Study of a self-compacting fiber-reinforced concrete to be applied in the precast industry

This paper describes an experimental program designed to obtain a self-compacting fiber-reinforced concrete formulation based on the Faury's reference curve, suitable to develop new solutions of non-structural slender precast elements in buildings. In the present work, it was possible to delimit the main parameters that allow to obtain a self-compacting concrete with high early age strength, allowing its application in the precast industry increasing the production cycles. The program has shown also the importance of the compatibility between the cement and the superplasticizer to prevent the undesirable effects of the high dosages of admixture in the fresh concrete performance, such as segregation and air content. The experimental campaign consisted in five self-compacting concrete mixes and another five self-compacting fiber-reinforced concrete. The first ones aimed to optimize parameters such as water/cement ratio, superplasticizer, and binder dosages in a plain SCC. Afterwards, these parameters were re-evaluated in another five mixes due to the impact of the fibers in the concrete's fresh performance. The slump flow and the compressive strength at different ages (1, 7, and 28 days) were evaluated for all mixes.