Experimental Study on the Strength Characteristics and Water Permeability of Hybrid Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete

Results of an investigation conducted to study the effect of fibre hybridization on the strength characteristics such as compressive strength, split tensile strength, and water permeability of steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) are presented. Steel fibres of different lengths, that is, 12.5 mm, 25 mm, and 50 mm, having constant diameter of 0.6 mm, were systematically combined in different mix proportions to obtain mono, binary, and ternary combinations at each of 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5% fibre volume fraction. A concrete mix containing no fibres was also cast for reference purpose. A total number of 1440 cube specimens of size 100∗100∗100 mm were tested, 480 each for compressive strength, split tensile strength, and water permeability at 7, 28, 90, and 120 days of curing. It has been observed from the results of this investigation that a fibre combination of 33% 12.5 mm + 33% 25 mm + 33% 50 mm long fibres can be adjudged as the most appropriate combination to be employed in hybrid steel fibre reinforced concrete (HySFRC) for optimum performance in terms of compressive strength, split tensile strength and water permeability requirements taken together.