See

discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286440551

Bond in normal-weight fiber reinforced

concrete

Conference Paper · November 2015

CITATIONS READS

0 49

4 authors:

Ahsan Ali Shahid Iqbal

Hochschule für Technik, Wirtschaft und Kultu… CECOS University
14 PUBLICATIONS 26 CITATIONS 18 PUBLICATIONS 29 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Klaus Holschemacher Thomas A. Bier

Hochschule für Technik, Wirtschaft und Kultu… Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg
231 PUBLICATIONS 369 CITATIONS 82 PUBLICATIONS 202 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Steel fibre reinforced concrete View project

Bond of reinforcement in concrete View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Klaus Holschemacher on 10 December 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. All in-text references underlined in blue are added to the original document
and are linked to publications on ResearchGate, letting you access and read them immediately.
Sborník 22. Betonářské dny (2015)
ISBN 978-80-906097-0-9 Postery

BOND IN NOMRAL-WEIGHT FIBER REINFORCED

CONCRETE

(current
Ahsan Ali Shahid Iqbal Klaus Thomas A. Bier
passport-size
Corresponding Author Holschemacher
photo)

Abstract (current passport- (current (current

size photo) passport-size photo) passport-size photo)
This paper presents test results performed on Pull-out specimens for evaluation and
comparison of bond strength behavior of Normal-weight Fiber Reinforced Concrete
(NWFC). Test parameters included reinforcement size and fiber content. Three different
reinforcement sizes (10, 16 and 20 mm) and four concrete mixes having fiber contents of
0, 20, 40 and 60 kg/m3 were used for current experimental work. In total, 36 Pull-out
specimens were tested; although the size of specimens varied with reinforcement size; ratio
of concrete cover to bar diameter (c/db) remained constant in order to monitor specifically
the influence of fibers and bar size only. Test results indicate decrease in ultimate bond
strength with increasing bar size. The effect of fibers was not observed in enhancing the
pre-crack performance of the test specimens, whereas the ultimate bond strength and post
peak bond strength performance increased significantly. The ultimate bond strength is
found to be strongly affected by the compressive strength rather than fiber volume.
Keywords: Concrete, Pull-out, Bond, Fibers, Hooked-end

1 Introduction
For the past 40 years, after the development of fiber reinforced concrete, extensive
research material has been published on its properties and perhaps the interaction between
reinforcement and concrete (Bond) is one of most investigated property. Two primary
reasons for extensive research on bond are (1) development of new materials like fibers,
admixtures, artificial aggregates etc, and (2) variety of factors influencing this interaction,
like, confinement, reinforcement characteristics, test environment, etc. Comprehensive
literature is available on effect of these parameters on bond strength; however there is
limited data available on the effect of reinforcing bar size, specially having larger diameter
on bond strength of normal-weight concrete reinforced with fibers.

1
22. Betonářské dny (2015) Sborník
Postery ISBN 978-80-906097-0-9

The reinforcement in a cracked segment of structural member resists large tensile stresses
compared to surrounding concrete, generating strain incompatibility between the two
materials which ultimately leads to the axial displacement or slip of bar relative to the
concrete. Bond stresses are induced when this slip is resisted by friction and mechanical
bearing of bar. The average bond stresses from pull-out tests in laboratory are calculated
by dividing pull-out force with surface area of reinforcement that is in contact with
concrete (Eq. 1).
P (1)
m=
pld db

2 Experimental Program
Experimental program included testing of 36 Pull-out specimens. Specimens geometry
varied in proportion to the bar being pulled out. This was done intentionally to have same
confinement condition (bar dia to cover ratio) for all specimens to strictly monitor the
effect of fibers only on bond behavior. Most of the guidelines were followed from RILEM
standard [1] for specimen design, except size. There were three (03) specimens for each
bar size in every concrete mix i.e. nine (09) specimens for every mix and in total 36
specimens for all the four concrete mixes. Specimens were labelled as NWFC-N1-N2-N3,
where NI, N2, N3 refer to fiber content in kg/m3, bar diameter and specimen number
respectively. Figure 1 shows rest of the features of specimens.

