Construction and Building Materials 166 (2018) 214–226

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Construction and Building Materials

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

Development of eco-efficient and cost-effective reinforced self-

consolidation concretes with hybrid industrial/recycled steel fibers
M. Mastali a,⇑, A. Dalvand b, A.R. Sattarifard c, M. Illikainen a
a
Fibre and Particle Engineering, Faculty of Technology, Univ. of Oulu, P.O. Box 4300, 90014 Oulu, Finland
b
Department of Engineering, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran
c
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran

h i g h l i g h t s

Mechanical properties and impact resistance were examined experimentally.

Economic aspects and carbon emission studied for recycled/industrial steel fiber combinations.

A multi-criteria ranking method used to obtain eco-efficient and cost-effective solution.

Using a recycled fiber content over 1.2% results in the most promising results.

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

Article history: This paper presents the results of an experimental/analytical investigation on the development of eco-
Received 19 November 2017 efficient and cost-effective self-consolidation concretes reinforced with hybrid steel industrial and recy-
Received in revised form 22 January 2018 cled fibers. Particularly, eleven mixtures containing different combinations of the hybrid industrial/recy-
Accepted 25 January 2018
cled steel fibers were cast and examined under the compressive, tensile, flexural, and the repeated drop
Available online 22 February 2018
weight impact tests. Then, the mechanical properties were correlated to the resistance to impact actions.
The effects of fiber combinations on the cost and the released carbon emission into the atmosphere were
Keywords:
studied. Finally, a simplified optimization approach was used to obtain the eco-efficiency and cost-
Hybrid industrial/recycled steel fiber
Self-consolidation concrete
effectiveness of the fiber-reinforced self-consolidation concrete.
Mechanical properties The results showed that the greatest impact of replacing industrial steel fibers by recycled steel fibers
Impact resistance was observed in the residual flexural strength, in ultimate impact resistance, and in the compactness.
Cost Moreover, recycled/industrial steel fiber combinations had the greater impact on increasing the cost than
Carbon emissions the released carbon emission.
A multi-criteria ranking method Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The use of discrete fibers is one effective solution to reinforce
the matrix for improving the tensile and flexural performances of
the plain concrete. Among the fibers, steel fiber was one of the ear-
liest and it is one of the most effective materials for improving the
mechanical properties and impact resistance of concrete [1]. Over
the years, hundreds of types of steel fibers have been used in con-
crete, distinguished by their shape, length, diameter, and surface
area [2,3]. Three hundred thousand tons of steel fibers are sold
each year worldwide, and this amount is increasing by 20% per
year [4]. Over 90% of the steel fiber available on the market is con-
cerned to the industrial steel fiber with deformed ends, treated
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mohammad.mastali@oulu.fi (M. Mastali).
surfaces, and twisted, crimped, and hooked [5]. Production this
huge amount of steel fiber requires a huge amount of the raw
materials and releases extremely large amount of CO2 into the
atmosphere. Due to high cost and negative environmental impacts
of production, the use of recycled steel fibers has attracted
increased attention in the past fifteen years [6].
Furthermore, over the past fifteen years, scrap tires have
become a key concern for many environmental bodies and agen-
cies. The European Union prohibited the disposal of tires and their
by-products in landfills in 2003 and 2006, respectively [7]. In 2009,
the Rubber Manufacturer’s Association estimated that 292 million
tires were generated in the United States. However, 42 states have
restricted the deposit of end life tires in landfills and only 8 states
have no restrictions on placing the scrap tires in landfills. In 2004,
the Tire Recovery Association (TRA) members fully agreed to
appropriately collect, recycle, and reuse all scrap tires [8]. Now,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2018.01.147
0950-0618/Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 M. Mastali et al. / Construction and Building Materials 166 (2018) 214–226 215

