Flexural behaviour of basalt fibred concrete slabs made with basalt fibre reinforced polymer rebars

In this paper, the flexural behaviour of M30 grade basalt fibred concrete slabs made with basalt fibre reinforced polymer rebars are studied and compared with slabs made with steel rebars. The optimum percentage of basalt is 0.3% for 50mm length basalt fibres. Due to high particle packing density in concrete made with basalt fibre micro cracks are prevented due to enhanced fatigue and stress dissipation capacity. Addition of basalt fibres to enhances the energy absorbtion capacity or toughness thereby enhancing the resistance to local damage and spalling. Addition of basalt fibres controlled the crack growth and crack width. Load at first crack of M30 grade basalt fibred concrete slabs made with basalt fibre reinforced polymer rebars is more than M30 grade conventional concrete slabs made with steel rebars because the with addition of basalt and BFRP bars will make either the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) strong or due to bond strength of concrete slabs made with basalt fibre reinforced polymer rebars. The ultimate strength in M30 grade basalt fibred concrete slabs made with basalt fibre reinforced polymer rebars is more than conventional concrete slabs made with steel rebars. Deflection at the centre of M30 grade basalt fibred concrete slabs made with basalt fibre reinforced polymer rebars is almost double than the conventional concrete slabs made with steel rebars. Toughness indices evaluated for M30 grade basalt fibred concrete slabs made with basalt fibre reinforced polymer rebars indicates that basalt fibre and BFRP bars will enhance the energy absorbtion capacity of slabs