Research on Long-Term Expansive Deformation of Steel Fiber Reinforced Expansive Concrete
The inherent low tensile strength and shrinkage result in cracking of concrete under work loads. A new way to improve cracking properties is distributing steel fibers into expansive concrete to form a type of composite which is called steel fiber reinforced expansive concrete. This type of high performance concrete could compensate shrinkage as well as improving crack strength. For this concrete, the key point to ensure high performance and safety of concrete structure is to keep a stable expansive deformation during long-term service. A series of tests were carried out to measure long-term restrained expansive deformations of steel fiber reinforced expansive concrete with ages under various restrictions like steel bars and steel fibers. The test investigated some 3-year specimens. For all specimens, test parameters included 2 ratios of steel bar reinforcement, 4 volume fractions of steel fiber and 4 dosages of expansion admixture. The test results showed that the expansion of concrete decreased with increasing of steel bar reinforcing ratio as well as steel fiber volume fraction. In addition, when being in a lower dosage of expansion admixture, the specimens presented remarkable retraction of the expansive deformation. However, when beyond a certain dosage of expansion admixture, the long-term expansive deformation had less change with ages and almost remained the same with 90-day deformation, namely less losses of deformation. Hence, for steel fiber reinforced expansive concrete, using an appropriate dosage of expansion admixture could meet the requirements of designed strengthening and compensating shrinkage.