200

160
50*
50*

100
100**

* Part of the bar up to the point of application of the

80**
50

Reinforcing displacement measuring device

bar ** Bond length
300**** 50*** 50**

*** Part of bar not in contact with concrete

**** Part of the bar up to the point of application of the load
100***
80***

Note: All dimensions in mm

300****
300****

Plastic sleeve
2mm thick
ø 10 ø 16 ø 20

Fig. 1 Specimen details

Mix design used is shown in Table 1. Apart from reference mix with no fibers, three
additional mixes incorporating hooked end steel fibers in quantities of 20, 40 and 60 kg/m 3
were prepared. These steel fibers had aspect ratio of 0.64 (Lf = 0.35, df = 0.55).

Tab. 1 Ingredient proportion used in mix design

Cement Coarse aggregate Fine aggregate

w/c Superplasticizer
[kg/m3] [kg/m3] [kg/m3]

350 884 955 0.45 0.5 % weight of cement

2
Sborník 22. Betonářské dny (2015)
ISBN 978-80-906097-0-9 Postery

Specimens were tested in 600 kN displacement controlled machine. The bar from the
specimen was pulled out at the rate of 0.005 mm/s and the relative slip of bar against
concrete was measured with the help of six LVDTs. Fig. 2 shows rest of the features of test
setup. Tests on compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, modulus of rupture and
modulus of elasticity were also performed.

Fig. 2 Test setup

3 Test Results
Fresh concrete test results show reduction in slump flow and air-content and enhancement
in concrete density as the fiber dosage increased. Results show no significant influence of
fibers on compressive and splitting tensile strength. General trend of reduction in
compressive strength was observed, with only exception of mix with 40 kg/m3 fiber
content, for which it increased about 12%. Tendency of splitting tensile strength results
confirm earlier reports that fibers in the selected practical range cannot delay onset of crack
formation. Like compressive and splitting tensile strength, first peak strength (modulus of
rupture) measured by testing beam in flexure is also not greatly influenced. In this case too,
beam made from mix of 40 kg/m3 fiber content attained maximum increment of 19.7%.

Tab. 2 Fresh and hardened concrete test results

Fiber Compressive Splitting tensile First peak Slump Fresh Air

content strength strength strength flow density content
[kg/m3] [MPa] [MPa] [MPa] [mm] [kg/m3] %

00 37.25 2.75 4.14 390.00 2243.83 5.30

20 34.01 2.68 4.70 395.00 2213.33 7.37
40 41.98 2.99 5.15 390.00 2270.60 5.76
60 35.07 2.84 5.04 365.00 2293.77 5.58

Bond behavior
No pull-out failure was observed and failure of all the specimens took place by splitting of
concrete. Cracks became visible at the outer surface of all the specimens at the maximum

3
22. Betonářské dny (2015) Sborník
Postery ISBN 978-80-906097-0-9

pullout force and larger crack widths were observed with increasing bar/specimens size.
Bond stress at failure was observed to decrease as the size increased because in larger
specimens, due to distributed cracking, non-simultaneous nature of failure in different
zones is more pronounced which help to cause the final failure resulting in larger cracks at
same slip values (Fig. 3).
Effect of bar size and specimen size in different concretes on bond has been reported in
earlier literature [2,3]. These reports suggest decrease in bond strength as the bar
size/specimen size increase. This decrease is attributed famous size effect law and to the
fact that there is increase in circumferential shearing area as the bar diameter increases.

Fig. 3 Status of specimens after failure at slip of 5 mm

Even with same bar size to cover ratio, results show that for all the mixes 10 mm bar size
attained highest bond strength (Fig. 4-a). The average bond strength of specimens with 10
mm bar was found to be 21% higher than those with 20 mm reinforcing bar. More
consistent softening branch was observed as the fiber content increased, indicating
effectiveness of fibers in trapping the progressing cracks. Also fibers were effective in
enhancing the ultimate bond strength. This increment was more pronounced in higher
diameter bars at fiber dosage of 40 kg/m3 with an increment of 38 % for 20 mm bar size
and 32 % for 16 mm bar (Fig. 4-b). Decrease in compressive strength is considered to be
the reason for reduction in ultimate bond strength at maximum fiber dosage except for 10
mm bar size specimens. This highlights the fact that compressive strength has strong
influence on bond than fibers. Besides improvement in ultimate bond strength, there was
increase in slip value at maximum bond stress with increasing fiber content and
bar/specimen size (Table 3).