Table 1 studies have compared the hardened properties of reinforced self-

Chemical composition and physical properties of ordinary Portland cement and fly consolidation concrete made with mono-FRC (steel and recycled
ash.
steel) and hybrid FRC (industrial/recycled steel). Therefore, this
Composition Ordinary Portland cement (%) Fly ash (%) study will investigate the synergistic actions of hybrid fibers on
SiO2 21.10 72.10 the resulting pre- and post-crack behavior of fiber-reinforced
Al2O3 4.37 24.70 specimens.
Fe2O3 3.88 1.20
MgO 1.56 0.18
K2O 0.52 0.50 2. Experimental program
Na2O 0.39 0.10
CaO 63.33 0.1 2.1. Material properties and mix designs
TiO2 – 1.40
SO3 – 0.1 The mixtures were composed of Portland cement, fly ash, aggregate, water, and
C3S 51.00 – polycarboxylate-based superplasticizer (SP). The chemical and physical properties
C2S 22.70 – of cement and fly ash are listed in Table 1. Polycarboxylate-based superplasticizer
C3A 5.10 – is a water reduction agent. At a relatively low dosage (0.15% of cement weight), it
C4AF 11.90 – can reduce the water content of concrete by up to 40%. Sand particles (with a min-
imum diameter of 0.2 mm and a maximum diameter of 4.76 mm) were distributed
Physical properties
throughout the mixtures used in this study. According to the ASTM C618 recom-
Specific gravity 3.11 2.30
mendation, fly ash is a class F (low calcium content) ingredient [12]. The content
Specific surface (cm2/g) 3000 3430
of mixture obtained regarding the minimum slump flow diameter of 600 mm and
Loss on ignition (%) 1.10 0.90
the compressive strength equal or greater than 50 MPa for the plain self-
consolidation concrete [42,43]; the ingredients are shown in Table 2. Different com-
binations of recycled and industrial steel fibers (mono-fiber and hybrid-fiber) were
this program is ongoing in many states in the United States and used to reinforce the mixtures. The total fiber volume percentage and mass in each
of the reinforced mixtures was constant and equal to 1.5% (117 kg/m3). Thirteen dif-
around 110 million tires are recycled annually. Reusing these recy-
ferent mixtures were tested in this study; their contents and combinations are
cled tires reduces carbon emissions. Furthermore, it is a part of the shown in Table 3. The combinations of recycled/industrial steel fiber outlined in
reason that the rubber recycling industry generates more than $1.6 Table 3 were based on the results of previous experiments [10], in which it was
billion annual economic activity in the U.S. and accounts for nearly found that replacing industrial fibers by an equal amount of recycled steel fibers
resulted in a significant decrease in the flexural performance of fiber-reinforced
8000 jobs [9]. Therefore, using recycled steel fibers recovered from
concrete.
tires to reinforce concrete not only reduces construction costs and The average ratio of length to diameter for the industrial steel fibers was 47. The
negative environmental impacts, but also improves mechanical fibers’ average elastic modulus was 200 GPa, and the average tensile strength was
properties of the plain concrete. 1300 MPa. The lengths and diameters of recycled steel fibers are irregular, so a sta-
Martinelli et al. [10] reported that industrial steel fibers could tistical analysis was used to define the physical properties of the scrap tire fibers
used in this study. Several previous studies explain this in more details
not be replaced by an equal amount of recycled ones without a sig-
[10,11,40]. One hundred and fifty-six fibers were used as statistical samples for
nificant decay in the relevant mechanical properties. Some innova- the analysis of the fibers’ physical properties. The fibers used in this study had an
tive solutions were proposed to overcome this deficiency, such as average length of over 50 mm (Frequency distribution of the measured fiber lengths
mixing recycled fibers with different industrial fibers to create a was 11%  15 mm, 15 mm < 26%  50 mm, 63%  50 mm) and an average diameter
of 0.15 ± 0.05 mm (Frequency distribution of the measured fiber diameters was 2%
hybrid. Using hybrid fibers provides synergistic actions on the
< 0.1 mm, 0.1 mm  69%  0.2 mm, 0.2 mm < 15%  0.3 mm, 0.3 mm < 14%  0.45
resulting pre- and post-crack behavior of fiber-reinforced speci- mm). Fiber length was considered as the average of straight distance between the
mens [10]. The mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced concrete two ends. A slide caliper was also used to measure the external diameters of fibers.
(FRC) containing both industrial and recycled steel fibers have also Fig. 1 represents the morphology (using a scanning electron microscope (SEM)
been examined [10]. It was found that the fibers had a negligible and topography (using an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)) and of industrial and
recycled steel fiber surfaces. Fig. 1a shows surface topography images of industrial
impact on the compressive strength, while the addition of recycled
steel fibers. The corrugations in industrial fibers have an average height of 35 nm,
steel fibers led to a significant deterioration in the post-cracking while the corrugations in recycled steel fibers have an average height of 580 nm
behavior.
Caggiano et al. also investigated the mechanical response of
concrete reinforced with hybrid industrial and recycled steel fibers Table 3
Designation of mixtures, dosage and type of the used fibers.
[11]. The compressive strength and flexural strength of the mix-
tures were measured and compared. This study concluded that Mixture identification Industrial steel Recycled steel
industrial fibers could be replaced by an equal amount of recycled In vol% (kg/m ) 3

ones without a significant decay in the relevant mechanical prop-

Reference 0.00 0.00
erties [11]. St1.5 1.50 (117.0) 0.00
So far, no extensive experimental and analytical studies have St1.35Rst0.15 1.35 (105.3) 0.15 (11.7)
attempted to clarify the effects of using mono-FRC (recycled and St1.2Rst0.3 1.20 (93.6) 0.30 (23.4)
industrial steel fibers) and hybrid FRC (steel/recycled steel fibers) St1.05Rst0.45 1.05 (81.9) 0.45 (35.1)
St0.9Rst0.6 0.90 (70.2) 0.60 (46.8)
on the cost, carbon footprint, and mechanical properties (compres- St0.75Rst0.75 0.75 (58.5) 0.75 (58.5)
sive strength, tensile strength, flexural strength), and impact resis- St0.6Rst0.9 0.60 (46.8) 0.90 (70.2)
tance. To the best knowledge of the authors, only two studies St0.45Rst1.05 0.45 (35.1) 1.05 (81.9)
[10,11] have investigated the influences of using hybrid recycled/ St0.3Rst1.2 0.30 (23.4) 1.20 (93.6)
St0.15Rst1.35 0.15 (11.7) 1.35 (105.3)
industrial steel fibers on the compressive and flexural strengths
Rst1.5 0.00 1.50 (117.0)
of concrete. However, no experimental, statistical, or optimization

Table 2
The proportions of mix compositions (kg/m3).

