Concrete slabs reinforced by directionally oriented fibrous structures

Abstract

The current research work aims to develop fibrous structures to reinforce concrete elements, as a substitute material of welded wire steel meshes. Directionally oriented fibrous structures (DOFS) have been developed. Six different DOFS were produced, varying the longitudinal and transversal reinforcement. The DOFS were used to reinforce self-compacting concrete slabs and bending tests were carried out to evaluate the mechanical performance of the textile reinforced concrete (TFiC) slabs. DOFS improve the mechanical behaviour of concrete. When subjected to bending, the six fibrous structures reinforced concrete elements produced presented similar mechanical behaviour as wire welded steel reinforced. It was concluded that either the rovings linear mass or rovings density has shown to have a significant influence on DOFS reinforced concrete load bearing capacity. The higher is the roving linear mass, the better is the performance at DOFS reinforced concrete.