Recent trends in steel fibered high-strength concrete

Steel fibered high-strength concrete (SFHSC) became in the recent decades a very popular material in structural engineering. High strength attracts designers and architects as it allows improving the durability as well as the esthetics of a construction. As a result of increased application of SFHSC, many experimental studies are conducted to investigate its properties and to develop new rules for proper design. One of the trends in SFHSC structures is to provide their ductile behavior that is desired for proper structural response to dynamic loadings. An additional goal is to limit development and propagation of macro-cracks in the body of SFHSC elements. SFHSC is tough and demonstrates high residual strengths after appearance of the first crack. Experimental studies were carried out to select effective fiber contents as well as suitable fiber types, to study most efficient combination of fiber and regular steel bar reinforcement. Proper selection of other materials like silica fume, fly ash and super plasticizer has also high importance because of the influence on the fresh and hardened concrete properties. Combination of normal-strength concrete with SFHSC composite two-layer beams leads to effective and low cost solutions that may be used in new structures as well as well as for retrofitting existing ones. Using modern nondestructive testing techniques like acoustic emission and nonlinear ultrasound allows verification of most design parameters and control of SFHSC properties during casting and after hardening. This paper presents recent experimental results, obtained in the field SFHSC and non-destructive testing. It reviews the experimental data and provisions of existing codes and standards. Possible ways for developing modern design techniques for SFHSC structures are emphasized.

► Recent studies on steel fibred high strength concrete (SFHSC) are reviewed.
► Different design provisions for SFHSC are compared.
► Applications of SFHSC in new and existing structures and elements are discussed.
► Using non-destructive techniques for quality control of SFHSC are reviewed.