengths of the fiber generally did not
significantly affect the toughness of concrete.
Soroushian and Bayasi [206] studied the effect of
steel fiber type on the flexural performance of HPC. It
was pointed out that for an aspect ratio of about 60
and 75, and for a given fiber content of 2 %, hooked-
end steel fiber generated flexural strength and energy
absorption capacities which are higher than those of
concrete with straight and crimped steel fibers.
According to the results of Yazici et al. [55], the aspect
ratio of steel fiber had a considerable effect on the
improvement of the flexural strength of concrete. It
was shown that the control concrete was attained a
flexural strength of 5.94 MPa. However, for aspect
6528
ratios of 45, 65, and 80 the minimum and maximum
flexural strength values at the fiber content of 0.5, 1.0
and 1.5 % were 6.14, 6.24, and 6.42 MPa and 7.75,
9.33, and 10.76 MPa, respectively. The efficiency of
fiber content in increasing the flexural strength of
concrete was also reported by Balaguru and Najm
[222]. It was pointed out that an increase in the fiber
volume fraction up to 3.75 % led to an approximately
100 % increase in the material toughness compared to
that of the conventional concrete. Among different
fibers that were considered in their study, the use of
hooked-end steel fiber in concrete caused the highest
toughness compared to that of the concrete with
straight steel fiber or polypropylene macrofiber.
Mehta and Monteiro [67] indicated that the greatest
advantage in the fiber reinforcement of concrete is the
improvement of the flexural toughness. It was shown
that the inclusion of 1.25 % steel fiber content caused
the flexural strength and toughness of concrete to
increase by about 2 and 20 times, respectively. This
clearly shows that the efficiency of fibers in increas-
ing the toughness of concrete is significantly higher
than that in the improvement of the flexural strength.
Synthetic FRC
Toutanji [37] studied the effect of PP fiber at different
fiber volume fractions on the flexural strength of con-
crete. It has been shown that an increase in the fiber
volume fraction resulted in an increase in the post-
peak flexural resistance of concrete. A pronounced
increase in the flexural strength was noted upon
increasing the fiber volume fraction from 0.1 % to
0.3 %, and a relatively smaller increase was observed
as a result of the addition 0.5 fiber content. The effect of
fiber length on the flexibility of the composites was
investigated by Shao and Shah [224], and Ye et al. [225].
It was pointed out that the composite with shorter PVA
fiber length (L = 4 mm) had smaller deflection at the
peak load compared to that of the mix with longer fiber
length (L = 6 mm). In addition, it has been reported
that the ratio of the MOR to the TS for fiber composites
varied between 3 and 4, whereas for the plain concrete,
the ratio of MOR to TS was about 1.6, which is typical of
brittle material.
Hybrid FRC
Qian and Stroeven [143] investigated the effect of the
addition different steel fibers and PP fiber on the
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551
flexural performance of specimens reinforced at the
fiber content ranged from 0.4 to 0.95 %. It was
reported that the inclusion of large hooked-end steel
fiber SF1 (L = 40 mm and D = 0.3 mm) and the use
of PP fiber with the length of 12-mm significantly
influenced the load-bearing capacity of hybrid FRC in
the small displacement range. Furthermore, intro-
ducing small plain steel fiber SF3 (L = 6 mm and
D = 18 lm) in concrete also exerted a certain con-
tribution toward the improvement of the flexural
strength. It has been shown that among three differ-
ent types of steel fibers considered in that study, SF1
exhibited the best performance. The reason was that
the SF1 fiber owing to its particular shape compared
to the plain SF3, and higher aspect ratio compared to
SF2 (L = 30 mm and D = 0.3), had a remarkable
influence on the flexural strength of concrete.
Mohammadi et al. [56] reported that the inclusion of
1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 % steel fiber content led to an increase
in the flexural strength of concrete varied from 28 to
61 %, 45 to 95 % and 43 to 167 %, respectively,
depending on the weight of long and short steel
fibers in the concrete. The maximum load was
attained by the mix that manufactured with 100 %
long fiber.
The test results reported by Banthia and Sap-
pakittipakorn [226] are shown in Fig. 5. Although
hybridization appears to be a promising concept,
FRC with hybridization of large and small diameter
crimped fibers failed to reach the toughness levels
demonstrated by FRC with small diameter fiber
Figure 5 Typical flexural load–deflection curves for single and
hybrid steel fibers with diameters of 0.80 and 0.40 mm at a
volume fraction of 0.75 %. Reproduced from [226] with permis-
sion from Elsevier.
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551
Figure 6 Typical flexural load–displacement curves of single
fiber and hybrid fiber proportions at the same total fiber content.
The HyFRC is a concrete mixture, while the single-fiber
composites are mortar mixtures (Note S1 and S2 indicate
hooked-end steel fiber with the lengths and diameters of 30 and
0.55, and 60 and 0.92 mm, respectively. PA indicates polyvinyl
alcohol fiber with 8-mm length). Reproduced from [227] with
permission from ACI Materials Journal.
alone. Sivakumar and Santhanam [70] reported that
the combined use of polypropylene, glass or polye-
ster fibers with steel fiber led to an increase in the
pre-peak and post-peak performance of FRC com-
pared to those of the concrete without fiber. Blunt
and Ostertag [227] also showed that the use of hybrid
fibers was very effective in improving the flexural
behavior of concrete compared to that of the com-
posite with single fiber. As can be seen from Fig. 6,
the mixture with 1.5 % total fiber content (0.8 %
S2 ? 0.5 % S1 ? 0.2 % PVA) showed a significant
increase in the post-cracking resistance of the con-
crete compared to that of the concrete with monotype
fiber. It has been shown that the use of fiber
hybridization resulted in an increase up to 196 % in
the maximum flexural strength relative to the control
concrete.
