Studying the fracture parameters and size effect of steel fiber-reinforced self-compacting concrete

•Fracture parameters have been calculated and compared using WFM and SEM methods.•Steel fibers can, specifically, increase energy absorption and ductility.•Large aggregates reduce energy absorption in self-compacting steel fiber-reinforced concrete.•Steel fibers can perform better in lower water-cement ratios. This paper studies the laboratory results of fracture parameters and brittleness of self-compacting steel fiber-reinforced concrete. A total number of 180 different-size notched beams were built and tested under three-point bending with varying water to cement ratio, the maximum aggregate size, and different percent by volume fraction of steel fibers. To investigate and analyze the fracture parameters, use was made of SEM (Size Effect Method) and WFM (Work Fracture Method). Results have shown that in both methods, an increase in percent steel fibers increases the fracture energy and makes the concrete more ductile, but in WFM, the results are more specified because it considers the post-peak. Results show that fibers can, in some cases, reduce the size effect. The fracture energy was calculated through both WFM and SEM and the GF/Gf was found to be about 9.66 for self-compacting steel fiber-reinforced concrete.