Cement Fly ash Aggregate Superplasticizer (SP) Water

457.00 457.00 457.00 2.74 347.00
216 M. Mastali et al. / Construction and Building Materials 166 (2018) 214–226
200 μm
a)
200 μm
200 μm
b)
Fig. 1. Morphology and topography of the fiber surfaces: a) Industrial steel; b) Recycled steel.
(Fig. 1b). This fact depicts that recycled fibers have a rougher surface with deeper
grooves than industrial steel fibers. These deeper grooves may increase the interac-
tion between the matrix and the steel fibers, improving the bond properties at the
interface. Since there were some variations in the characteristics of recycled steel
fibers, SEM and AFM images of different recycled steel fibers were taken to obtain
an average.
2.2. Testing procedures
2.2.1. Ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV)
A non-destructive UPV test was conducted on the specimens. This consisted of
recording the travel time of an ultrasonic pulse passing through the cubic concrete
specimens [30,41]. This assessment was conducted according to the ASTM C597
recommendation [13]. Higher velocities indicate higher-quality concrete in terms
of density, uniformity, and homogeneity. A lower velocity indicates higher contents
of air voids in the mixture. In the fiber-reinforced concrete, increasing the fiber con-
tent and length increased the number of air voids and reduced the velocity of the
UPV. The pulse velocity of specimens was calculated using the following equation:
L
V¼ ð1Þ
T
where, V is pulse velocity (km/s), L is the distance between two transducers (mm),
and T is transmission time (ms).
2.2.2. Compressive test
As recommended by ASTM C39/C39M, cubic specimens (100  100  100 mm)
were used to evaluate the effect of hybrid industrial/recycled steel fibers on con-
crete compactness and capacity of fibers in arresting crack propagation under com-
pression load [14]. The loading rate was 0.32 MPa/s, and a testing machine with a
hydraulic press of 1000 kN static loading capacity was used. In total, 39 cubic spec-
imens were tested, and the compressive strength of each mixture was evaluated by
averaging the results of three identical cubic specimens.
2.2.3. Splitting tensile test
The effect of hybrid industrial/recycled steel fibers on mixtures’ tensile strength
was assessed by testing the specimens’ splitting tensile strength. Thirty-nine cylin-
ders (150  300 mm) were tested as recommended by ASTM C496 [15]. A diametric
compressive load was applied along the length of the cylinders with a continuous
loading rate of 0.1 MPa/s, through a load cell with a capacity of 1000 kN. Loading
was applied to the point of failure. The load induced tensile stresses on the plane
supporting the load, causing tensile failure.
2.2.4. Three-point bending (TPB) test
Thirty-nine prismatic beams were used to assess the flexural performance of
the reinforced and plain mixtures. Each beam was 420  80  60 mm. A concen-
trated load was imposed on the mid-span of the specimens with a deflection rate
of 0.6 mm/min; a load cell with a capacity of 50 kN was used. The vertical mid-
 M. Mastali et al. / Construction and Building Materials 166 (2018) 214–226 217

Fig. 2. Adopted test setup for the: a) flexural test; b) impact test.

span deflection was recorded using a Linear Variable Differential Transducers
(LVDT) with a 10 mm stroke. The load was imposed on the beams as recommended
by ASTM C78 [16]. Fig. 2a illustrates the adopted flexural test setup. The flexural
performance of each mixture was evaluated by averaging the results obtained using
three replicated prismatic beams. The flexural load submitted to the beams using
displacement control. Eq. (2) was used to compute the specimens’ flexural strength
of specimens based on the TPB test:
3FL
rf ¼ 2
ð2Þ
2bh
2.2.5. Repeated drop weight impact test
The repeated drop weight impact test was applied to the disks as recommended
by the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Committee 544 [17]. As shown in Fig. 2b, a
steel ball weighing 4.50 kg was dropped from a height of 457 mm onto the center of
the disks. Fakharifar et al. [18] indicated that the impact resistance from drop-
weight tests has higher scatter data than measurements of the compressive, split-
ting tensile, and flexural strengths. This can be attributed to the additional uncer-
tainties involved in the repeated impact test, such as the roughness of the
specimen’s surface and the loading position [19]. In this study, the impact resis-
tance was evaluated in terms of the first and ultimate crack resistance, and
absorbed impact energy. Eq. (3) was used to calculate the absorbed impact energy.

where, F is the total flexural load, L is span length, and b and h are the width (60 mm) En ¼ N  m  g  H ð3Þ
and height (80 mm) of the beams, respectively.
218 M. Mastali et al. / Construction and Building Materials 166 (2018) 214–226

where, m is the mass of steel hammer ball weighing 4.45 kg, g is the gravity acceler-
ation and considered equal to 9.81 m/s2, H is the height of the fall (457 mm), and N is
the number of blows.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Ultrasonic pulse velocity
Ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) provides some information
about the effects of hybrid recycled/industrial steel fibers on the
uniformity and porosity of the concrete. Fig. 3 depicts the UPV
measurements for different mixtures. In general, introducing fiber
increased the air voids, reducing the UPV. Mo et al. proposed that
the addition of fibers makes the compaction of concrete more dif-
ficult, creating some pores within the concrete and reducing the
UPV values [39]. Therefore, it was required to assess the effects
of fibers on the porosity of the concrete and subsequent effects
on its mechanical properties and impact resistance. The addition
of recycled steel fiber as a mono-fiber into plain concrete reduced
the UPV by about 10% compared to the plain concrete, while no sig-
nificant effect was detected on the reinforced mixture with 1.5%
industrial steel fibers. On the other hand, the addition of recycled
which occurred in the mixtures with 1.5% recycled fibers; and
the maximum increase was 55% (about 80 MPa), in the reinforced
specimens with 1.5% industrial steel fibers.
Replacing industrial steel fibers by recycled ones consistently
reduced the increase in the compressive strength by about 15%,
when compared to the plain mixture. This could be due to the dif-
ficulty in compacting the mixtures containing higher amounts of
recycled steel fibers and subsequently, degradation in the mechan-
ical performance of the fibers in increasing the compressive
strength occurred. In general, it may be concluded that the type
of industrial or recycled steel fiber has slight effects on increasing
the compressive strength. Since the previous literature [21] indi-
cates that, the percentage of fiber volume fraction included in
the mixture could have a great impact on compressive strength.
4600
4400
About 15%
4200
reducon

UPV (m/s)
4000
steel fiber makes the compaction of concrete more difficult than
when industrial steel fiber is used. Interestingly, it was also 3800
observed that the UPV decreased more in the mixtures reinforced
with hybrid fibers than in the mixtures reinforced with mono- 3600

fibers. The UPV for the mixtures reinforced with hybrid fibers 3400
decreased by 1% (specimen St1.35Rst0.15) to 15% (specimen
St0.15Rst1.35). Regarding the results, in the mixtures reinforced
with hybrid recycled/industrial steel fibers, a higher content of
recycled steel fibers (rather than industrial) leads to recording
Fig. 3. The ultrasonic pulse velocity of the plain and reinforced mixtures.
higher reduction in the UPV. The UPV was lower in the mixtures
reinforced with hybrid fibers than in the mixtures reinforced with
mono-fibers. This means that the use of hybrid recycled/industrial 90
steel fibers makes compaction more difficult than when mono-
80
Compressive strength (MPa)

