Behavior of High Performance Fiber Reinforced Concrete Columns: Experimental Investigation

Abstract

An experimental program was carried out in this research to investigate the behavior of square short high performance concrete columns with and without steel fiber under concentric compression loading. The effect of concrete strength, percent of longitudinal reinforcement, spacing of lateral confined stirrups, volumetric steel fiber ratio and aspect ratio of steel fiber on the uniaxial behavior of reinforced HPC columns were presented and discussed. The results show that adding discrete fibers to HPC mixtures in reinforced concrete columns not only prevents the premature spalling of the concrete cover but also increases the strength and ductility of the axially loaded reinforced columns. More confinement is required in HPC columns in comparison with that normal strength concrete to achieve the desired post-beak deformability.