Influence of Steel and Polypropylene Fibers on the Structural Behavior of Sustainable Reinforced Lightweight Concrete Beams Made from Crushed Clay Bricks

Abstract

Structural lightweight concrete is preferred over traditional concrete due to its ability to reduce the dead load, minimize the size of load-bearing structural members, and provide more economical solutions for foundation deteriorations. This research sheds light on sustainable lightweight concrete using waste crushed clay bricks (CCB) as a lightweight aggregate. To reduce micro-crack propagation of the developed concrete, two types of fiber were implemented and investigated. Steel fibers (SF) with amounts of 0.5% and 1.0% by volume of concrete, and polypropylene fibers (PPF) with amounts of 0.1% and 0.2% by volume of concrete, were employed. Five reinforced concrete beams were made and tested in order to precisely evaluate the structural behavior of the proposed lightweight CCB concrete. Additionally, ABAQUS software for nonlinear finite element analysis has been utilized to simulate the tested beams and compare the numerical model predictions with the experimental findings. The findings revealed that the addition of SF and PPF exhibited a notable influence on enhancing the mechanical characteristics of lightweight CCB concrete. Adding 0.2% PPF increased the ultimate load and deformation capacity at failure by approximately 16% and 24%, respectively. Furthermore, after 28 days, the addition of 0.5% and 1.0% SF enhanced the compressive strength by around 11.7% and 17.6%, respectively. Moreover, a significant level of consistency between the results obtained from the numerical model and the experimental findings was observed. In general, the use of SF and PPF in CCB concrete successfully produced high-quality lightweight concrete with interesting results for use in reinforced concrete beams.