fibers are used. Yazici et al. studied the effects of adding industrial
70
steel fibers with different contents (0.5%, 1%, and 1.5%) and differ-
60
ent length-to-diameter ratios ((l/d): 45, 65, and 80) on the UPV
50
[19]. They found that increasing the fiber content and length-to-
40
diameter ratio reduced the UPV; the maximum reduction reported
in that study was about 9%, which occurred with the reinforced 30

mixture with 1.5% steel fiber and a length-to-diameter ratio of 20

80. This reduction was explained by the difficulty of compacting 10

mixtures with a higher volume of fibers [19]. In 2014, Awal et al. 0

investigated the effect of adding recycled steel fibers on the UPV
[20]. Different percentages of fiber volumes (0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, and
2%) were used to reinforce the plain concrete. That study found
that increasing recycled steel fibers by up to 2% reduced the UPV Fig. 4. Effects of using different architectures of industrial and recycled steel fibers
by 3–7%. on the compressive strength.

3.2. Compressive strength

6
Spling tensile strength (MPa)

Regardless of fiber type, introducing fiber is expected to 5

increase the air voids in a mixture, and at the same time, fibers
4
can limit the propagation of cracks. The interaction of these two
effects could either increase or decrease the concrete’s compres- 3
sive strength. The UPV showed that, except in the mixture rein-
forced with 1.5 industrial steel fiber, the addition of fibers 2

(mono-FRC or hybrid-FRC) increased the mixture’s porosity. 1

Fig. 4 illustrates the effect of incorporating hybrid steel fibers on
the compressive strength. Using fibers increased the compressive 0
strength of the mixtures by 40%–55%, when compared to the com-
pressive strength of the plain mixture. This could be justified by
the capacity of fibers in bridging the sides of cracks and constrain-
ing their opening. The minimum increase in the compressive Fig. 5. Influence of incorporating different combinations of industrial and recycled
strength of the reinforced specimens was 40% (about 73 MPa), steel fibers on the splitting tensile strength.
 M. Mastali et al. / Construction and Building Materials 166 (2018) 214–226
7000
6000
5000
4000
Force (N)
3000
2000
1000
0
0 2 4 6
Mid-span deflecon (mm)
Fig. 6. Force-deflection response of prismatic beams under TPB test.
3.3. Splitting tensile strength
The crack bridging behavior of fibers improves the post-
cracking tensile properties of the mixtures. After the formation of
an initial crack, the tensile stresses are transferred across the fail-
ure’s cross section. The effect of incorporating different shapes and
sizes of industrial and recycled steel fibers on the splitting tensile
strength is depicted in Fig. 5. Introducing steel fibers – regardless
of the combination of steel fibers – increased the mixtures’ tensile
strength by 22%–30% compared to the plain mixture. Moreover, it
was observed that the use of steel fibers increased compressive
strength more than it increased splitting tensile strength. Promis-
ingly, as with compressive strength, combinations of steel fibers
increased tensile strength slightly (by a maximum of 7%). This
means that different shapes and lengths of recycled/industrial steel
fibers increased splitting tensile strength by slightly different
amounts.
The fracture mechanism in the splitting tensile test for steel
fiber reinforced concrete is associated with crack patterns [22].
Digital image correlation showed that a unique central crack ini-
tially forms in the steel fiber reinforced concrete, and secondary
cracks initiate on the edges of specimens. The number and pattern
of secondary cracks are governed by stress redistribution, which is
affected by the characteristics of the steel fibers [22]. Replacing
1.5% of the industrial steel fiber by recycled steel fiber had no sig-
nificant effect on stress redistribution. Aghaee et al. studied the
effects of adding different volume percentages of recycled and
industrial steel fibers (mono-FRC) (0.25%, 0.5%, and 0.75%) on the
mechanical properties [23]. This study confirmed that the indus-
trial steel fibers could be replaced by an equal amount of recycled
219
Reference St1.5
St1.35Rst0.15 St1.2Rst0.3
St1.05Rst0.45 St0.9Rst0.6
St0.75Rst0.75 St0.6Rst0.9
St0.45Rst1.05 St0.3Rst1.2
St0.15Rst1.35 Rst1.5
8 10 12 14 16
fibers without a significant degradation in splitting tensile strength
[23].
3.4. Flexural strength
Fig. 6 depicts the flexural performance of the prismatic beams
under three-point bending test. Using this test, the effects of using
different fiber combinations on the flexural stiffness, the flexural
strength, and the post-peak behavior were characterized. Fig. 7
summarizes the effect of a hybrid of industrial and recycled steel
fibers on the flexural strength, stiffness, and absorbed energy,
where the residual flexural strength was evaluated at the mid-
span deflection of 11 mm.
Regarding the results illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, the introduc-
tion of fibers significantly reduced the flexural stiffness, when
compared to the plain matrix, so that the maximum reduction
was about 90%, as seen in specimen ST1.5. In general, the combina-
tion of fibers had no significant impact on the flexural stiffness as
compared to the plain concrete. When the mechanical anchorage
of fibers was increased, the flexural strength and residual flexural
strength of the reinforced specimens were also increased, as com-
pared to the plain mixture. This enhancement was governed by the
provided mechanical anchorage of fibers. The highest flexural
strength recorded in this study was detected around 9 MPa, for
specimen St1.5. Replacing the industrial steel fibers by recycled
steel fiber reduced the flexural strength slightly, to 8 MPa in spec-
imen Rst1.5, which is about 25% greater than the flexural strength
of the plain concrete (6.5 MPa). Introducing the fibers increased the
flexural strength by 25%–40%, as compared to the plain concrete.
220 M. Mastali et al. / Construction and Building Materials 166 (2018) 214–226

45 2.5
Absorbed energy Residual flexural strength

Residual flexural strength (MPa)

40

Absorbed energy (kN.mm)

35
35 2
Flexural sffness (kN.mm 2)

