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Recent Innovations in Fibrous Concrete with Superior Mechanical Properties and Evolution in 2022

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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction and Building Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 August 2022) | Viewed by 21466

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Nikolai Vatin

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Guest Editor

Institute of Civil Engineering, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Polytechnicheskaya, 29, 195251 Saint Petersburg, Russia
Interests: structural engineering; cold formed steel structures; concrete structures; building physics; mechanics of materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. G. Murali

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Guest Editor

School of Civil Engineering, SASTRA Deemed to be University, Thanjavur 613401, India
Interests: fibre reinforced concrete; green concrete; waste utilization in concrete
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Numerous studies on high ductility fibrous concrete have been conducted to overcome the inherent brittleness of concrete. Several types of fibrous concrete incorporating waste tire, nylon, glass, carbon, metallic, polymer, basalt, polypropylene and steel fibers have been successfully developed and applied for building structures due to their benefits of limiting crack propagation widening through fiber bridging. Furthermore, recently invented preplaced aggregate concrete, slurry infiltrated fibrous concrete, and functionally graded fibrous concrete, and various relevant studies are actively underway.
This special issue aims to provide a comprehensive overview of innovations in fibrous concrete, including aspects related to mechanical behaviors and their applications under various loading conditions.
Authoritative review articles and original research papers describing recent findings in any type of fibrous concrete are expected to cover the following topics.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

Ultra-High-performance fibrous concrete
Functionally graded fibrous concrete
Preplaced aggregate fibrous concrete
High-strength strain-hardening cementitious composites
Geopolymer fibrous concrete
Self-compacting fibrous concrete
Blast and abrasion resistance
Drop weight and projectile impact resistance
Pendulum impact
Dynamic properties
Fracture behaviour
Fatigue
Mechanical properties
Durability
Fiber hybridization
Fiber orientation
Natural fibers
Recycled fibers
Fire resistance
Structural applications

Prof. Dr. Nikolai Vatin
Dr. G. Murali
Guest Editors

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Fibrous concrete
Cementitious composites
Masonry structure
Mechanical Properties
Dynamic properties
Durability
Structural applications

Published Papers (11 papers)

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Research

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23 pages, 6518 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Research on Structural Performance of Hybrid Ferro Fiber Reinforced Concrete Slabs

by Hafiz Zain Saeed, Muhammad Zubair Saleem, Yie Sue Chua and Nikolai Ivanovich Vatin

Materials 2022, 15(19), 6748; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15196748 - 29 Sep 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1886

Abstract

Reinforced concrete structures, particularly in cold areas, experience early deterioration due to steel corrosion. Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (FRC) is an emerging construction material and cost-effective substitute for conventional concrete to enhance the durability and resistance against crack development. This article examines the structural performance of hybrid ferro fiber reinforced concrete slabs (mix ratio of mortar 1:2) comprising silica fume, layers of spot-welded mesh and different ratios of polypropylene fibers. The ferrocement slabs are compared with a conventional Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) slab (mix ratio of 1:2:4). The experimental work comprised a total of 13 one-way slabs, one control specimen and three groups of ferrocement slabs divided based on different percentages of Poly Propylene Fibers (PPF) corresponding to 0.10%, 0.30% and 0.50% dosage in each group. Furthermore, in each group, the percentage of steel ratio in ferrocement slabs varied between 25% and 100% of the steel area in the reinforced concrete control slab specimen. For evaluating the structural performance, the observation of deflection, stress-strain behavior, cracking load and energy absorption are critical parameters assessed using LVDTs and strain gauges. At the same time, the slabs were tested in flexure mode with third point loading. The experimental results showed that the first cracking load and ultimate deflection for fibrous specimens with 0.5% fiber and 10% silica fume increased by 15.25% and 13.2% compared with the reference RCC control slab. Therefore, by increasing the percentage of PPF and steel wire mesh reinforcement in the ferrocement slab, the post-cracking behavior in terms of deflection properties and energy absorption capacity was substantially enhanced compared to the RCC control slab. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Innovations in Fibrous Concrete with Superior Mechanical Properties and Evolution in 2022)

