Mechanical properties of steel fibre reinforced lightweight concrete with pumice stone or expanded clay aggregates

This paper presents basic information on the mechanical properties of steel fibre-reinforced lightweight concrete, manufactured using pumice stone or expanded clay aggregates. Results are presented for standard compressive te sts and indirect tensile tests (splitting tests on cylinder specimens and f lexure tests on prismatic beams using a three-point loading arrangement) un der monotonically increasing or cyclically varying loads. The influence of steel fibres and aggregate types on modulus of elasticity, compressive and tensile strength and post-peak behaviour is evaluated. Test results show th at compressive strength does not change for pumice stone aggregates, while an increase is observed for expanded clay; tensile strength and fracture to ughness are significantly improved for both pumice stone and expanded clay. The results also show that with both expanded clay and pumice stone lightw eight aggregates a suitable content of fibres allows one to obtain performa nces comparable with those expected from normal weight concrete, the import ant advantage of lower structural weight being maintained.