Tab. 3 Maximum bond stress and corresponding slip values at different fiber dosages
Fiber content Bar size
10 mm 16 mm 20 mm
3
(kg/m ) μmax (MPa) s ( mm) μmax (MPa) s ( mm) μmax (MPa) s ( mm)
00 13.02 0.43 11.51 0.65 10.73 0.74
20 15.62 0.46 13.17 0.46 12.07 0.63
40 16.52 0.54 15.19 0.65 14.87 0.797
60 17.399 0.60 13.78 0.999 13.999 0.76

4
Sborník 22. Betonářské dny (2015)
ISBN 978-80-906097-0-9 Postery

Ultimate bond strength

Percent increase (%)
0 1 2 3 4
18 18 40
16 10 mm bar 10 mm bar
14 16 30
12
[0.75% Vf 20
10 14
8 [0.5% Vf
[0.25% Vf 10
6 12
4 [0% Vf
0
2 10
0

Ultimate bond strength (MPa)

Percent increase (%)

18 18 40
Bond stress (MPa)

16 16 mm bar 16 mm bar
14 16 30
12
20
10 [0.75% Vf 14
8 [0.5% Vf 10
6 [0.25% Vf 12
4 0
2 [0% Vf 10
0 0 20 40 60
18 18 40
16 20 mm bar 20 mm bar
14 16 30
12
10 [0.75% Vf 20
[0.5% Vf 14
8
[0.25% Vf 10
6 12
4 [0% Vf 0
2 10
0 0 20 40 60
0 1 2 3 4
3
Fiber content (kg/m )
Slip (mm)
(a) (b)

Fig. 4 (a) Bond stress-slip plot (b) Variation of ultimate bond strength at different fiber dosages
Note: Vf = Fiber volume fraction

4 Conclusion
Test results of 36 pull-out specimens carried out for evaluation of bond in normal weight
fiber reinforced concrete are presented.
 Results show that size of bar/specimen affect the bond strength significantly. Bond
strength is found to reduce as the bar size increases accompanied by more brittle
nature of failure.
 Fibers were found to influence both the ultimate bond strength and post maximum
bond strength.

References
[1] RILEM (2006). Technical Recommendations for the Testing and Use of
Construction Materials. London: Taylor & Francis.

[2] Bamonte P. F., Gambarova, P. G. (2007). High-Bond Bars in NSC and HPC: Study
on Size Effect and on the Local Bond Stress-Slip Law. J Struct Eng 2007;133:225–
34. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9445(2007)133:2(225).

[3] Bazant, P. Z., Sener, S. (1988). Size Effect in Pullout Tests. ACI Mater J
1988;85:347–51.

5
 22. Betonářské dny (2015) Sborník
Postery ISBN 978-80-906097-0-9

Ahsan Ali Shahid Iqbal

 Room No. 010315  Room No. 010315
FZC, Faculty of Civil Engineering and FZC, Faculty of Civil Engineering and
Architecture Architecture
University of Applied Sciences (HTWK University of Applied Sciences (HTWK
Leipzig), Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 143 Leipzig), Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 143
04277 Leipzig, Germany 04277 Leipzig, Germany
 +49 341 3076 6467  +49 341 3076 8821
 ahsan.ali@stud.htwk-leipzig.de  shahid.iqbal@stud.htwk-leipzig.de
Prof. Dr. -Ing. Klaus Prof. Dr. -Ing. Thomas A. Bier
Holschemacher. TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Institut für
 Geutebrück-Bau Keramik, Glas- u. Baustofftechnik,
Zimmer G213 Leipziger Straße 28 09599 Freiberg
Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 132  +49 (0)3731 / 39 4242
04277 Leipzig, Germany  thomas.bier@ikgb.tu-freiberg.de
 +49 (0) 341 3076 6242
 klaus.holschemacher@htwk-leipzig.de

View publication stats