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21 pages, 5639 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Repeated Impact Response of Normal- and High-Strength Concrete Subjected to Temperatures up to 600 °C

by Sallal R. Abid, Ahmmad A. Abbass, Gunasekaran Murali, Mohammed L. J. Al-Sarray, Islam A. Nader and Sajjad H. Ali

Materials 2022, 15(15), 5283; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15155283 - 30 Jul 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 1191

Abstract

With the aim of investigating the response of concrete to the dual effect of accidental fire high temperatures and possible induced impacts due to falling fragmented or burst parts or objects, an experimental work is conducted in this study to explore the influence of exposure to temperatures of 200, 400 and 600 °C on the responses of concrete specimens subjected to impact loads. Cylindrical specimens are tested using the recommended repeated impact procedure of the ACI 544-2R test. Three concrete mixtures with concrete nominal design strengths of 20, 40 and 80 MPa are introduced to represent different levels of concrete strength. From each concrete mixture, 24 cylinders and 12 cubes are prepared to evaluate the residual impact resistance and compressive strength. Six cylindrical specimens and three cubes from each concrete mixture are heated to each of the three levels of high temperatures, while the other six cylinders and three cubes are tested without heating as reference specimens. The test results show that the behavior of impact resistance is completely different from that of compressive strength after exposure to high temperatures; the cylindrical specimens lose more than 80% of the cracking and failure impact resistance after exposure to 200 °C, while impact resistance almost vanishes after exposure to 400 and 600 °C. Concrete compressive strength is found to be effective on the unheated impact specimens, where the higher-strength cylinders retain significantly higher impact numbers. This effect noticeably decreases after exposure to 200 and 400 °C, and vanishes after exposure to 600 °C. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Innovations in Fibrous Concrete with Superior Mechanical Properties and Evolution in 2022)

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20 pages, 7491 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experimental and Numerical Investigation on the Shear Behavior of Engineered Cementitious Composite Beams with Hybrid Fibers

by Jeyaprakash Maheswaran, Maheswaran Chellapandian, Madappa V. R. Sivasubramanian, Gunasekaran Murali and Nikolai Ivanovich Vatin

Materials 2022, 15(14), 5059; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15145059 - 20 Jul 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1607

Abstract

The shear behavior of innovative engineered cementitious composites (ECC) members with a hybrid mix of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polypropylene (PP) fibers is examined. The overall objective of the investigation is to understand the shear behavior of ECC beams with different mono and hybrid fiber combinations without compromising the strength and ductility. Four different configurations of beams were prepared and tested, including 2.0% of PP fibers, 2.0% of PVA fibers, 2.0% of steel fibers and hybrid PVA and PP fibers (i.e., 1% PP and 1% PVA). In addition to the tests, a detailed nonlinear finite element (FE) analysis was accomplished using the commercial ABAQUS software. The validated FE model was used to perform an extensive parametric investigation to optimize the design parameters for the hybrid-fiber-reinforced ECC beams under shear. The results revealed that the use of hybrid PVA and PP fibers improved the performance by enhancing the overall strength and ductility compared to the steel and PP-fiber-based ECC beams. Incorporating hybrid fibers into ECC beams increased the critical shear crack angle, indicating the transition of a failure from a brittle diagonal tension to a ductile bending. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Innovations in Fibrous Concrete with Superior Mechanical Properties and Evolution in 2022)

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21 pages, 8603 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Use of Artificial Intelligence Methods for Predicting the Strength of Recycled Aggregate Concrete and the Influence of Raw Ingredients

by Xinchen Pan, Yixuan Xiao, Salman Ali Suhail, Waqas Ahmad, Gunasekaran Murali, Abdelatif Salmi and Abdullah Mohamed

Materials 2022, 15(12), 4194; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15124194 - 13 Jun 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1834

