Spalling resistance and mechanical performance of UHPC under high temperature using hybrid natural and artificial fibers

This research plans to investigate the simultaneous impact of bamboo fibers (BF) and steel fibers (SF) on the mechanical and spalling characteristics of ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) exposed to high temperatures (HT). To this aim, 25 mixtures were made and assessed. BF was added at five contents of 0, 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 kg/m3. Additionally, SF was used at five weight contents: 0%, 1%, 2%, 3% and 4%. Specimens were exposed to temperatures ranging between 25ºC and 800ºC. Thus, com-pressive, tensile, and flexural strengths, elastic moduli, mass loss, and permeability were measured. Experiments revealed that the simultaneous use of low BF and SF contents could totally prevent spalling of UHPC, but the use of either SF or BF alone could not prevent spalling at high levels of fibers. Besides, the synergetic positive impact of BF and SF on the spalling resistance of UHPC was by reason of the rise of BF’ permeability and the bridging role of SF at HT. Moreover, it was concluded that the use of SF could moderate the adverse influence of BF on the compressive resistance of UHPC.