Preparation and Dynamic Performance of Basalt Fiber-Reinforced Lightweight Concrete Confined by Brass Strip

This paper aims to develop a new material with outstanding energy-absorbing performance regarding its application in protection engineering. The preparation and dynamic performance of basalt fiber-reinforced lightweight concrete confined by a brass strip (FLCB) were experimentally investigated. The FLCB specimens were first prepared based on dense packing theory. Impact compression experiments were then carried out by a phi 100-mm (phi = diameter) split Hopkinson pressure bar apparatus, which was improved by the pulse-shaping technique. The resulting stress-strain curve, dynamic deformation, and energy-absorbing characteristics were studied. The results show that FLCB, with density of 1,204.2 kg/m(3), is a kind of lightweight concrete. The stress-strain curve of FLCB can be divided into three stages: linear elastic, stress platform, and brittle failure. The stress platform stage has a significant effect on the improvement of energy-absorbing performance, and the percentage of the stress platform to the whole curve increases continuously with average strain rate. Both the ultimate strain and the energy-absorbing index are sensitive to strain rate and increase continuously with average strain rate. Furthermore, compared with conventional concrete, the production of FLCB is associated with a higher ultimate strain and energy-absorbing index, and the tendency becomes more obvious with increasing average strain rate. Therefore, FLCB includes a lightweight concrete with excellent energy-absorbing performance and this performance shows clear strain-rate dependence. Due to its features of outstanding energy absorption and low density, FLCB has a promising future to be used as antiexplosive layers in protection engineering. (C) 2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.