Investigation of the Effect of Different Types of Steel Fiber on High Performance Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Composite (HPFRCC) Beams with Different Aspect (a/d) Ratios

Conventional concrete is very brittle, thus when subjected to sudden loads it tends to
fail. To overcome this flaw and sustainability problems, High Performance Fiber
Reinforced Cementitious Composites (HPFRCC) was developed. To further
understand this cementitious composite, this research focuses on the study of the
influence of different types of steel fiber on the mechanical properties of HPFRCC as
well as on their influence on the shear failure mode of steel reinforced HPFRCC
beams with different span to aspect (a/d) ratios. From the results obtained, despite
both types of steel fibers utilized – straight and hooked – having the same tensile
strength, the performance of straight steel fiber is superior to the hooked steel fiber
due to its physiognomies, where the compressive, tensile and flexural strength of the
cementitious composites is superior by 11%, 46% and 1.83%, respectively. It was
also noticed a better defection capability by the straight steel fibers when subjected
to shear load. On the other hand, the hooked steel fiber had a better shear load
capability by 29%. Moreover, with the increment of the aspect (a/d) ratio of
HPFRCC beams from 2 to 3.5, the angle of the failure line of the HPFRCC beams
decreases.