Flowability, strength and permeability characteristics of self-compacted concrete made with basalt fibers

Abstract

Basalt fibers are new generation of natural concrete additives to arrest its micro-cracking and consequently improve concrete strength. The properties of self-compacted concrete (SCC) made with basalt fibers have not been studied extensively. In present work, the properties of fresh and hardened SCCs have been investigated with considering fibers content. Permeability of SCC for water and chlorite has been covered as well. It is demonstrated that fiber content less than 0.25% has no remarkable effect on flowability performance of fresh SCC. Concerning hardened SCC, the degradation of its mechanical properties has been noticed as 22% with increasing fibers content to 1.0%. The sorptivity of basalt fiber SCC is obviously dropped due to the nature of used fibers and their absorption.