BEHAVIOR OF STEEL FIBER REINFORCED-CONCRETE IN MULTIAXIAL LOADING

Experimental investigations were carried out to study the strength and deformational behavior of steel fiber reinforced concrete subjected to multiaxial stresses. A triaxial cell was installed in a displacement controllable servo-hydraulic testing system so that the postpeak stress-strain response of specimens under cylindrical state of stress can be obtained. The test results showed that steel fiber reinforced concrete performed better than plain concrete, particularly when tensile stresses were involved. Under triaxial compressive testing, the strength and ductility advantages of using fibers increase when the confining pressure increases. This is regarded as the increase of interfacial bond strength caused by the confining pressure on fibers. At confining pressures up to 70 MPa, the addition of fibers has an insignificant effect on the mechanical behavior of concrete subjected to hydrostatic compression.