Physical and durability properties
of FRC
In this section, the influence of different parameters
such as fiber type, fiber content and fiber aspect ratio
on the properties of FRC is discussed. Considering
the important effect of mineral admixtures on the
properties of concrete, this paper was aimed to
6529
address their contribution on the physical and dura-
bility behaviors of FRC.
Drying shrinkage
Drying shrinkage has a serious impact on the struc-
tural and durability performance of the concrete.
Shrinkage cracking in concrete structures may accel-
erate other forms of damage in concrete such as
corrosion, freeze/thaw damage, and subsequently
shorten the service life of structures [228, 229].
Shrinkage of concrete due to loss of water is closely
linked to the properties of cement paste, in which
pore structure, specifically pore size is principal fac-
tor. The shrinkage of concrete is also affected by
many different parameters such as composition of the
concrete, method of curing, ambient temperature,
and humidity condition [230].
Influence of mineral admixtures on the shrinkage of FRC
In one of their studies Cheung and Leung [231]
studied the effectiveness of sulfoaluminate cement
(SAC) and shrinkage-reducing admixture (SRA) on
the shrinkage of high-strength fiber-reinforced
cementititous composites (HSFRCCs) with various
water–binder ratios. HSFRCC were manufactured
with water–binder ratios of 0.19, 0.3, and 0.4 when
ordinary Portland cement was used. Concretes with
SAC were developed at water–binder ratios of 0.21,
0.3, and 0.4. Microsteel fiber (L = 13 mm and
D = 0.16 mm) was used at the volume fraction of 2 %
in all mixes. It was reported that SAC was more
effective in reducing the shrinkage of HSFRCC with
higher water–binder ratios (0.3 and 0.4), whereas
SRA indicated better performance in a lower water–
binder ratio. The combined use of SAC and SRA led
to a very significant reduction in the shrinkage of
concrete. Drying shrinkage was decreased by over
80 % when the water–binder ratio was around 0.2,
while the reduction was over 70 % for mixes with
water–binder ratios of 0.3 and 0.4. Other researches
also indicated that the use of SRA in concrete caused
a reduction in the shrinkage of cementitious materials
[232–235]. It has been shown that introducing SRA in
concrete can lead to a reduction up to 50 % in the
drying shrinkage of concrete [236, 237]. It was also
pointed out that the inclusion of silica fume can
reduce the drying shrinkage of concrete [238]. This
desirable effect can be explained by the ability of
6530
silica fume to decrease the pore size and connectivity
of the voids in addition to the prestressing influence
that result in a reduction in the shrinkage.
Influences of fiber type and fiber content
Though researchers have been studying the effect of
fibers on the drying shrinking of concrete for dec-
ades, their results really explored contradictory con-
clusions [239–241]. Some studies showed that fibers
had an insignificant effect on the shrinkage [242–244],
while others indicated a real contribution of fibers in
reducing the shrinkage of FRC [245–248]. A reduction
up to 8 % [249], 24 % [250], 32 % [251], 50 % [252],
and 65 % [253] have also been reported by
researchers.
Kaı̈kea et al. [134] studied the effects of mineral
admixtures and steel fiber content on the drying
shrinkage of HPC. In this study, the cement weight
was replaced by 10 % or 20 % of silica fume or slag,
respectively, as supplementary cementitious materi-
als. Corrugated steel fiber (L = 55 mm and
D = 0.8 mm) was added into concrete at fiber volume
fraction of 1 and 2 %. The water to binder ratio was
equal to 0.27. Figure 7 indicates that an increase in the
fiber content resulted in a significant reduction in the
shrinkage strain of concrete, particularly at 28-day.
Specimens with the fiber content of 1 % (HPCB1% and
HPCS1%) showed a reduction in the shrinkage of
concrete varied from 4 to 9 % compared to that of the
corresponding plain concrete specimens. Introducing
2 % fiber content (HPCB2% and HPCS2%) in concrete
led to a reduction in the shrinkage ranged from 15 to
24 %. This is in agreement with the results of Mangat
and Azari [254] that demonstrate an increase in the
steel fiber volume fraction has a significant influence
Figure 7 Typical free shrinkage of high-performance fiber-reinforced concrete: a include silica fume, b include blast-furnace slag.
Reproduced from [134] with permission from Elsevier.
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551
on the reduction of drying shrinkage. Also, Bywalski
et al. [251] reported that the 28-day total shrinkage of
mix with 3 % straight steel fiber (L = 13 mm and
D = 0.2 mm) reduced by 32 % compared to that of the
plain concrete. Furthermore, a reduction up to 84 % in
the drying shrinkage strain of concrete containing
0.19 % short CF (L = 5 mm and D = 0.01 mm) with
15 % silica fume was also observed by Chen and
Chung [255].
The effect of aggregate type on the shrinkage of FRC
Since light weight aggregate can significantly affect
the drying shrinkage of concrete, there are a
numerous studies that deal with this topic. Kayali
et al. [256] investigated the effects of polypropylene
and steel fibers (L = 18 mm and L/D = 37.5) on the
drying shrinkage of fiber-reinforced lightweight
aggregate concretes (LWAC) containing 10 % silica
fume and 25 % FA. Polypropylene fiber was used at
the content of 0.28, 0.56, and 1.0 %, and steel fiber
was added at the contents of 0.56, 1.13, and 1.7 %. It
has been shown that introducing lightweight
aggregate in concrete caused the long-term shrink-
age of concrete to increase by two times compared
to that of the normal weight concrete with approx-
imately similar strength. In addition, the shrinkage
of normal weight concrete stabilized after 400 days,
while the shrinkage of lightweight aggregate con-
crete did not appear to stabilize after a similar per-
iod of continuous drying. It was also reported that
the use of PP fiber in concrete had no significant
influence on the drying shrinkage, while the inclu-
sion of steel fiber led to a reduction in the drying
shrinkage of concrete. Furthermore, Güneyisi et al.
