Applications and Properties of Fibre Reinforced Concrete

In conventional concrete, micro-cracks develop before structure is loaded because of drying shrinkage and other causes of volume change. When the structure is loaded, the micro cracks open up and propagate because of development of such micro-cracks, results in inelastic deformation in concrete. Fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) is cementing concrete reinforced mixture with more or less randomly distributed small fibres. In the FRC, a numbers of small fibres are dispersed and distributed randomly in the concrete at the time of mixing, and thus improve concrete properties in all directions. The fibers help to transfer load to the internal micro cracks. FRC is cement based composite material that has been developed in recent years. It has been successfully used in construction with its excellent flexural-tensile strength, resistance to spitting, impact resistance and excellent permeability and frost resistance. It is an effective way to increase toughness, shock resistance and resistance to plastic shrinkage cracking of the mortar. These fibers have many benefits. Steel fibers can improve the structural strength to reduce in the heavy steel reinforcement requirement. Freeze thaw resistance of the concrete is improved. Durability of the concrete is improved to reduce in the crack widths. Polypropylene and Nylon fibers are used to improve the impact resistance. Many developments have been made in the fiber reinforced concrete.