AN INVESTIGATION ON THE SHRINKAGE CHARACTERISTICS OF HYBRID FIBER REINFORCED CONCRETE PRODUCED BY USING FIBERS OF DIFFERENT ASPECT RATIO

In the present paper, effects of shrinkage in fiber reinforced concrete are studied. Here, in the current research work, an attempt is made to study the effects on shrinkage of concrete when five different fiber materials are used for reinforcing plain concrete. Three configurations of each reinforcing fiber material is studied. Fiber aspect ratios of 40 and 100 and a combination of the fibers of the two aspect ratios in equal proportion (hybrid) make up the three configurations for one individual fiber material reinforcement. Shrinkage values are indicated in terms of total length of crack and the total area of the crack. On-field measurement of crack dimensions at periodic time intervals ranging from 0 minutes to 28 days after casting of concrete has been undertaken to determine the accurate values of shrinkage cracks in the fifteen scenarios i.e. five reinforcing fiber materials with three configurations each using aspect ratio of fibers 40, 100 and the hybrid (40 +100) case. It is seen that, irrespective of the material of fiber used for reinforcing concrete, hybridized concrete consistently shows better results relative to single aspect ratio fiber reinforcement. This research also aims to provide a bench mark for future research works on shrinkage characteristics of hybridized fiber reinforced concrete.