Mechanical properties of a large scale synthetic fibre reinforced concrete ground slab

The existing design code for Concrete Industrial Ground Floors, TR34, by the Concrete Society states that “Macro synthetic fibres provide some post-cracking or residual moment capacity but with significantly lower performance than steel fibres. They are not known to be used in industrial floor construction”. This paper presents results of an ongoing investigation undertaken by the authors concerning the mechanical and physical properties of fibre reinforced concrete ground slabs at an industrial scale. This paper focuses and presents results concerning the punching shear failure of a 6.00 m × 6.00 m × 0.15 m synthetic fibre reinforced ground supported slab. The paper demonstrates clearly the methodology adopted and the infrastructure used throughout this investigation. The presented results show clearly that the punching shear failure values obtained in this investigation are comparable to values reported for the steel fibre slabs under similar conditions. This work could potentially question the validity of the above statement in TR34. The significance of this research also is in the size of the slab investigated, as there is very limited work, if any, reported within the literature.

► A large scale synthetic fibre reinforced concrete slab was constructed and tested. ► The slab was subjected to point load at five different positions. ► Deformations (deflections) at five points were measured and reported. ► Results are comparable to steel fibre reinforced concrete slab tested earlier.