Recientes avances en la caracterización del hormigón reforzado con fibras de acero

Recent advances in the characterization of steel fiber reinforced concrete

This work presents a brief overview of the results of a recently concluded Brite- Euram Project dealing with Test and Design Methods for Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete, funded by the Commission of the European Union. Within the project, all essential aspects related to the correct use of this material in structural applications have been considered. This paper, apart from summarizing the conclusions of all the studies performed by the 11 partners from 5 participating countries, presents the work carried out at the Structural Technology Laboratory of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in further detail. At this laboratory, an extensive experimental program has been performed to study the performance of steel fiber reinforced concrete, both at the material and structural levels. At the material level, tests were conducted to evaluate the behavior under restrained shrinkage, flexure, uniaxial tension, direct shear, uniaxial compression and creep. At the structural level, tests were carried out on structural elements to assess the contribution of the fibers on the shear load-carrying capacity and deformability, and the possibility of substituting the transversal reinforcement with steel fibers. The structural elements involved rectangular, T and double- T beams of up to 7,6 m length.