Studies on effect of steel fiber and coarse aggregate on fracture properties of self compacting concrete using wedge splitting test

摘要

Purpose - Fracture properties depend on the type of material, method of testing and type of specimen. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate fracture properties by adopting a stable test method, i.e., wedge split test. Design/methodology/approach - Coarse aggregate of three different sizes (20 mm, 16 mm and 12.5 mm), three ratios of coarse aggregate, fine aggregate (CA:FA) (50:50, 45:55, 40:60), presence of steel fibers, and specimens without and with guide notch were chosen as parameters of the study. Findings - Load-crack mouth opening displacement curves indicate that for both fibrous and non-fibrous mixes, higher volume of aggregate and higher size of coarse aggregate have high fracture energy. Originality/value - For all volumes of coarse aggregate, it was noticed that specimens with 12.5 mm aggregate size achieved highest peak load and abrupt drop post-peak. The decrease in coarseness of internal structure of concrete (X) resulted in the increase of fracture energy.