STRUCTURAL BEHAVIOUR OF GLASS FIBER IN REINFORCED CONCRETE

Glass-fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) is a material made of a cementatious matrix composed of cement, sand, water and admixtures, in which short length glass fibers are dispersed. It has been widely used in the construction industry for non-structural elements, like façade panels, piping and channels. GFRC offers many advantages, such as being lightweight, fire resistance, good appearance and strength. In this study trial tests for concrete with glass fiber and without glass fiber are conducted to indicate the differences in compressive strength and flexural strength by using cubes of varying sizes. Various applications of GFRC shown in the study, the experimental test results, techno-economic comparison with other types, as well as the financial calculations presented, indicate the tremendous potential of GFRC as an alternative construction material. Many efforts have been made to use glass fiber in concrete industry as a replacement of coarse aggregate, fine aggregate and cement. Its performance as a coarse aggregate replacement has been found to be non- satisfactory because of strength regression and expansion due to alkali-silica reaction. The research shows that there is strength loss due to fine aggregate substitution also. The main goal is to investigate the possibility of using glass fiber as a partial replacement of cement in concrete. A series of tests were conducted to study the effect of 10% ,15% and 20% replacement of cement by glass fiber. The compressive strength, split tensile strength and the flexural strength test were determined for the mixes at the curing age of 7 days and 28 days. The results obtained for the above mixes were compared to investigate the effects of partial replacement of cement by glass fiber. Use of glass fiber in concrete can prove to be economical.