30
30
25 1.5
25
20 20
1
15 15

10 10 0.5
5
5
0 0
0

a) c)
25
10
9

Residual load/peak load

20
Flexural strength (MPa)

8
7
15
6
5
10
4
3
5
2
1
0 0

b) d)

Fig. 7. Effects of replacing industrial steel fibers by recycled steel fibers on the: a) flexural stiffness; b) flexural strength; c) absorbed flexural energy; d) residual load carrying
capacity.

fiber combination reduced the residual load carrying capacity to

Fig. 8. Definition of flexural toughness indices according to ACTM C1018 [25].
As indicated in Fig. 6c, the greatest impact of replacing indus-
trial steel fiber by recycled steel fibers was observed in the post-
peak behavior. The use of up to 0.75% recycled steel fibers signifi-
cantly reduced the residual flexural strength (by about 70%) and
the absorbed energy (by about 40%). Residual flexural strength
and absorbed energy were reduced only slightly with higher vol-
umes of fiber (0.75%). Replacing 1.5% industrial steel fiber by
1.5% recycled steel fiber reduced the absorbed energy by 55% and
residual flexural strength by 75%.
Furthermore, the residual load carrying capacity at mid-span
deflection of 11 mm (L/27, where L is span length) for the rein-
forced beams with 1.5% industrial steel fibers was about 25% of
the peak load (see Fig. 6d). Using 0.75% recycled steel fiber in the
8% of peak load, and including more than 0.75% recycled steel
fibers had no significant impact on the residual load carrying
capacity. Therefore, up to a certain volume percentage, the inclu-
sion of recycled steel fibers significantly reduced the absorbed
energy and the residual flexural strength.
The pull-out behavior of the hooked end steel fibers, similar to
smooth fibers, consists of debonding and frictional pull-out behav-
ior. Based on the debonding criterion in the strength-based models,
debonding initiates when the interfacial shear stress exceeds the
shear strength [24]. Ascending the load to the peak load is associ-
ated with the adhesive bond and the debonding process until full
debonding occurs. The debonding phase of industrial hooked-end
steel fibers is generally similar to that of smooth fibers. The signif-
icant difference between smooth and hooked-end fibers occurs
during the frictional pull-out. With hooked-end steel fibers, the
frictional pull-out is accompanied by a mechanical bond mecha-
nism that corresponds to the mechanical interlock and plastic
deformation of the hook, increasing frictional stresses and result-
ing in a higher residual pull-out load at the final stage of the
pull-out.
There are various methods for assessing the fracture toughness
of fiber-reinforced concrete; the method recommended by the
ASTM C1018 [25] was used in this study. Accordingly, the tough-
ness was computed at four specific deflections: d, 3d, 5.5d, and
10.5d, where d is the deflection corresponding to the crack initia-
tion. Some additional parameters were used to determine the
ratios of post-peak toughness to pre-peak toughness, which are
called toughness indices and denoted by I5, I10, and I20, as shown
 M. Mastali et al. / Construction and Building Materials 166 (2018) 214–226 221

Table 4
Values of the flexural toughness and fracture indices.

Designation of specimens I5 I10 I20 I10/I5 I20/I10 R5,10 R10,20

Reference 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.00 0.00
St1.5 5.53 9.66 15.54 1.75 1.61 82.57 58.79
St1.35Rst0.15 6.74 12.94 21.70 1.92 1.68 124.06 87.60
St1.2Rst0.3 6.05 10.91 18.47 1.80 1.69 97.29 75.56
St1.05Rst0.45 4.90 8.37 13.15 1.71 1.57 69.45 47.82
St0.9Rst0.6 4.62 7.56 11.64 1.64 1.54 58.89 40.75
St0.75Rst0.75 4.92 7.87 11.59 1.60 1.47 58.94 37.16
St0.6Rst0.9 5.06 8.17 12.59 1.62 1.54 62.23 44.20
St0.45Rst1.05 5.87 9.71 15.49 1.65 1.60 76.77 57.86
St0.3Rst1.2 5.01 7.94 11.91 1.59 1.50 58.71 39.62
St0.15Rst1.35 6.24 9.71 15.23 1.56 1.57 69.32 55.28
Rst1.5 5.06 7.70 11.62 1.52 1.51 52.77 39.24

120 45
FC UC IPNB
The impact resistance (Blows)

40 toughness and fracture indices. Gopalaratnam et al. demonstrated

100
35 that improving flexural toughness also improves the impact resis-
80 30 tance and fatigue performance of concrete [26].
INPB (Blows)
25
60
20
3.5. Impact resistance
40 15
10
20 Fig. 9 shows the impact resistance of the plain and reinforced
5
disks. As described above, the impact resistance was determined
0 0
by the first and ultimate crack resistance. The introduction of steel
fibers increased the first crack impact resistance by 3.5–4.3 times,
as compared to the plain disk. Moreover, it also increased ultimate
crack impact resistance by 4.7–6 times compared to the plain
a) disks. For specimen St1.5, the maximum number of blows for the
2500 first crack was 73, and the maximum number of blows for ultimate
crack resistance was 115. Increasing the amount of recycled steel
Impact energy (kN.mm)

