EFFECTIVE ELASTIC PROPERTIES OF FIBER-REINFORCED CONCRETE WITH RANDOM FIBERS

A theoretical investigation has been carried out to determine the effective properties of fiber-reinforced concrete with randomly oriented fibers. Two analytical approaches have been considered: one with continuous cylindrical fibers based on the composite cylinders model and the other with prolate spheroid fibers based on the Mori-Tanaka averaging scheme. In both cases, initial analysis has been carried out for a transversely isotropic medium (aligned fibers in concrete) and then a geometric averaging procedure has been performed to convert these properties to the effective properties of the isotropic composite (concrete with randomly oriented fibers). An asymptotic prediction has also been made for the effective properties, valid for very low concentration of fibers.