[249] studied the effect of hooked-end steel fiber
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551
(L = 30 mm and D = 0.75 mm) on the shrinkage
deformation of lightweight aggregate concrete. It
was pointed out that introducing steel fiber at the
contents of 0.25, 0.75, and 1.25 % by volume of
concrete caused a reduction up to 8 % in the drying
shrinkage of concrete. It was also reported that the
shrinkage of concrete was unaffected with an
increase in the content of steel fiber.
Synthetic FRC
Among several types of nonmetallic fibers, the
effects of polypropylene, PVA, polyester, glass,
nylon, and cellulose fibers on the drying shrinkage
of concrete were investigated [36, 252, 257–259]. In
general, the drying shrinkage of specimens was
reduced by the incorporation of fibers in concrete.
For example, as shown in Fig. 8 [252], the addition
of 0.2 % nylon fiber with 12-mm length led to a
remarkable reduction in the shrinkage strain of
concrete, and specimen attained a very small strain
rate of less than -100 9 10-6. The plain specimen
experienced a strain of about -400 9 10-6 at
56 days. This decrease in the drying shrinkage can
be attributed to the higher TS of nylon fiber com-
pared to that of other types of fiber, and was likely
an outcome of better dispersion of the fiber through
the concrete mass.
Hybrid FRC
Hybridization of fibers with different sizes and types
is very helpful in reducing the drying shrinkage of
Figure 8 Typical free shrinkage of high-performance fiber-rein-
forced concrete containing different types of fiber at volume
fraction of 0.2 % (Note NY, PP, PV, and ST indicate nylon,
polypropylene, polyvinyl alcohol, and steel fibers, respectively).
Reproduced from [252] with permission from Elsevier.
6531
concrete [260–262]. Sun et al. [253] produced different
HPCs containing expansive agent and reinforced
with different fibers. Steel fiber with different lengths
of 5, 10, and 25 mm, PVA fiber, and polypropylene
fiber (PP) were added to concrete at different com-
binations. The water–binder ratio of 0.32 and total
fiber content of 1.5 % were used in their study. It was
pointed out that at a given fiber content, the effec-
tiveness of fibers was dependent on the elastic
modulus of fibers other than their size and volume
fraction. For the concrete reinforced with hybrid steel
fibers, the shrinkage strain was lower than that of the
concrete with discrete use of larger size steel fiber. It
was observed that the combined use of steel fibers
caused a reduction in the 28-day shrinkage strain of
the concrete, which varied from 10 to 34 % and 45 to
65 %, respectively, compared to that of the specimen
with 1.5 % large steel fiber (25 mm) and plain
concrete.
Creep
Concrete due to its poor strain capacity and low TS is
a brittle material and highly sensitive to cracking. In
most cases, cracks can significantly reduce the life-
time of a structure by allowing aggressive agents to
move into the cracked areas [263]. The evolution of
strains and crack openings through time is funda-
mental for the durability of concrete structures.
Therefore, time-dependent phenomena such as
shrinkage and creep must be taken into account along
with instantaneous strains and cracking [264, 265].
Concrete is known to deform considerably under
constant loading and normal service conditions.
Compressive creep strain in conventional concrete
can be 1.30–4.15 times higher than the initial elastic
strain under standard conditions [266, 267]. Rossi
et al. [268] conducted a study to compare the creep of
concrete in tension and compression. It was pointed
out that the basic creep was more important in
compression than that of in tension, while the tensile
creep and compressive creep in drying conditions
were equivalent. It was also reported that there was a
greater difference between the basic creep in tension
and in compression when the concrete was younger.
Less information can be found in literature about
the creep deformation of fiber-reinforced high-
strength concrete. Another problem is the high
deviation of experimental results, which makes it
difficult to draw clear conclusions about the effect of
6532
fibers on the creep deformation of FRC [269]. Some
studies reported that fibers had a little impact on the
creep behavior of concrete [267, 270], while others
indicated that fibers are effective in reducing the
creep of FRC [265, 271–273]. Furthermore, there are
studies that have shown introducing fibers resulted
in an increase in the creep deformation of concrete
[274, 275].
Bernard [276] studied the creep behaviors of
cracked FRC specimens and round panels based on
ASTM C1550. The effect of inclusion high-modulus
synthetic macro fiber, crimped low-modulus syn-
thetic macro fiber, and flat-end steel fiber on the long-
term creep behavior of cracked concrete specimens
was investigated. It was reported that the concrete
with high-modulus synthetic macro fiber had creep
deformation similar to that of the steel FRC, whereas
introducing low modulus synthetic macro fiber led to
an increase in the creep strain. In another study
Bywalski et al. [251] investigated the influence of steel
straight fiber (L = 13 mm and D = 0.2 mm) on the
creep behavior of HSC. Steel fiber with three volume
fractions of 1, 2, and 3 % was used as the reinforcing
material. To investigate the creep of HSC, the water–
binder ratio of 0.26 was used. As can be seen in Fig. 9,
the presence of steel fiber had negligible or small
effect on the value of creep deformation of fiber-re-
inforced HSC. Also, the fiber content had no signifi-
cant influence on the creep deformation of concrete. It
was reported that the value of creep deformation
depend on the concrete matrix, or to be more exact,
its quality. The quality of the concrete matrix is
Figure 9 Typical creep deformation of fiber-reinforced concrete
after 28 days (Note A, B, C, and D indicate plain concrete, fiber-
reinforced concretes containing 1, 2, and 3 % steel fibers,
respectively). Reproduced from [251] with permission from
Elsevier.