2000 fibers consistently reduced the impact resistance, so the minimum

1500
1000
500
0
b)
Fig. 9. a) Impact resistance of the plain and reinforced disks; b) impact energy.
in Fig. 8. The residual strength factors were calculated according to
the average post-peak load in a specific deflection interval; they
were calculated using the following relationships:
R5;10 ¼ 20ðI10  I5 Þ
R10;20 ¼ 10ðI20  I10 Þ
Table 4 lists the flexural toughness values and the fracture
indices of the prismatic beams reinforced with different combina-
tions of fibers. The fiber combinations affected the flexural tough-
ness and fracture indices, but no consistent trend was detected
when industrial steel fibers were replaced by recycled steel fibers.
Mixtures St1.35Rst0.15 and St1.2Rst0.3 had the best flexural
numbers of blows for the first and ultimate crack resistances were
62 and 92 for specimen St1.5, respectively. The first crack resis-
tance was reduced by about 15% in the combination containing
1.5% recycled steel fiber instead of industrial ones; the ultimate
crack resistance for the same mixture was reduced by about 20%.
This means that the mechanical anchorage provided by the
hooked-end steel fibers affects the ultimate impact resistance
rather than the first impact resistance. Regardless of the fiber com-
bination, the number of post initial crack blows (INPB) in the rein-
forced disks was 15–20 times higher than that of the plain disks.
Interestingly, increasing the recycled steel fiber content above
0.15% significantly reduced the INPB, and this reduction continued
until the volume percentage of recycled steel fibers reached 0.75%,
after which point it reduced slightly.
Fig. 9b shows the absorbed impact energy of the disks. The
impact energy of the reinforced disks ranged from 1850 kN.mm
(for the reinforced disks with 1.5% recycled steel fiber) to 2250
kN.mm (for the reinforced disks with 1.5% industrial fibers). The
impact energy of the reinforced disks varied by 20% due to differ-
ences in the frictional pull-out and mechanical anchorage provided
by the hooked-end industrial steel fibers.
ð4Þ Fig. 10 depicts the failure patterns of some plain and reinforced
disks. The fiber combinations affected the crack patterns of the
disks in the impact test. It was noticed that the hooked end shapes
of the industrial fibers mostly were fully straightened at the failure
ð5Þ
impact resistance, which after fully straightening the hooked end
industrial steel fibers, the pull-out process occurs under the fric-
tional resistance. As fiber inclination angle increases (for b  30°,
where b is the inclination angle), the pull-out response of the
hooked-end fiber becomes influenced less by the matrix strength
and more affected by the mechanical properties provided by the
straightening the fiber according to the load direction [24]. The
222 M. Mastali et al. / Construction and Building Materials 166 (2018) 214–226
Reference St1.5
St1.05Rst0.45 St0.15Rst1.35
Fig. 10. Failure patterns of the disks.
mechanical bond provided by the hook is considered as a function
of the work needed to straighten the fiber during the pull-out.
4. Analytical results
4.1. Correlation between mechanical properties and impact resistance
Fig. 11 shows the correlation between mechanical properties
and impact resistance; this correlation was used to develop the
prediction equations. According to previous studies [27], R2 of 0.7
or higher is sufficient for a reasonably reliable model. In this study,
the coefficients of the determination values are higher than 0.79,
indicating that these equations could be applied with reasonable
accuracy.
Regarding the results, mechanical properties and impact resis-
tance was correlated linearly together with R2  0.97, and the
highest correlation was detected between the compressive
strength and tensile strength. As shown in Fig. 11b and c, an
increase in the compressive strength increased flexural strength
and tensile strength. However, flexural strength increased more
than tensile strength when compressive strength was increased
(as illustrated by the steeper slope in the figure).
4.2. Cost analysis
The cost of one cubic meter of each mixture was calculated by
using the ingredient prices provided by the suppliers, which are
listed in Table 5.
Fig. 12 illustrates the material costs for each mixture. The plain
mixture cost around 105 €/m3. One study [28] reported that the
price of the plain self-consolidation concrete varies (based on qual-
ity) from 99 € to 115 €/m3. Introducing 1.5% industrial steel fiber to
the plain mixture increased material costs by 90%, bringing the
price to 200 €/m3. Replacing the industrial steel fiber by recycled
steel fiber consistently reduced the cost of mixtures; mixture
St1.5 included 1.5% recycled steel fiber and cost 165 €/m3, 18% less
than the cost of mixture reinforced with 1.5% industrial steel fiber.
Steel fiber accounted for between 35% (mixture Rst1.5) and 50%
(mixture St1.5) of the total cost of the reinforced mixtures, which
is a significant amount. In other words, fiber combinations greatly
St1.35Rst0.15
Rst1.5
affect the total material costs of the mixtures. It is also worth men-
tioning that casting self-consolidation concrete requires fewer
worker hours than casting slump concrete [28].
4.3. Global warming potential (GWP)
Greenhouse gases (GHG) are trapping heat in the lower atmo-
sphere. In this paper, to measure each mixture’s GHG contribution,
the global warming potential (GWP) of the mix compositions were
computed based on the EcoInvent database [29]. Table 6 shows the
GWP of each component of mixtures.
Fig. 13 shows the carbon emissions of the mixtures. The CO2
emission of the plain mixture is about 435 kg CO2 eq/m3, and the
CO2 emissions of cement are responsible for more than 97% of
the plain mixture’s total CO2 emissions of the plain mixture. The
addition of steel fiber, regardless of the fiber combination,
increased the CO2 emissions. The minimum and maximum GWP
for the reinforced mixtures were about 500 (for the mixture using
1.5% recycled steel fibers) and 700 kg CO2 eq/m3 (for the mixture
using 1.5% industrial steel fibers). Increasing the content of recy-
cled steel fibers in the fiber combination consistently reduced the
carbon emissions. The contribution of steel fiber to the total
GWP of the reinforced mixtures varied from 15% (for mixture
Rst1.5) to 40% (for mixture St1.5). The addition of steel fibers has
a greater impact on increasing the cost than GWP.
This study was mainly intended to identify the influences of
employing different fiber combinations on mechanical properties,
impact resistance, cost and the carbon emissions of the mixtures.
Thus, mechanical properties and cost of the mixtures were corre-
lated to the GWP by normalizing GWP to the total cost, mechanical
properties (the compressive, splitting tensile, and the flexural
strengths). Fig. 14 shows the normalized GWP with the cost and
mechanical properties of different mix compositions. Fig. 14a
shows that reinforcing the plain concrete with steel fibers and
replacing industrial steel fibers by recycled steel fibers reduced
the amount of released CO2 into the atmosphere per 1€. Therefore,
the minimum normalized CO2 to cost is 3 kg CO2 eq/€ for the mix-
ture Rst1.5.
Fig. 14b also shows that increasing the volume percentage of
recycled steel fibers reduced carbon emissions by 1 MPa of com-
 M. Mastali et al. / Construction and Building Materials 166 (2018) 214–226 223

