This document has been approved for use by agen: thes of the Deparment of Defense and for ting in fhe Od Index Bt Specticatons and ‘ACI 544.1R-82, (Reapproved 1986) State-of-the-Art Report on Fiber Reinforced Concrete Reported by ACI Committee 544 ACI Committee Reports, Guides, Standard Practices, and Commentaries are intended for guidance in designing, plan hing, executing, or inspecting consiruetion and in preparing Speeiiations Reference to these. documents. shal not_be made in the Project Documents. If items found in these doc lments are desired to be part of the Project Documents, they should be phrased in mandatory language and incor. porated into the Project Documents, The present state of development of the meckanies for fiber reinforcing of portland cement concrete by metallic, glass, plastic. and natural fibers is reviewed along with techniques for mixing and mix proportioning. placing. fin: ‘ishing. and actual and potential applications. Keywords: abrasion resatance; admixtures: asbestos: compressive Hength; concrete. durability: concrete pavements: corronon cracking \fracturing!. creep properties. deflection: fatigue imate Tals: fiber reinforeed couerete: flexural strength: freeze-thaw du Fabulitys friction: glass bers: history; loads tercesr. metal fibers it proportioning: miting, ovon ier lacing pan concrete forcing. steels research: reviews shells istractoral formsl, shot crete: skid resistance: stresses: ayathetie fibers: thermal conduc tivity: wall CONTENTS Chapter 1 — Introduction, p. 544.1R-1 LI = Definition of fiber reinforced concrete 12 — Definition of fiber 13 = Historical background Chapter 2 — Mechanical properties of fiber reinforced concrete, p. 544.1R-3 1h Spacing concept fmposite materials concept 2! 22 23 — Ultimate strength and toughness Chapter 3 — Preparation of fiber reinforced concrete, p. 544.1R-7 ht Mixes 2 — Mixing methods 33 ~ Placing Chapter 4 — Typical material properties, p. $44.1R-11 2 — Dynami strength 3 — Fasigue strength 14 — Creep 45 = Corrosion of steel fibers 48 — Thermal conductivity 17 — Abrasion resistance 44 — Friction and skid resistance Chapter 5 — Applications, p. 544.1R-13, Chapter 6 — Research efforts, p. 544.1R-17 References, p. 544.1R-17 CHAPTER 1 — INTRODUCTION 1.1 — Definition of fiber reinforced concrete Fiber reinforced concrete is concrete made of hy- draulic cements containing fine or fine and coarse ag: gregate and discontinuous discrete fibers. Continuous For discussion see the November 1982 sue of Coatee Internation: De sity: Consiraction Copeeghe 1982 Armenian Concrete Tostitate_ Al seaans5a4.1R2 MANUAL OF CONCRETE PRACTICE Fig. 1 — Fracture surface of steel fiber reinforced concrete : ‘meshes, woven fabrics, and long rods are not consid ered to be discrete fiber type reinforcing elements in this report. Fig. 1 shows the fractured surface of steel fiber reinforced concrete. 1.2 — Definition of fiber Fibers have been produced from steel, plastic, glass, and natural materials in various shapes and sizes. A convenient numerical parameter describing a fi ber is its aspect ratio, defined as the fiber length di vided by an equivalent fiber diameter.* Typical as- pect ratios range from about 30 to 150 for length di mensions of 0.25 to 3 in. (6.4 to 76 mmi. Fig. 2 — Various shapes and sizes of stee! fibers. Round steel fibers are produced by cutting or chop: ping wire, typically having diameters between 0.010 and 0.030 in. 10.25 to 0.76 mmi. Flat steel fibers hav. ing typical cross sections ranging from 0.006 to 0.016 in, (0.15 to 0.41 mm) in thickness by 0.010 to 0.035 in. (0.25 to 0.90 mm) in width are produced by shearing sheets or flattening wire. Crimped and deformed steel fibers have been produced both full length and crimped or bent at the ends only. Fibers have been collated with water-soluble glue into bundles of 10-30 fibers to facilitate handling and mixing. Fe egaivaen te to the erosssqctona arcu ofthe fide. ‘he toteratonal System of Measarement (I) vales in thi report are Stary rprenn commen ie peso ces Por neh oe the une should just them to conor to practice im fhe are ake i Fig. 3 — Glass fibers.FIBER REINFORCED CONCRETE TABLE 1.1 — TYPICAL PROPERTIES OF FIBERS Tensile strength, st Acrylic 0-60 Asbestos 0-140 Cotton Glass Nylon (high tenacity! Polyester thigh tenacity) Polyethylene’ Polypropylene Rayon thigh tenacity! Rock Wool Scandinavian) Steel Lksi = 69 MPa Steel fibers are also produced by the melt-extrac: tion process. This method uses a rotating wheel that touches a molten metal surface, lifts off liquid metal and rapidly freezes it into fibers which are thrown off by centrifugal force. The fibers have an irregular sur face and a crescent shaped cross section ‘Typical glass fibers ichopped strand) have diame: ters of 0.0002 to 0.0006 in. (0.005 to 0.015 mm), but these fibers may be bonded together to produce glass fiber elements with diameters of 0.0005 to 0.050 in (0.013 to 1.3 mm) ‘Typical plastics such as nylon, polypropylene. poly ethylene. polyester, and rayon have been made into fibers with diameters of 0.0008 to 0.015 in, (0.02 to 0.38 mm) Fibers processed from natural materials like as- bestos and cotton provide a wide range of sizes. Several properties of various types of fibers are listed in Table 1.1 Fig. 2 shows various shapes and sizes of steel fibers and Fig. 3 shows glass fibers. 1.3 — Historical background Historically fibers have been used to reinforce brit tle materials since ancient times; straws were used to reinforce sunbaked bricks. horse hair was used to reinforce plaster and more recently, asbestos fibers are being used to reinforce portland cement. Patents have been granted since the turn of the century for various methods of incorporating wire segments or metal chips into concrete. The low tensile strength and brittle character of concrete have been bypassed by the use of reinforcing rods in the tensile zone of the conerete since the middle of the nineteenth cen: tury. ‘The research by Romualdi and Batson’ and Ro: mualdi and Mandel’ on closely spaced wires and ran: dom fibers in the late 1950s and early 1960s was the basis for a patent based on fiber spacing.’ The Port. land Cement Association (PCA) investigated fiber re- inforcement in the late 1950s." Another patent based ‘on bond and aspect ratio of the fibers was granted in 1972. In the early 1960s, experiments using plastic fibers in concrete with and without steel reinforcing Youns’s SIRS modulus, elongation, Specitic __pereeat” gravity 5-15 ~08 310 1535 1620 m3 0,020.06 m0 03, 325 10 io25 wat ~08 2 05.5 rods or wire meshes were conducted.” Experiments using glass fibers have been conducted in the United States since the early 1950s" as well as the United Kingdom" and Russia." Applications of fiber reinforeed concrete have been made since the mid 1960s for road and floor slabs, refractory materials. and concrete products. ‘The majority of experience with steel fibers in the United States has been with mixes using normal weight aggregate and portland cement as the binder. The methods of mixing, placing. consolidating, and finishing for steel fiber reinforced conerete have been developed to a reasonable degree, particularly for pavements. The greater difficulty in handling steel f- ber reinforced concrete requires more deliberate planning and workmanship than established concrete construction procedures. Present mechanical methods of producing and handling regular concrete may or may not be appropriate for fiber reinforced concrete depending on the many mix parameters involved. The volume and type of fibers selected determine the maximum aggregate size and volume of paste, With these factors known, the techniques of good concrete proportioning can be applied to obtain workable and economical mixes. For glass fibers, the major experience has been with the spray-up process in which the glass fibers and a cement-rich mortar are sprayed simultaneously onto a surface. The material is then compacted by the use of serrated rollers or vibrating trowels to remove air and consolidate the composite. CHAPTER 2 — MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF FIBER REINFORCED CONCRETE When fiber reinforced concrete specimens are loaded in flexure, two stages of behavior in the load: deformation curve have been generally observed," as shown in Fig. 4. The load-deformation curve can be considered more or less linear up to Point A. Beyond Point A. the curve is significantly nonlinear and reaches a maximum at Point B. The load or the stress corresponding to Point A has been called “first crack strength,” “elastic limit,” or “proportional limi