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551
affected by the consolidation of the concrete mixture.
This conclusion may be applied in the assumption for
estimating the bending rigidity of structural ele-
ments, assuming for the purpose of calculations, the
creep deformation identical as in the case of HSC
without fiber.
Mangat and Motamedi Azari [277] also studied the
creep behavior of steel fiber-reinforced cement com-
posites. Melt extract (L = 22.5 mm and D = 0.4 mm)
and hooked-end (L = 28.2 mm and D = 0.48 mm)
steel fibers were used at the content ranged from 1 %
and 3 % by volume of the mix. It was reported that
the inclusion of steel fiber led to a significant reduc-
tion in the creep of concrete. Creep progressively
decreased as a results of increasing the fiber content.
It has been shown that the 90-day creep strain of the
control concrete under load was 940 microstrain,
whereas concretes with 1.5 and 3 % volume of melt
extract fiber were attained 800 and 715 creep
microstrain, respectively. The reduction in the creep
strain for those specimens was 15 and 24 %, respec-
tively, compared to that of the plain concrete. It was
also reported that at a given fiber content, the dif-
ference between the performances of hooked-end and
melt-extract steel fibers in restraining the creep of
concrete was marginal. This can be attributed to the
similar aspect ratios (l/d) of these fibers that ranged
between 56 and 61.
Garcı́a-Taengua et al. [278] assessed the effect of a
number of variables such as fiber geometry (aspect
ratio and length), fiber content, and concrete com-
pressive strength on the flexural creep of steel FRC in
its cracked state. Five different steel fibers with
length/aspect ratios of 35/80, 50/80, 40/65, 50/45,
and 30/50 were used at two fiber contents of 40 and
70 kg/m3. Two different base mix designs with the
compressive strength of 25 and 40 MPa were con-
sidered to cover the range of low- and mid-strength
concrete. It was pointed out that the fiber length did
not have a statistically significant effect on the creep
parameters analyzed. On the other hand, it has been
shown that the fiber content had a statistically
remarkable effect on the most creep parameters
considered in that study. Increasing the fiber content
led to an increase in the load-bearing capacity, and
higher loads can be applied without increasing creep
strains. It was reported that an increase in the fiber
aspect ratio caused a reduction in the creep strain of
concrete. It was also observed that fibers were not
required in a high dosage and fibers with larger
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551
aspect ratio exhibited the highest resistance to the
creep deformation.
Houde et al. [279] studied the creep of concrete
containing silica fume and fibers. Silica fume was
used at 5, 10, and 15 % content of cement weight.
Straight steel and polypropylene fibers were used at
volume fractions of 1 and 0.3 %, respectively. It was
pointed out that replacing cement weight with silica
fume up to 10 % led to a reduction by at least 20 % in
the creep of concrete with or without fiber. They
indicated that introducing 15 % silica fume in con-
crete resulted in a significant change in the creep
behavior of concrete. It has been reported that a
reduction in the creep deformation of concrete with
silica fume over that of the concrete without silica
fume varied from 10 to 15 %. A similar pattern was
observed by Buil and Acker [280] at 25 % replace-
ment of cement weight by silica fume. They also
demonstrated that the addition of polypropylene or
steel fibers caused a pronounced increase up to 40 %
in the creep of plain concrete and, to a lesser extent,
the creep of concrete containing 5–10 % silica fume.
Chern and Chang [281] also reported that from both
economic and engineering points of view, the best
performing mix was the one with 1 % steel fiber and
10 % silica fume content.
Electrical resistivity
Concrete is a multiple-phased material, and its
microstructure contains many interconnected micro-
pores, in which the applied external current can be
transferred through the migrating ions. Hence,
resistivity measurement is an effective way to explore
the microstructure and the features of ions in the
micropores of concrete [282–285]. This technique is
related to chloride ingress because chloride presence
can increase electrical current and reduce the resis-
tivity of concrete [286, 287]. Therefore, it can be used
to provide information regarding the risk of steel
rebar corrosion in the concrete [288–291]. There are
some established relationships between the corrosion
rate and electrical resistivity of concrete that are
shown in Table 2 [292], and Table 3 [293]. It is sug-
gested that an electrical resistivity of higher than
20 KX cm results in a low corrosion rate of steel
rebar, whereas an electrical resistivity of less than
5 KX cm causes a very high corrosion rate. Resistivity
of concrete is influenced by many factors such as
concrete composition, water–cement ratio, cement
6533
Table 2 Relationship between concrete resistivity and rebar cor-
rosion rate [292]
Electrical resistivity (kX cm) Corrosion rate
[20 Low
10–20 Low to moderate
5–10 High
\5 Very high
Table 3 Relations between electrical resistivity of concrete and
probability of steel corrosion [293]
Electrical resistivity (kX cm) Probability of corrosion
120\ Not probable
50–120 Probable
\50 Inevitable
content, admixtures, curing condition, moisture con-
tent and ambient humidity [294–296].
