Faury’s particle packing concept for the efficient design of steel fiber reinforced concrete mixes to evaluate the compressive strength

Abstract

It is very well known that the particle packing density has significant effect on the performance of concrete. There are numerous particles packing models such as Abram, Slater and ACI2000-I, Bolomey, Feret and Faury and modified Faury to address various aspects of particle packing. In the present study, the concepts of the above-mentioned models were used to derive the best proportion of fine aggregate and coarse aggregate for conventional concrete (M35 grade) and steel fiber reinforced concrete (0.5%, 1.0% and 1.5% of volume fraction). Faury’s original model has been updated to suit for any concrete mix to arrive at improved properties. The framework consists of (i) determination of targeted strength and workability by using the cement, fine and coarse aggregate, void volume, void index, w/c ratio, volume of solids required for Abram’s model, Slater model, ACI 2000-I model, Bolomey model and Feret model (ii) generation of Faury’s curve with and without cement (iii) determination of solid content (iv) verification of compaction factor considering the effect of fibers and finally (v) mix design. By using the mix design obtained through Faury’s model, compressive strength has been determined and found that the strength is higher about 10 to 18% compared to the strength obtained conventional concrete.