The Effect of Addition of Carbon Fibers on Mechanical Properties of High Strength Concrete

Abstract

High Strength Concrete (HSC)is dense, homogeneous and has the improved engineering properties and durability as conventional concrete. In recent years, HSC has gained wide application in the construction industry. High strength Concrete is a concrete having similar ingredients as conventional concrete, such as cement, fine aggregate, coarse aggregate and water. The paste of HSC requires high volume of cement content and less water to binder ratio. The stability and flowability of HSC is achieved by increasing the cement content or employment of mineral admixtures. However, increasing the cement content causes high cost, higher heat of hydration and higher drying shrinkage. This can be reduced by employing mineral admixture such as fly ash and ground granulated blast furnace slag etc. In the present investigation, cement content for HSC mix is replaced with fixed percentages of fly ash (10%) and carbon fiber are added in volume fraction (0 to 0.60%), also the Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) strip are placed in different layer (single, double and triple layer) with varying width of CFRP strip (0 to 80 mm). The hardened concrete properties of HSC were studied and the regression analysis was carried out on the experimental investigation. The study concludes that carbon fibers can be effectively used as a reinforcing material in HSC.

Keywords: Carbon fiber - CFRP strip - Fly ash - High strength concrete - Regression analysis