Appraisal of Indigenous Materials for Use in the Production of Ultra High Performance Fibre Reinforced Concrete

Abstract

It is important to advance the technology of concrete due to incidences of structural failure, terrorist attack and natural disaster which has led to the evolution of Ultra High Performance Fibre Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC) as a means to develop novel materials to build structures with superb strength, high ductility and repairing structures that have experienced structural failure. Development of agro-industrial waste materials for production of UHPFRC will significantly reduce the energy consumed and the environmental impacts during concrete production. In this study, a literature review of the production, properties and usage of UHPFRC was conducted. Following the review, locally available materials that could be used to replace the important constituent materials of UHPFRC were appraised. It was gathered that UHPFRC is an excellent strengthening material with ultra-high mechanical properties for structural applications. The major components of UHPFRC are cement, silica fume, steel fibre, water, superplasticizer, and sand. Recycled steel fibre and rice husk ash (RHA) are locally available materials and have similar properties to industrial steel fibre and silica fume respectively. These local materials can be incorporated into concrete to further improve the properties of concrete, promote sustainability and discourage importation of silica fume and different types of fibres.