Assessment of Touggourt Dune Sand Inclusion in Fiber Reinforced Concrete (FRC)
摘要
This paper provides the test results of an experimental study exploring the effect of using Touggourt dune sand (DS) on the mechanical and physical properties of fiberless and fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC). DS represents a sustainable alternative to quarry and/or river sands in the mix design of the ever-growing concrete production. Previous research has shown that regular sand replacement by Aeolian sand translates into poorer mechanical and rheological properties in ordinary concrete, owing to the smooth and spherical morphological characteristics of those sands. Therefore, very few concrete mix designs considering their inclusion are developed nowadays. The conducted experiments presented herein, aim at investigating the possible positive impact of DS addition on the properties of an engineered FRC made of regular crushed sand (CS) and undulated steel fibers. Concrete mixes made of a 48% DS and 52% CS blend (by total sand weight) were prepared so that the calculated sand fineness modulus modulus (Mf) of the sand blend is 2.5. The comparison between the fiberless control mixtures and the fiberless DS ones, shows increased compressive and tensile strengths, improved slumps, and a decrease in porosity when DS is included. In contrast, FRC mixtures exhibited with DS addition, poorer mechanical properties, whereas the slumps and porosity were improved. These results seem to suggest that overall, DS inclusion contributes to improving the packing density of the concretes when the adjustment of the sand particle size distribution is sought, with interesting repercussions on both the mechanical and durability properties.