Influence of mineral admixtures on the electrical resistivity
Ahmad et al. [290] studied the electrical resistivity of
self-consolidating concrete containing different filler
materials such as silica fume, natural pozzolan,
metakaolin, and limestone powder. It has been
shown that all blend mixes had a ‘‘low’’ likelihood of
steel rebar corrosion. Silica fume was the most
effective pozzolan compared to other fillers to
increase the electrical resistivity of concrete. It was
reported by Alsadat Sabet et al. [48] that incorpora-
tion of mineral admixtures caused a significant
increase in the electrical resistivity of concrete mixes,
specifically at later ages. They indicated that intro-
ducing natural zeolite and FA in concrete mixes
resulted in an increase in the electrical resistivity at
approximately the same level in all ages. The addi-
tion of 10 % natural zeolite or 20 % FA in concrete
mixes caused the 90-day electrical resistivities to
increase from 8.4 kX cm for the control mix to 30 and
50 kX cm, respectively. At this age, the resistivities of
mixes containing 10 and 20 % silica fume were 54 and
231 kX cm, respectively. The presence of silica fume
densifies the microstructure of concrete, while its
pozzolanic reaction causes the formation of sec-
ondary calcium silicate hydrate (C–S–H). The C–S–H
gel, which is known as a source of strength in con-
crete, increases the volume of solid phases and
reduces the formation of capillary pore systems in
concrete. These phenomena result in an improvement
6534
in durability properties of concrete, such as concrete
resistivity. The positive impact of supplementary
cementitious materials on the electrical resistivity of
concrete has been proven by other researchers [283,
297–299].
Steel FRC
The electrical resistance of concrete is strongly influ-
enced by the electrolytes in the pores structure of
composite, and in the case of fiber-reinforced speci-
mens, by the presence of the conductive elements
such as steel fibers [127, 202]. Nili and Afroughsabet
[300] assessed the effect of steel fiber on the proper-
ties of concrete made with silica fume. Steel fiber was
used at 0.5 and 1.0 % by volume of concrete. Silica
fume was introduced at 8 % by weight of cement into
concrete mixtures that were manufactured with
water–binder ratios of 0.46 and 0.36. It was reported
that the addition of steel fiber into specimens led to a
considerable decrease in the electrical resistance. It
was also pointed out that the higher fiber content
caused a more significant reduction in the electrical
resistivity of concrete. Typically, an addition of 1 %
steel fiber into 0.46 and 0.36 water–binder ratios
specimens led to a reduction up to 79 and 78 % in the
28-day electrical resistance of concrete, respectively.
In another report [301] it has been shown that the
presence of 60 kg/m3 steel fiber (L = 35 mm and
D = 0.5 mm) in concrete resulted in a reduction in
the electrical resistivity of self-consolidating concrete
up to 65, 63, and 60 % at 7, 28, and 91 days, respec-
tively, compared to that of the plain concrete.
Polypropylene FRC
Kakooei et al. [302] studied the effect of polypropy-
lene fiber on the electrical resistance of FRC. PP fiber
(L = 19 mm and D = 0.02 mm) was used at the
content of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 kg/m3. In addition, the
influences of coral and siliceous aggregates on the
behavior of concrete was considered. It was pointed
out that the sample fabricated with 1.5 kg/m3
polypropylene fiber showed better results in com-
parison with other fiber contents. This resulted in an
increase up to 26 % in the electrical resistivity of
concrete compared to that of the control concrete.
They also indicated that the sample made using coral
aggregate had the least electrical resistivity, which
indicated the lower resistivity of concrete against the
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551
Table 4 Typical electrical resistivity (kX cm) of fiber-reinforced
concretes with various fiber types
CC SFC PFC GFC
w/c = 0.65 21.3 11.3 18.1 17.6
w/c = 0.45 24.4 9.8 21.6 21.9
Note CC indicates control concrete, SFC, PFC, and GFC indicate
concrete reinforced with steel fiber, polypropylene fiber, and glass
fiber, respectively [303]
current. The reduction in the resistivity was due to
the presence of chloride in the coral aggregate.
However, Nili and Afroughsabet [35] reported that
the addition of PP fiber caused a reduction in the
electrical resistance of concrete. It has been shown
that a slight decrease in the electrical resistance was
observed as the fiber volume fraction increased from
0.2 to 0.5 %. This was explained by the fact that the
inclusion of PP fiber in concrete caused an increase in
the porosity of the mixture. The connectivity and size
of pores have a significant influence on transport
properties in concrete. Hence, in concrete with a
higher porosity it is much easier for electrical current
to be carried by ions through concrete’s pore net-
work, which consequently leads to a lower electrical
resistance. As can be seen in Table 4 [303], the elec-
trical resistivity of FRCs is lower than that of the
control concrete at both water–cement ratios. This can
be explained by the fact that the addition of fibers led
to an increase in the porosity of concrete, and sub-
sequently reduced the electrical resistivity of
concrete.
Carbon FRC
The electrical behavior of CF-reinforced cement is
relevant to the use of this material for strain sensing
and damage assessment, which is important for
smart structures, highway traffic monitoring, weigh-
ing of vehicles in motion, and structural vibration
control [304]. The addition of short CF to cement
caused a reduction in the electrical resistivity, due to
the high conductivity of the CF compared to that of
the cement [305]. Baeza et al. [306] reported that the
electrical resistivity of concrete with CF was reduced
compared to that of the plain concrete. In this study,
the concrete was reinforced with CF with 7.2 lm
diameter and three different lengths of 3, 6 and
12.5 mm. It was pointed out that the electrical resis-
tivity of CF-reinforced cement paste was affected by
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551
the fiber content and aspect ratio. For a given fiber
aspect ratio, an increase in the CF content resulted in
a reduction in the resistivity of concrete. Further-
more, in the same fiber content, an increase in the
fiber length caused a higher conductivity [306]. This
was in agreement with the findings of Chiarello and
Zinno [307], and Wang et al. [308]. Other researchers
assessed the strain sensing of composites reinforced
with short CFs through electrical resistivity mea-
surements [309–311]. It was reported that the com-
pressive strain resulted in a reduced resistivity,
whereas the tensile strain led to an increase in the
resistivity. This can be attributed to the fiber push-in
and push-out during compression and tension,
respectively.
