Tension stiffening and cracking behaviour of hybrid fibre reinforced ternary blend geopolymer concrete

Abstract

This paper describes an experimental investigation on the effect of mono and hybrid fibres on the tension stiffening effect and cracking behaviour of ternary blend geopolymer concrete (TGPC). A total number of 45 prismatic tension members, axially reinforced with 10 mm diameter High Yield Strength Deformed (HYSD) bar were tested under uniaxial tension. The grade of concrete considered was M55. The main variables considered in this work were the volume fraction of fibres, viz. steel fibres (0%, 0.5% and 1%) and polypropylene fibres (0%, 0.1%, 0.15%, 0.2% and 0.2%). Test results reveal that the addition of hybrid fibres enhances the tension stiffening effect and reduces the cracks spacing and width in TGPC. A method to predict the crack width of hybrid fibre reinforced TGPC was proposed, and the estimated values were found convincing with the test results.