Fracture behavior of high performance fiber reinforced self compacting concrete

The mixture design, workability and mechanical properties of the steel fiber reinforced self compacting concrete mixtures were studied. Nine mixtures were cast without fibers and with fibers, of low and high strength. The compressive and splitting tensile strengths and energy absorption capacities of self compacting concretes with different cementitious material contents, fiber contents and fiber strengths were compared. According to the experimental results, at the same volumetric water/fine material ratio, the compressive strength of specimens without steel fibers did not show significant differences as the cement dosage was decreased from 900 kg/m(3) to 650 kg/m3 by replacing the cement with finely ground silica powder. With the addition of fibers, the fracture energy and the ductility of the self compacting concrete mixtures were increased compared to those of plain concrete.