Chloride penetration resistance
Durability is one of the most important aspects of the
concrete due to its fundamental incidence on the ser-
viceability working conditions of concrete structures
[312]. For the durability of concrete, permeability is
believed to be the most important characteristic [313,
314], which is related to its microstructural properties
such as the size, distribution, and interconnection of
pores and microcracks [315–318]. The rapid chloride-
ion test indicated that a reduction in the water–binder
ratio led to a reduction in the connectivity of the pore
system, which consequently makes the migration of
aggressive ions more difficult in HPC than that of the
conventional concrete [319, 320]. There are some clas-
sifications of concrete based on the chloride perme-
ability and chloride diffusivity results that are shown
in Table 5 [321] and Table 6 [322], respectively. Vari-
ous factors influencing chloride ingress and the cor-
rosion processes in the reinforced concrete include
water–binder ratio, admixtures, cement composition,
construction process, and environmental conditions
[289].
In general, it was reported that the addition of
mineral admixtures in concrete led to an increase in
Table 5 Classification of the concrete based on the chloride permeability [321]
Charge passed (Coulombs) Chloride permeability
[4000 High
2000–4000 Moderate
1000–2000 Low
100–1000 Very low
\100 Negligible
6535
Table 6 Typical resistance to chloride penetration of various
types of concrete based on the 28-day chloride diffusivity [322]
Chloride diffusivity, Classification of resistance
D28 9 10-12 m2/s to chloride penetration
[15 Low
10–15 Moderate
5–10 High
2.5–5 Very high
\2.5 Extremely high
durability properties of concrete [323, 324], by
increasing the chloride binding [325], decreasing the
chloride permeability [326], elevating the threshold of
chloride content [327], and improving the distribu-
tion of pore size and shape of the concrete matrix
[328]. Furthermore, reductions in the chloride per-
meability of concrete have been reported up to 50 %
with the addition of 5 % silica fume [329], 60 % with
the addition of 20 % FA [48], 90 % with the inclusion
of 60 % GGBS [330], and 23 % by introducing SRA
[331].
Steel FRC
The corrosion resistance of SFRC is governed by the
same factors that influence the corrosion resistance of
the conventionally reinforced concrete. Processes
such as carbonation, penetration of chloride ions, and
sulfate attack are related to the permeability of the
cement matrix. As long as the matrix retains its
inherent alkalinity and remains uncracked, deterio-
ration of SFRC is not likely to occur [301]. The
transport of chloride in concrete by means of per-
meation may occur in concretes with a large number
of cracks and defects [332, 333]. Meanwhile, engi-
neers attempt to increase the design load by using the
strain-hardening property of HPSFRC, as it allows
the appearance of multiple fine cracking and pre-
vents the occurrence of large cracks [334, 335].
However, due to the increased danger of corrosion in
Typical of concrete
High w/c ratio ([0.60) conventional PCC.
Moderate w/c ratio (0.40–0.50) conventional PCC.
Low w/c ratio (\0.40) conventional PCC.
Latex-modified concrete or internally sealed concrete.
Polymer-impregnated concrete, polymer concrete.
6536
the cracked area, the crack width should be limited at
the Serviceability Limit State [336]. According to the
different codes and guidelines [337–340], the maxi-
mum allowable crack width at the tensile face of
reinforced concrete structures for severe environ-
ments vary from 0.1 to 0.33 mm, with the strictest
requirement specified by ACI 224 [337]. It was also
noted that crack widths larger than 500 lm have a
significant effect on the chloride diffusion of steel
FRC, while crack widths less than 200 lm have
almost no influence on the chloride intrusion [341,
342]. It is widely reported that in case of SFRC, steel
fiber corrosion is much less severe than compared
with steel rebar reinforcement of concrete structures
[343–348]. Abbas et al. [349] assessed the effect of
steel fiber on the rapid chloride penetration test
(RCPT) of ultra-HPC (UHPC). Steel fibers with a
constant diameter of 0.2 mm and different lengths of
8, 12 , and 16 mm were used at the fiber contents of 1,
3, and 6 % by volume of concrete. It was reported
that all UHPC specimens showed a very high resis-
tance to chloride transport and exhibited coulomb
values less than 100, indicating negligible chloride-
ion penetrability based on the classification of con-
crete in ASTM C1202 [321]. It has been shown that the
fiber length had no significant effects on the RCPT
results. However, the steel fiber dosage had a
remarkable effect on the passed coulomb values. For
instance, the UHPC mixtures with 3 and 6 % of steel
fibers with the length of 8 mm exhibited 27 and 35
lower coulomb values, respectively, compared to that
of the plain specimen. This can be attributed to the
role of steel fibers, which can restrict the formation
Figure 10 Typical rapid chloride migration test: a Schematic of test set-up, b cathode solution of SFRSCC after test, c surface of
SFRSCC specimens sprayed by silver nitrate. Reproduced from [301] with permission from Elsevier.
