Behavior of steel fiber - Reinforced high-strength concrete at medium strain rate

Impact compression experiments for the steel fiber-reinforced high-strength concrete (SFRHSC) at medium strain rate were conducted using the split Hopkinson press bar (SHPB) testing method. The volume fractions of steel fibers of SFRHSC were between 0 and 3%. The experimental results showed that, when the strain rate increased from threshold value to 90 s-1, the maximum stress of SFRHSC increased about 30%, the elastic modulus of SFRHSC increased about 50%, and the increase in the peak strain of SFRHSC was 2-3 times of that in the matrix specimen. The strength and toughness of the matrix were improved remarkably because of the superposition effect of the aggregate high-strength matrix and steel fiber high-strength matrix. As a result, under impact loading, cracks developed in the SFRHSC specimen, but the overall shape of the specimen remained virtually unchanged. However, under similar impact loading, the matrix specimens were almost broken into small pieces. © 2009 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH.