Flexural Performance of Fibre Reinforced Concrete with an Optimised Spirally Deformed Steel Fibre

In this paper, the flexural performance of Fibre Reinforced Concrete (FRC) with an optimised spirally deformed steel fibre developed by the authors is evaluated experimentally. For comparison purposes, concrete specimens with commercially available steel fibres (hooked-end and crimped) are tested and included in the study. The experiment parameters include two different matrices with 28-day compressive strengths of 35 MPa and 45 MPa and four fibre volume contents (0.2%, 0.35%, 0.5%, and 0.65%). Besides, specimens with plain concrete are also tested as reference. Findings of the research indicate that the spirally deformed steel fibre considerably enhances flexural characteristics of concrete compared with existing fibres on the market (hooked-end and crimped) where the deflection-hardening response (even at the presence of wide cracks) can also be achieved even with low fibre dosages common in practice. Therefore, such a composite, i.e. concrete reinforced with spirally deformed steel fibre, can be deemed as a structural material.