Evaluation of Elastic Properties of Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Using Fundamental Resonance Frequencies

This paper determines the effect of steel, glass, and nylon fibers on the elastic modulus of concrete. The effect of different fiber volume fractions (0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, and 1.5% vol.) and water-cement ratios (w/c: 0.32 to 0.6) on the elastic properties of concrete was investigated using the fundamental resonant frequencies. Experiments were carried out on more than 100 standard cylindrical specimens. The experimental values were determined using resonance frequencies and compared to the available empirical equations in the literature and those of ACI 318 and ACI 363. The dynamic elastic modulus of concrete in the longitudinal and transverse directions were determined experimentally using the resonance test gauge (RTG). Moreover, the dynamic modulus of rigidity of concrete was also determined using the RTG. The results show that the modulus of elasticity of fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) with a coarse-to-fine aggregate ratio (C/S) less than 1 decreases with the addition of fibers. A new equation to better evaluate the elastic modulus of FRC within the range of 0.1 to 1.5% of fiber volume fraction is proposed. The proposed equation shows good agreement with experimental results. Keywords: composite materials; dynamic modulus of elasticity; nondestructive tests; resonance test gauge (RTG); static modulus of elasticity.