Reactive powder Fiber

A study has been made through this investigation to understand the behavior of RPC columns by using two approaches: experimental investigation of concrete mixes and simulation of reactive powder columns studied by other researchers using finite elements. Experimental investigation is carried out to obtain the mechanical properties for different types of RPC mixes, namely, the type of pozzolanic admixture (Micro Silica, Silica Fume and High Reactivity Metakaolin) with different volume fraction in addition to use three different types of fibers (polymer, steel and carbon) with different volume fraction. Two types of cement are used in the concrete mixes. Parametric studies are carried out to investigate the effects of type and volume fraction of pozzolanic admixture, type and volume fraction of fibers and type of cement on the compressive strength of concrete. Two equations are obtained to predict the compressive strength of RPC mixes. Higher values of compressive strength have been achieved using RPC mixes with Micro Silica and Steel fibers in comparison with others RPC mixes. The finite element method through the ANSYS computer program is used. The eight node brick element is used to model the RPC columns. The stress-strain curve in compression for the RPC with different fibers is simulated by a nonlinear elasto-plastic model which is terminated at the onset the crushing. In tension, a smeared crack model with fix orthogonal cracks has been used. The experimental data obtained from other researchers is compared with the finite element solution and good agreement between the results is obtained. 1