Energy absorption and flexural toughness evaluation of fibre reinforced polymer modified concrete

This paper presents the effect of fibres on the behaviour of fibre reinforced concert (FRC) which nowadays is recognised for its energy absorption capacity as well as other benefits. Incorporating fibres in concrete, results in an ameliorated mix design which can dissipate energy and improve the fracture performance of concrete matrix. There are different types of test methods developed to measure the concrete energy absorption capacity, one of which is the four point bending test. This research work is on the flexural behaviour characterisation of polymer modified synthetic fibre reinforced concrete incorporating polypropylene (PP) fibres and styrene butadiene (SB) latex copolymer. Results of this study show that by adding PP fibres to concrete, toughness and energy absorption characteristics can be enhanced. By increasing the amount of fibre used in the concrete matrix this value can be increased. It has also been concluded that by adding fibres to the concrete matrix, the energy absorption characteristics can consequently be improved.