5000 4.45
4800 Ft = 0.0333Fc + 1.7738
UPV = 68.493Fc- 965.88 4.4 R² = 0.9799
4600 R² = 0.7970
4400 4.35
UPV (m/s)

Ft (MPa)
4200
4000 4.3
3800
4.25
3600
3400 4.2
3200
3000 4.15
70 72 74 76 78 80 70 72 74 76 78 80
Fc (MPa) Fc (MPa)
a) b)

9 140
8.9 Fr = 0.1056Fc + 0.4691 FU = 3.2669Fc - 146.46
120 R² = 0.9727
8.8 R² = 0.9740

8.7 100

FU (blows)
8.6
Fr (MPa)

80
8.5
60
8.4
8.3 40
8.2
20
8.1
8 0
70 72 74 76 78 80 72 74 76 78 80
Fc (MPa) Fc (MPa)
c) d)
140
UC = 1.957FC - 29.525
120 R² = 0.9778

100
UC (blows)

80

60

40

20

0
60 65 70 75
FC (blows)
e)

Fig. 11. Correlation between: a) the ultrasonic pulse velocity vs. the compressive strength; b) the splitting tensile strength vs. the compressive strength; c) the flexural
strength vs. the compressive strength; d) the first crack impact resistance vs. the compressive strength; e) the first and ultimate crack impact resistance.

Table 5
The material costs (€/kg).

Cement Fly ash Aggregate SP Water St* RST**

0.10 0.03 0.02 0.82 0.10 0.80 0.50

St*: Industrial steel fiber.

Rst**: Recycled steel fiber.

pressive strength, so using 1.5% recycled steel fiber to reinforce the
mixture reduced the carbon emissions by 20% per 1 MPa of the
compressive strength compared to the plain concrete. Using more
than 0.15% recycled steel fiber reduced the normalized CO2 emis-
sions by the compressive strength compared to the plain concrete.
Fig. 14c shows the CO2 emissions per 1 MPa of the tensile strength.
Using more than 1.2% recycled steel fiber reduced the GWP per 1
MPa tensile strength compared to the plain mixture. Using 1.5%
recycled steel fiber reduced the GWP by 10% per 1 MPa of the ten-
sile strength compared to the plain concrete, reducing GWP from
128 to 118 kg CO2 eq/MPa. Similarly, decreasing the volume per-
centage of industrial steel fiber reduced the CO2 emissions per 1
224 M. Mastali et al. / Construction and Building Materials 166 (2018) 214–226

220 where, dj is the individual desirability function, Yj is the current

response, and min fj and max fj are the lowest and highest values
200 of the jth response, respectively. The power value tj is a weighting
Cost (Euro/m3)

180 factor of the jth response. Since the independent parameters are
all equally important in this case, the weighting factor of 1 was
160 adopted [38].
140 Afterward, an overall desirability function (D) was used as the
objective function in this paper, as shown in Eq. (8). The computed
120 individual desirability functions are used in Eq. (8) to assess the
100 combined effects of mechanical properties, impact resistance, cost,
and GWP of the mixtures.

1
D ¼ ðd1  d2  d3  :::  dm Þm ð8Þ
Fig. 12. The material costs of mixtures.
where, m is the number of the responses. In this study, mechanical
properties (compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural
Cement Fly ash strength, absorbed energy), INPB, cost, and GWP of each mix com-
700 Aggregate SP
Water Industrial steel position are the variables, so m in this case is 7. A higher value
600 Recycled steel for a mix’s overall desirability function indicates more mechanical
GWP kgCO2eq/m3)

500
400
300
200
100
0 INBP were computed using Eq. (6), which maximizes these values.
Fig. 13. Global warming potential of the mixtures per one cubic meter.
MPa of the flexural strength. Using more than 1.05% recycled steel
fibers decrease the CO2 emissions by flexural strength compared to
the plain concrete. Employing 1.5% recycled steel fiber reduced the
GWP by 10% per 1 MPa of the flexural strength, when compared to
the plain concrete, reducing GWP from 67 to 61 kg CO2 eq/MPa.
5. A multi-criteria ranking method to achieve eco-efficient and
cost-effective fiber reinforced self-consolidation concretes
The cost, GWP and experimental results for the mixtures were
considered to identify the optimal mix compositions in terms of
mechanical properties, impact resistance, cost effectiveness, and
environmental impact. In this case, the ingredients in the mix com-
positions are the independent variables, and the dependent vari-
ables, such as mechanical properties, impact resistance, cost, and
carbon emissions, change based on the independent variables. If
there is only one criterion, the maximum or minimum value is
determined, and no optimization process is necessary [31,32]. In
this case, to select the best mix compositions based on cost,
GWP, and strength, a mathematical formula was developed to
compare the alternatives and optimize the results. Since optimiza-
tion usually deals with objective functions, a multi-criteria opti-
mization technique was used: a designated desirability function
[32–35]. This function calculates a value between 0 and 1. The
maximum and minimum value of the individual desirability func-
tion can be computed with Eqs. (6) and (7), respectively [36,37]:
" #tj
Y j  min f j
dj ¼
max f j  min f j
" #tj
max f j  Y j
dj ¼
max f j  min f j
strength, better impact resistance, lower costs, and lower GWP.
An optimal mix has high values for mechanical strength and
impact resistance and low values for cost and GWP. Therefore,
the individual desirability functions for the compressive strength,
splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, absorbed energy, and
The desirability functions for the cost and GWP were minimized
using Eq. (7).
The highest possible individual desirability function value for a
mix composition is 1, which represents an optimal mixture. The
lowest and worst possible individual desirability function value
for a mix composition is 0. Concerning Eq. (8), the overall desirabil-
ity function for the mix composition that has the maximum and
minimum individual desirability functions will be obtained as
equal to 0 [38].
The overall desirability functions of the mixtures were calcu-
lated; they are listed in Table 7. Specimens Rst1.5 and
St0.15Rst1.35 had the highest overall desirability function values
of the reinforced specimens. This means that using a higher vol-
ume percentage of recycled steel fibers leads to better performance
by maximizing mechanical properties and impact resistance and
minimizing cost and GWP.
Industrial steel fibers have the best performance in terms of
mechanical properties and impact resistance, but these fibers are
also the most expensive and have the highest GWP. Therefore,
the mixtures containing higher volume percentages of industrial
steel fibers were not economical or environmental friendly. Recy-
cled steel fibers showed an inverse trend: the mechanical and
impact performances were poorer, but they are also cheaper than
industrial steel fibers and have a less negative environmental
impact. The results of this optimization procedure are valid if all
the independent parameters are considered equally important.
This confirmed previous findings [10,11] on the feasibility of using
recycled steel fibers and their preferability to industrial steel fibers.
6. Conclusions
This paper presents an experimental, analytical attempt to
develop cost-efficient, eco-efficient self-consolidation concretes
reinforced with different volume percentages of industrial and
ð6Þ recycled steel fibers. Experimental tests and analytical studies
were conducted to identify the effects of using different steel fiber
combinations on the mechanical properties (compressive, splitting
tensile, and flexural strengths), impact resistance, cost, and carbon
ð7Þ emissions of concrete. Regarding the results reported in this study,
following remarks could be highlighted:
 M. Mastali et al. / Construction and Building Materials 166 (2018) 214–226 225