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551
and growth of plastic and drying shrinkage cracks,
and subsequently reducing the penetrability of con-
crete [350, 351]. These results were in agreement with
the findings of other researchers that showed UHPC
containing steel fibers is more resistant to the chloride
penetration compared to that of the plain concrete
[352, 353].
Behfarnia and Behravan [354] also investigated the
effect of steel fiber (L = 32 mm and L/D = 53) on the
chloride penetration resistance of concrete. Steel fiber
was used at volume fraction of 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 %. It
was reported that the penetration depth reduced by
15 % in SFRC samples compared to that of the control
sample. It can be attributed to the blockage of cement
pores with inclusion of fibers, which caused a
reduction in the chloride ion penetration depth of
SFRC. On the other hand, an increase in the chloride
penetration of concrete by introducing steel fibers
was observed by other researchers [301, 355]. Frazão
et al. [301] studied the chloride diffusivity of the steel
fiber-reinforced self-consolidating concrete (SFRSCC)
by using rapid migration test. Hooked-end steel fiber
(L = 35 mm and D = 0.5 mm) was used at the con-
tent of 60 kg/m3. It has been reported that the resis-
tance to chloride penetration was slightly higher in
SFRSCC (11.61 9 10-12 m2/s) compared to that of the
SCC (10.27 9 10-12 m2/s). As shown in Fig. 10, the
steel fiber was corroded in the cathode solution of the
test of SFRSCC and it was increased with the dura-
tion of the test. According to Granju and Balouch
[356], there was no corrosion in the part of the spec-
imen with cracks thinner than approximately
0.1 mm. It was also reported that only the steel fibers
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551
Figure 11 Typical photograph of corroded steel fiber in the crack.
Reproduced from [356] with permission from Elsevier.
crossing the crack within a 2–3-mm rim from the
external faces of the specimens exhibited extensive
corrosion, as shown in Fig. 11.
Polypropylene FRC
Among the several types of nonmetallic fibers, the
effect of PP fiber on the chloride penetration resis-
tance of the concrete has been investigated by many
researchers. The test results of some researchers [357–
362] have shown that the addition of PP fiber in
concrete led to an increase in the chloride penetration
resistance of concrete, whereas other researchers [37,
207, 303, 363] reported contradicting results, which a
reduction in the chloride penetration resistance of
concrete was obtained. For instance, Ramezanian-
pour et al. [357] studied the behavior of concrete
reinforced with polypropylene fiber by using RCPT.
Polypropylene fiber was used at the content of 0.5,
0.7, 0.9, 1.5, 2 and 4 kg/m3. All of these mixes were
manufactured with a water–cement ratio of 0.32. It
was reported that the total charge passed through the
specimen for all FRCs was significantly lower than
that of the plain concrete. Based on their scanning
electron microscopy (SEM) test results, it can be
attributed to the reduced inner conductivity of pores
and lower capillary porosity, which can make the
steel bars in concrete more secluded from the corro-
sion attacks. As shown in Fig. 12, the value of the
charge passed into specimens increased with addi-
tion of higher amount of PP fiber that was likely due
to the increased porosity of the concrete.
6537
Figure 12 Typical charge passed versus fiber content in RCPT
for polypropylene fiber-reinforced concrete at 28 days. Repro-
duced from [357] with permission from Elsevier.
Hybrid FRC
The crack geometry, particularly the crack width
significantly affect the permeability of the concrete
[364]. It has been reported that the threshold crack
width is 200 lm for chloride permeability [365].
Hence, a specimen with several smaller cracks will be
less permeable than that of with a single large crack
[366]. The choice of hybrid FRC can be very effective
in reducing chloride permeability, whereby instead
of the appearance of a few large cracks, a multitude
of closely spaced microcracks form in the concrete
[367]. Blunt et al. [368] pointed out that hybrid fiber-
reinforced composites are effective in delaying the
corrosion initiation and in reducing the corrosion rate
due to their higher resistance to cracking. The hybrid
specimen was manufactured with 1.5 % total fiber
content that included 0.2 % PVA fiber, 0.5 % hooked-
end steel fiber with a length of 30-mm and 0.8 %
hooked-end steel fiber with a length of 60-mm. As
shown in Fig. 13, the control specimens exhibited a
higher corrosion rate after being subjected to the salt
solution ponding and same cyclic flexural loading,
due to the formation of flexural and splitting cracks
in concrete.
Summary and conclusions
A comprehensive review that was aimed at con-
tributing significantly toward improving the under-
standing on the behavior of HPFRC has been
6538
Figure 13 Typical high-resolution scans of the corrosion-dam-
aged region of rebar (Note C2 and H2 denote plain specimens and
hybrid fiber-reinforced specimens, respectively. Moreover, some
amount of section reduction present in C2 is from plastic
deformation following corrosion testing; all rebars were only
deformed elastically prior to salt solution ponding). Reproduced
from [368] with permission from Elsevier.
presented. Based on the findings from this review,
the following conclusions can be drawn:
1. In general the addition of fibers, and particularly
that of steel fibers in HPC, results in a higher
compressive strengths. However, the addition of
more than 2 % steel fiber is likely to cause a
reduction in the strength due to reduced work-
ability and increased porosity. In addition, the
use of steel fiber with higher aspect ratio leads to
a further improvement of the compressive
strength. It is observed that the shape of fiber
has no significant influence on the improvement
to the compressive strength. The effectiveness of
short steel fibers in improving the compressive
strength is remarkably higher than that of the
longer fibers.