Abstract

Cracking is one of the main problems in concrete structures and is affected by various parameters. The step-by-step laboratory method, which includes casting specimens, curing for a certain period, and testing, remains a source of worry in terms of cost and time. Novel machine learning methods for anticipating the behavior of raw materials on the ultimate output of concrete are being introduced to address the difficulties outlined above such as the excessive consumption of time and money. This work estimates the splitting-tensile strength of concrete containing recycled coarse aggregate (RCA) using artificial intelligence methods considering nine input parameters and 154 mixes. One individual machine learning algorithm (support vector machine) and three ensembled machine learning algorithms (AdaBoost, Bagging, and random forest) are considered. Additionally, a post hoc model-agnostic method named SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) was performed to study the influence of raw ingredients on the splitting-tensile strength. The model’s performance was assessed using the coefficient of determination (R²), root mean square error (RMSE), and mean absolute error (MAE). Then, the model’s performance was validated using k-fold cross-validation. The random forest model, with an R² of 0.96, outperformed the AdaBoost models. The random forest models with greater R² and lower error (RMSE = 0.49) had superior performance. It was revealed from the SHAP analysis that the cement content had the highest positive influence on the splitting-tensile strength of the recycled aggregate concrete and the primary contact of cement is with water. The feature interaction plot shows that high water content has a negative impact on the recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) splitting-tensile strength, but the increased cement content had a beneficial effect. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Innovations in Fibrous Concrete with Superior Mechanical Properties and Evolution in 2022)

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15 pages, 4550 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Thermal Properties of Lightweight Steel Concrete Wall Panels under Different Humidity Conditions

by Vladimir Rybakov, Irina Ananeva, Anatoly Seliverstov and Kseniia Usanova

Materials 2022, 15(9), 3193; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15093193 - 28 Apr 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1454

Abstract

The paper presents the thermal properties of lightweight steel concrete wall panels under different humidity conditions: under normal operation conditions and high moisture of the structure. The total thermal resistance (considering thermal inhomogeneity) of the enclosing lightweight steel concrete structure with a thickness of 310 mm using monolithic low-density foam concrete (density grade of D200), at an equilibrium humidity of 5% and 8%, was experimentally established. It was equal to 4.602 m^2.0C/W and 4.1 m^2.0C/W, respectively. In the dry state, the total thermal resistance of this structure was 5.59 m^2.0 C/W, which corresponds to a thermal conductivity coefficient of 0.057 m °C/W. The influence of both horizontal and vertical joints of lightweight steel concrete wall panels and the absence of thermoprofiles on thermal properties was insignificant when using heat-insulating gaskets. The actual total thermal resistance of the structure was 2.5–2.8 times higher than that obtained by calculation under high-humidity conditions (29–32%). At the same time, the decrease in the value compared to the same value at an equilibrium humidity of 5% was only 4–6%. This indicates the good workability even of a structure with high-humidity foam concrete if the reduced total thermal resistance is complied with by the standardized one. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Innovations in Fibrous Concrete with Superior Mechanical Properties and Evolution in 2022)

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27 pages, 7288 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Drop Weight Impact Test on Prepacked Aggregate Fibrous Concrete—An Experimental Study

by Gunasekaran Murali, Sallal Rashid Abid, Mugahed Amran, Nikolai Ivanovich Vatin and Roman Fediuk

Materials 2022, 15(9), 3096; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15093096 - 25 Apr 2022

