Advantages and Disadvantages of Fiber Reinforced Concrete

Fiber reinforced concrete has started to find its place in many areas of civil infrastructure applications where the need for repairing, increased durability arises. Also FRCs are used in civil structures where corrosion can be avoided at the maximum.

Fiber reinforced concrete is better suited to minimize cavitation /erosion damage in structures such as sluice-ways, navigational locks and bridge piers where high velocity flows are encountered. A substantial weight saving can be realized using relatively thin FRC sections having the equivalent strength of thicker plain concrete sections. When used in bridges it helps to avoid catastrophic failures. Also in the quake prone areas the use of fiber reinforced concrete would certainly minimize the human casualties. In addition, polypropylene fibers reduce or relieve internal forces by blocking microscopic cracks from forming within the concrete(20)

The main disadvantage associated with the fiber reinforced concrete is fabrication. The process of incorporating fibers into the cement matrix is labor intensive and costlier than the production of the plain concrete. The real advantages gained by the use of FRC overrides this disadvantage.

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2. Background of Fiber Reinforced Concrete.
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4. FIBER REINFORCEMENT OF CONCRETE STRUCTURES
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6. Behavior of Polypropylene Fibers in a Cement Matrix