Abstract:
One of the ways to increase the strength properties of concrete is adding fibre material into the
concrete. While to reduce a noise in construction project, a self compacting concrete was a good
choice in the project. This thesis presents a study into the strength properties of self compacting
beam concrete using plantain bunch fibre. Mix proportion of 1:1.82:1.27with different fractions of
fibre namely: 0.00%, 0.25%, 0.50% and 0.75% by weight of cement with water cement ratio of
0.6, with an aspect ratio of 100was used for all the mixes. 40 beams and cylinders of size
150mm×150mm×600mm and100mm diameter of height 200mm respectively were cast. Tests
conducted were density, flexural strength, splitting tensile strength and toughness. For density, the
control specimen was 2405.6kg/m3
. There was reduction in density of 4.76% when 0.75%fibre
content was added. Addition of fibres negatively affected the density. This may be attributed to
the higher weight of fibre replaced the cement matrix of the concrete. Similar trend was recorded
for flexural strength. Control specimen recorded the highest strength of 2.93MPa. There was
reduction of 15% when 0.75%fibre content was added. Specimen with 0.50% fibre content
recorded the highest flexural strength value. Though, there was an improvement of 5% in the
splitting tensile strength when 0.50% of fibre is used in concrete when the tensile strength of the
control specimen was 2.35MPa. The tensile strength increased up to 0.50% addition. This then
started decreasing making 0.50% the optimum fibre content. For toughness, the control specimen
was 33.67N/mm2
. However, an increase of 18% when 0.50% fibre content and 0.60 water-cement
ratio were used to produce the highest toughness. The results support the conclusion that adding
fibres improves the tensile strength and toughness of self compacting beam concrete. It is
recommended that 0.50% fibre content and 0.60 water cement ratio could be used for lightweight
concrete especially for low-cost structures.
Description:
A Dissertation in the Department of CONSTRUCTION AND WOOD TECHNOLOGY
EDUCATION, Faculty of TECHNICAL EDUCATION, submitted to the School of
Graduate Studies, University of Education, Winneba in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the award of the Master of Philosophy (Construction Technology) degree.
DECEMBER, 2018