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 2193

Abstract

In recent years, prepacked aggregate fibrous concrete (PAFC) is a new composite that has earned immense popularity and attracted researchers globally. The preparation procedure consists of two steps: the coarse aggregate is initially piled into a mold to create a natural skeleton and then filled with flowable grout. In this instance, the skeleton was completely filled with grout and bonded into an integrated body due to cement hydration, yielding a solid concrete material. In this research, experimental tests were performed to introduce five simple alterations to the ACI 544 drop weight impact test setup, intending to decrease result dispersion. The first alteration was replacing the steel ball with a steel bar to apply a line impact instead of a single point impact. The second and third introduced line and cross notched specimens at the specimen’s top surface and the load applied through a steel plate of cross knife-like or line load types. These modifications distributed impact load over a broader area and decrease dispersion of results. The fourth and fifth were bedding with sand and coarse aggregate as an alternate to the solid base plate. One-hundred-and-eight cylindrical specimens were prepared and tested in 12 groups to evaluate the suggested alteration methods. Steel and polypropylene fibers were utilized with a dosage of 2.4% to produce PAFC. The findings indicated that the line notched specimens and sand bedding significantly decreased the coefficient of variation (COV) of the test results suggesting some alterations. Using a cross-line notched specimen and line of impact with coarse bedding also effectively reduced COV for all mixtures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Innovations in Fibrous Concrete with Superior Mechanical Properties and Evolution in 2022)

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17 pages, 3491 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Residual Impact Performance of ECC Subjected to Sub-High Temperatures

by Raad A. Al-Ameri, Sallal Rashid Abid, Gunasekaran Murali, Sajjad H. Ali, Mustafa Özakça and Nikolay Ivanovich Vatin

Materials 2022, 15(2), 454; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15020454 - 07 Jan 2022

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 1608

Abstract

Despite the fact that the mechanical properties of Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) after high-temperature exposure are well investigated in the literature, the repeated impact response of ECC is not yet explored. Aiming to evaluate the residual impact response of ECC subjected to sub-high temperatures under repeated drop weight blows, the ACI 544-2R repeated impact test was utilized in this study. Disk impact specimens (150 mm diameter and 64 mm thickness) were prepared from the M45 ECC mixture but using polypropylene fibers, while similar 100 mm cube specimens and 100 × 100 × 400 mm prism specimens were used to evaluate the compressive and flexural strengths. The specimens were all cast, cured, heated, cooled, and tested under the same conditions and at the same age. The specimens were subjected to three temperatures of 100, 200 and 300 °C, while a group of specimens was tested without heating as a reference group. The test results showed that heating to 100 and 200 °C did not affect the impact resistance noticeably, where the retained cracking and failure impact numbers and ductility were higher or slightly lower than those of unheated specimens. On the other hand, exposure to 300 °C led to a serious deterioration in the impact resistance and ductility. The retained failure impact numbers after exposure to 100, 200, and 300 °C were 313, 257, and 45, respectively, while that of the reference specimens was 259. The results also revealed that the impact resistance at this range of temperature showed a degree of dependency on the compressive strength behavior with temperature. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Innovations in Fibrous Concrete with Superior Mechanical Properties and Evolution in 2022)

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17 pages, 7101 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experimental Study on Self Compacting Fibrous Concrete Comprising Magnesium Sulphate Solution Treated Recycled Aggregates

by Parthiban Kathirvel, Gunasekaran Murali, Nikolai Ivanovich Vatin and Sallal R. Abid

Materials 2022, 15(1), 340; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15010340 - 04 Jan 2022

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 1626

Abstract

It appears that the awareness and intentions to use recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) in concrete are expanding over the globe. The production of self-compacting concrete (SCC) using RCA is an emerging field in the construction sector. However, the highly porous and absorptive nature of adhered mortar on RCA’s surface leads to reduced concrete strength, which can be removed with the application of various techniques, such as acid treatment. This study investigated the effect of the partial replacement of silica fume by cement and natural aggregate (NA) by RCA with and without steel fibre. The used RCA was treated with magnesium sulphate solution. It was immersed in solutions with different concentrations of 10%, 15% and 20% and for different periods of 5, 10 and 15 days. Sixteen mixes were prepared, which were divided into six groups with or without 1% of steel fibre content. The fresh properties, compressive strength, split tensile strength and impact resistance were examined. The results revealed that the strengths of the mixes with 20% RCA were marginally better than those of the control mixes. The compressive strength and split tensile strength were reduced by 34% and 35% at 60% RCA content, respectively, as compared to the control mixes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Innovations in Fibrous Concrete with Superior Mechanical Properties and Evolution in 2022)

