Desempeño de losas de concreto sobre terreno reforzadas con malla electrosoldada o fibras de acero

New trends on high performance materials have motivated the use of steel fibers for improving concrete performance. The paper shows the results of an experimental research program aimed at evaluating the fiber content required to obtain a flexural performance equivalent to that of the slab-on-ground reinforced with with welded-wire mesh and the minimum steel ratio for shrinkage and temperature. The experimental program included flexural tests of 10 600-mm square concrete slabs, thickness of 100 mm, and different type of reinforcement; i.e, slabs with welded-wire mesh having cold-drawn wires of 5mm-diameter and spacing of 150 mm; slabs with different contents of steel fibers (5, 9 and 18 kg/m3) and slabs with plain concrete. Load-deflection curves were used for computing the energy absorption related to different values of deflection at mid-span of slab. Results of a linear regression analysis were used to propose the equivalent fiber content to replace, for a particular value of deflection, the conventional reinforcement of the concrete slab-on-ground.