4.5 180
4 160
GWP/Cost (kgCO2eq/Euro)

GWP/Tensile strength
3.5 140

(kgCO2eq/m3.MPa)
3 120
2.5 100
2 80
1.5 60
1 40
0.5 20
0 0

a) c)
10 90
9 80
GWP/Compressive strength

GWP/Flexural strength
70
(kgCO eq/m3.MPa)

(kgCO2eq/m3.MPa)
7
60
6
50
5
40
4
2

3 30
2 20
1 10
0 0

b) d)
Fig. 14. The normalized CO2 emission by: a) Cost; b) Compressive strength; c) Tensile strength; d) Flexural strength.

Table 6
Global warming potential (GWP) of each component of the mixtures (kg CO2 eq) [29,30].

Cement Fly ash Aggregate SP Water St RST

0.9310 0.0150 0.0024 1.0640 0.0001 2.1500 0.5000

Table 7
Desirability functions of the mixtures.

Designation of specimens Individual desirability functions of Overall desirability function

Compressive strength Tensile strength Flexural strength Absorbed energy INPB Cost GWP
Reference 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 1.000 1.000 0.000
St1.5 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
St1.35Rst0.15 0.992 0.983 0.975 0.943 0.975 0.037 0.076 0.425
St1.2Rst0.3 0.953 0.978 0.935 0.867 0.850 0.075 0.153 0.496
St1.05Rst0.45 0.896 0.926 0.899 0.782 0.800 0.112 0.230 0.532
St0.9Rst0.6 0.847 0.859 0.841 0.699 0.775 0.150 0.306 0.550
St0.75Rst0.75 0.818 0.850 0.797 0.591 0.750 0.187 0.383 0.562
St0.6Rst0.9 0.809 0.824 0.756 0.564 0.725 0.225 0.460 0.577
St0.45Rst1.05 0.788 0.815 0.714 0.535 0.725 0.262 0.537 0.591
St0.3Rst1.2 0.773 0.799 0.707 0.524 0.700 0.300 0.614 0.605
St0.15Rst1.35 0.768 0.780 0.699 0.513 0.700 0.337 0.690 0.620
Rst1.5 0.757 0.760 0.682 0.466 0.700 0.375 0.767 0.624

1. Promisingly, partial replacement of industrial steel fibers with
recycled ones does not remarkably affect the mechanical
strength (compressive, tensile and flexural strength). However,
replacing partially industrial fibers with recycled ones can
result in a significant decrease in residual flexural strength
(roughly 70%) and the absorbed energy (about 40%).
2. Replacing 15–30% industrial with recycled steel fibers resulted
in measuring the best flexural toughness and fracture indices.
3. The mechanical anchorage provided by the hooked-end steel
fibers greatly affects the ultimate impact resistance, as com-
pared to the first impact resistance. By replacing 1.5% industrial
with recycled steel fiber, the maximum reduction in the ulti-
mate impact resistance was recorded about 20%, while the first
impact resistance decreased around 15%.
4. Additionally, it was detected that increasing the content of
recycled steel fiber from 0.15% to 0.75% significantly reduced
the INPB (around 5–25%).
226 M. Mastali et al. / Construction and Building Materials 166 (2018) 214–226
5. Mechanical properties and impact resistance correlated linearly
with R2  0.97. Increasing the compressive strength increased
both flexural and tensile strengths, but the flexural strength
increased more than the tensile strength.
6. Fiber combinations greatly affected the total material costs of
the mixtures, so that the contribution of steel fiber to the total
cost of the reinforced mixtures varied from 35% (1.5% recycled
steel fibers) to 50% (1.5% industrial steel fibers).
7. The effect of fibers on the total carbon emissions of the rein-
forced mixtures varied from 15% (1.5% recycled steel fiber) to
40% (1.5% industrial steel fibers).
8. Regardless of the type of steel fiber, the addition of steel fibers
affected costs more than GWP.
9. When mechanical properties, impact resistance, cost, and car-
bon emissions are given equal weight, mixtures with a recycled
fiber content over 1.2% are the most promising.
Promisingly, this study presented that replacing industrial steel
fiber by recycled steel fiber is encouraged to be used due to its
environmental friendly impacts, cost effectiveness, and significant
impact on enhancing mechanical properties, when compared to
industrial steel fibers.
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