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15 pages, 6651 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Compressive and Tensile Elastic Properties of Concrete: Empirical Factors in Span Reinforced Structures Design

by Alexander Sergeevich Korolev, Anastasia Kopp, Denis Odnoburcev, Vladislav Loskov, Pavel Shimanovsky, Yulia Koroleva and Nikolai Ivanovich Vatin

Materials 2021, 14(24), 7578; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14247578 - 09 Dec 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2600

Abstract

Concretes with the same strength can have various deformability that influences span structures deflection. In addition, a significant factor is the non-linear deformation of concrete dependence on the load. The main deformability parameter of concrete is the instantaneous modulus of elasticity. This research aims to evaluate the relation of concrete compressive and tensile elastic properties testing. The beam samples at 80 × 140 × 1400 cm with one rod Ø8 composite or Ø10 steel reinforcement were experimentally tested. It was shown that instantaneous elastic deformations under compression are much lower than tensile. Prolonged elastic deformations under compression are close to tensile. It results in compressive elasticity modulus exceeding the tensile. The relation between these moduli is proposed. The relation provides operative elasticity modulus testing by the bending tensile method. The elasticity modulus’s evaluation for the reinforced span structures could be based only on the bending testing results. A 10% elasticity modulus increase, which seems not significant, increases at 30–40% the stress of the reinforced span structures under load and 30% increases the cracking point stress. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Innovations in Fibrous Concrete with Superior Mechanical Properties and Evolution in 2022)

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18 pages, 7647 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Strength and Toughness of Waste Fishing Net Fiber-Reinforced Concrete

by Tri N. M. Nguyen, Taek Hee Han, Jun Kil Park and Jung J. Kim

Materials 2021, 14(23), 7381; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14237381 - 02 Dec 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2475

Abstract

In this study, we estimate the potential efficiency of waste fishing net (WFN) fibers as concrete reinforcements. Three WFN fiber concentrations (1, 2, and 3% by volume) were mixed with concrete. Compressive strength, toughness, splitting tensile strength, and biaxial flexural tests were conducted. Compressive strength decreased but other properties increased as a function of fiber proportions. According to the mechanical strength observations and the ductility number, WFN fibers yielded benefits in crack arresting that improved the postcracking behavior and transformed concrete from a brittle into a quasi-brittle material. It is inferred that WFN fiber is a recycled and eco-friendly material that can be utilized as potential concrete reinforcement. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Innovations in Fibrous Concrete with Superior Mechanical Properties and Evolution in 2022)

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Review

Jump to: Research

18 pages, 4359 KiB

Open AccessReview

Evaluation of the Performance of Different Types of Fibrous Concretes Produced by Using Wollastonite

by Maciej Dutkiewicz, Hasan Erhan Yücel and Fatih Yıldızhan

Materials 2022, 15(19), 6904; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15196904 - 05 Oct 2022

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1470

Abstract

Production of cement and aggregate used in cement-based composites causes many environmental and energy problems. Decreasing the usage of cement and aggregate is a crucial and currently relevant challenge to provide sustainability. Inert materials can also be used instead of cement and aggregates, similar to pozzolanic materials, and they have positive effects on cement-based composites. One of the inert materials used in cement-based composites is wollastonite (calcium metasilicate-CaSiO₃), which has been investigated and attracted attention of many researchers. This article presents state-of-the-art research regarding fibrous concretes produced with wollastonite, such as mortars, conventional concrete, engineered cementitious composites, geopolymer concrete, self-compacting concrete, ultra-high-performance concrete and pavement concrete. The use of synthetic wollastonite, which is a novel issue, its high aspect ratio and allowing the use of waste material are also evaluated. Studies in the literature show that the use of wollastonite in different types of concrete improves performance properties, such as mechanical/durability properties, and provides environmental–economic efficiency. It has been proven by studies that wollastonite is a material with an inert structure, and, therefore, its behavior is similar to that of a fiber in cementitious composites due to its acicular particle structure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Innovations in Fibrous Concrete with Superior Mechanical Properties and Evolution in 2022)

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