2. No significant improvement in the modulus of
elasticity of the concrete is observed with the
addition of fibers, particularly at a low volume
fraction. It is observed that the addition of fibers
with higher aspect ratios leads to a higher
modulus of elasticity compared to the one with
lower aspect ratio. Inclusion of synthetic fibers
does not have any significant effect on the
modulus of elasticity, and in some cases, this
results in a slight reduction in the modulus of
elasticity. However, hybridization of a high-stiff-
ness steel fiber and nonmetallic fibers can lead to
a higher modulus of elasticity than that resulting
from the use of these fibers individually.
3. In general, the addition of steel fibers to concrete
has a slight effect on the ascending part of stress–
strain curve of FRC, although it is quite effective
in changing the descending branch of the curve.
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551
The slope of the descending part decreases as the
fiber content increased, which leads to an
improvement in the toughness of concrete. An
increase in the aspect ratio of fibers results in an
increase in the energy absorption of the FRC.
Furthermore, the combined use of steel fibers
with nonmetallic fibers leads to a slight increase
in the toughness compared to the discrete use of
steel fibers. However, considering the cost and
effects on workability, adding steel fibers alone
appears to be a better choice.
4. The influence of steel fibers in enhancing of the
splitting tensile strength and flexural strength is
significantly higher than that in the improvement
of the compressive strength. For a given fiber
content, strength improves with an increase in the
fiber aspect ratio. Increases of up to 143 and
167 %, respectively, are reported in the splitting
TS and flexural strength of concrete containing
2.0 % steel fiber. Among different types of steel
fibers, hooked-end steel fiber is the most effective
in increasing the strength compared to other ones.
Higher fiber content is required for corrugated,
crimped, and deformed-end steel fibers to obtain
similar results to those of hooked-end fibers.
Furthermore, the use of mineral admixtures with
hooked-end steel fibers leads to a better bond
strength in the mixture that consequently causes a
further improvement in the strength. The influ-
ences of the additions of synthetic fibers such as
PP, PE, and PVA to the concrete are more in the
nature of energy absorption and crack control
than in increasing the maximum load-bearing
capacity. However, their influences on the
enhancement of the strength cannot be ignored.
Similarly, longer synthetic fibers show better
performance than the shorter ones.
5. Shrinkage of HPFRC is affected by various
parameters such as composition of the concrete,
method of curing, ambient temperature, and
humidity conditions. Additions of SRAs and
SAC in FRC are very effective in reducing the
shrinkage. Combination of SRA and SAC can
lead to a reduction of up to 80 % in the shrinkage
of concrete. In addition, incorporation of fibers is
another effective way to reduce the shrinkage of
concrete. However, the effectiveness of fibers
is dependent on the elastic modulus of fibers
in addition to their size and content. It is
observed that increasing the fiber content is not
J Mater Sci (2016) 51:6517–6551
a promising way to reduce the shrinkage. The use
of shorter fibers result in a larger decrease in the
shrinkage compared to the results from the use of
longer fibers. Furthermore, introducing non-
metallic fibers and particularly nylon fibers is
very helpful in reducing the shrinkage of con-
crete. It is shown that hybridization of steel fibers
with different sizes or that with nonmetallic fibers
can noticeably reduce the drying shrinkage of
concrete.
6. Elastic modulus of fibers is an important factor
affecting the creep properties of concrete. Results
show that the concrete with high-modulus syn-
thetic macro fibers exhibits a creep behavior that is
similar to that of the concrete reinforced with steel
fibers. It has been also shown that among different
parameters such as fiber content, fiber length, fiber
shape, and aspect ratio, the aspect ratio has the
largest effect on the creep behavior of FRC. It is
observed that fibers with high aspect ratio exhibit
the best performance regardless of the fiber con-
tent. It has been reported that from both economic
and engineering points of view, combination of
1.0 % steel fiber and 10 % silica fume provides an
effective means of decreasing the creep of concrete.
7. The presence of conductive element such as steel
fibers affects the resistivity of concrete adversely.
Therefore, the addition of steel fibers causes a
significant reduction in the electrical resistivity of
concrete regardless of the fiber length, fiber
content, and fiber aspect ratio. However, for a
given fiber aspect ratio, increasing the fiber
content decreases the resistivity of concrete. It is
also reported that an increase in the fiber length
results in a higher conductivity. On the other
hand, it is found that the inclusion of mineral
admixtures such as silica fume, slag, and FA is an
effective solution to overcome the reduction in
the electrical resistivity that resulted from the
addition of steel fibers. It has been shown that the
use of synthetic fibers may also result in a
reduction in resistivity, which may be attributed
to the increased porosity of the concrete.
8. The results on chloride penetration are still con-
tradictory, and it is not clear whether fibers restrict
or increase the penetration of chloride ions into the
body of concrete. It is shown that fiber length has
no significant influence on the penetration resis-
tance, although the fiber content noticeably affects
the passed coulomb values. A higher steel fiber
6539
content results in a higher penetration of chloride
ions. However, it is well documented that the
addition of mineral admixtures and reduction of
water–binder ratio can significantly reduce the
permeability of concrete. The inclusion of
polypropylene fiber leads to a reduction in the
ion penetration that can be attributed to the
reduction of inner conductivity of pores and lower
capillary porosity. The crack width is an important
parameter that affects the permeability of concrete,
with a threshold crack width of 200 lm having
been reported for chloride permeability. There-
fore, hybridization of fibers can be very effective in
replacing a few large cracks with numerous
microcracks and consequently reducing the chlo-
ride permeability of concrete.
Compliance with ethical standards
Conflict of interest The authors of this paper certify
that they have NO affiliations with or involvement in
any organization or entity with any financial interest,
or non-financial interest in the subject matter or
materials discussed in this manuscript.
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