Nuclear Engineering and Design 252 (2012) 1–10

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Nuclear Engineering and Design

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/nucengdes

Influence of sand to coarse aggregate ratio on the interfacial bond strength of

steel fibers in concrete for nuclear power plant
Jung Jin Kim a , Dong Joo Kim a,∗ , Su Tae Kang b , Jang Hwa Lee c
a
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, SeJong University, 98 Gunja-Dong, Gwangjin-Gu, Seoul 143-747, Republic of Korea
b
Department of Civil Engineering, Daegu University, 201 Daegudae-ro, Jillyang, Gyeongsan, Gyeongbuk 712-714, Republic of Korea
c
Korea Institute of Construction Technology, 2311 Daewha-Dong, Ilsan-Gu, Goyang-Si, Gyeonggi-Do 411-712, Republic of Korea

h i g h l i g h t s

 The final goal is to develop a fiber reinforced concrete for containment buildings.
 We investigated the effect of S/a on the bond strength of steel fibers.
 Deformed steel fibers produced much higher interfacial bond strength.
 As S/a increased, twisted fiber showed a significant enhancement in bond strength.
 Smooth and hooked fiber showed no clear difference as S/a increased.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The interfacial bond strength of three high strength steel fibers (smooth, hooked, and twisted fiber) in
Received 16 March 2012 concrete of nuclear power plants was investigated to develop fiber reinforced concrete for containment
Received in revised form 28 June 2012 building. Sand to aggregate ratio (S/a) was adjusted to compensate reduction in the workability due to
Accepted 9 July 2012
adding fibers; the influence of S/a ratio on the interfacial bond strength was investigated. As the S/a ratio
increased from 0.444 to 0.615, the bond strength of twisted steel fiber was significantly improved while
smooth and hooked steel fiber showed no clear difference. The different sensitivity according to the S/a
ratio results from the different pullout mechanism: twisted steel fiber generates more mechanical inter-
action during fiber pullout at the interface between fiber and matrix than smooth and hooked fibers. The
microscopic observation by scanning electron microscope back-scattered electrons images discovered
lower porosity at the interfacial transition zone between fiber and concrete with higher S/a ratio.
© 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction leakage of harmful gas or radioactive materials under accidents;

There has been a strong demand for improving impact and blast
resistance of nuclear power plants (NPPs) due to increasing risk of
terrors such as 9/11 attacks in 2001, and disasters like Fukushima
nuclear power plant in 2011. Airplane impact has been an impor-
tant topic to be considered in designing NPPs after 9/11 attacks
as shown in Fig. 1, although aircraft impact has been one of the
extreme conditions before 9/11 attacks to be cautiously checked.
Much research has been performed on the aircraft impact on the
containment building of NPP (Riera, 1968, 1980; Sugano et al., 1992;
Abbas et al., 1996; Maalej et al., 2005).
Containment buildings are the most important component of
NPPs due to its crucial roles for safety as follows: (1) to prevent any
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 2 3408 3820; fax: +82 2 3408 4332.
E-mail addresses: jjinslow@nate.com (J.J. Kim), djkim75@sejong.ac.kr (D.J. Kim),
stkang@daegu.ac.kr (S.T. Kang), jhlee@kict.re.kr (J.H. Lee).
(2) to completely cover all radiation during normal operation of
nuclear power plant; (3) to resist internal pressure and high tem-
perature during any accidents within design consideration; (4) to
protect internal facilities within the containment building from
abnormal events such as airplane crush and missile attack; and (5)
to use the containment building as a permanent nuclear (waste)
dump site later. This research, reported in this paper, is especially
related with protecting internal facilities, among the several roles,
within the containment building from airplane crashes or missile
attack by increasing the impact and blast resistance.
Current approach used for the containment building is to use
pre-stressed concrete (PC) as an outermost layer to prevent any
leakage of radioactive contaminants by controlling cracking and
crack opening. Although the current approach (PC) is effective in
crack control, it cannot prevent initial cracking in concrete from
shrinkage before pre-stressing, thus requiring heavy reinforce-
ment which consumes much human power. Besides, the current
approach requires an additional special treatment for airplane

0029-5493/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2012.07.004
2 J.J. Kim et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 252 (2012) 1–10

Fig. 1. Containment building for nuclear power plant (Frano and Forasassi, 2011).

crashes and missile attacks, e.g., increasing the thickness of con-

tainment building to 1.8–2.0 m from 1.2 m (Fullard et al., 1991;
Abbas et al., 1996; Riera, 1968, 1980, 1989; Sugano et al., 1992).
However, increasing the thickness of containment building creates
other problems such as higher hydration heat, higher material cost,
and difficulty in quality control.
The new approach to overcome several limits of current
approach is to develop and apply steel fiber reinforced concrete
(FRC) with higher impact and blast resistance as well as high crack
resistance. As shown in Fig. 2, FRC, compared with normal con-
crete, is expected (1) to generate higher impact and blast resistance
based on the crack bridging capacity; (2) to enhance crack control
capacity; (3) to increase fire resistance of containment building;
and eventually (4) to improve overall safety of NPP.
Based on the superior performance of FRC frequently reported
under impact and higher strain rates (Suaris and Shah, 1982; Fig. 2. Superior energy absorption capacity of fiber reinforced concrete.
Rostásy and Hartwich, 1985; Gopalaratnam and Shah, 1986;
Nammur and Naaman, 1986; Körmeling and Reinhardt, 1987;
Banthia and Trottier, 1991; Banthia et al., 1993, 1996; Bindiganavile
et al., 2002; Lok and Zhao, 2004; Sun et al., 2005; Douglas and under the environmental conditions and the long-term require-
Billington, 2005; Yang and Li, 2005) as shown in Fig. 2, the short ments described in the construction specification.
fibers reinforced in concrete significantly improve the load car- This situation motivated authors to design an experimental pro-
rying and energy absorption capacity in comparison with normal gram, reported in this paper, to investigate the interfacial bond
concrete; thus, FRCs are expected to generate higher resistance strength of steel fibers in concrete for NPPs. The main purpose
under impact and blast based on their energy absorption capacity of this study is to provide useful information about the interfa-
than normal concrete. However, there is little information about cial bond strength of steel fibers in concrete especially for NPPs
the application of FRC for the containment building (Sharma et al., to develop a FRC with higher tensile strength and ductility by
2009). Even most available information reported was obtained using small amounts of fibers. The detailed objectives are (1) to
from different compositions of mortar or concrete, not from the investigate the pullout load versus slip response of high strength
concrete currently used for NPP. deformed steel fiber embedded in concrete for NPP, (2) to dis-
Specifically for NPP, to develop FRC with high tensile strength cover the influence of sand–aggregate ratio on the interfacial bond
and ductility, it is important to apply fibers with high bond strength strength of steel fiber, and (3) to examine the interfacial tran-
at the interface between fiber and concrete. However, little infor- sition zone between fiber and matrix according to the different
mation is available for the interfacial bond properties of steel fibers sand–aggregate ratios.
especially in concrete for NPP although there is much research
about the pullout resistance of steel fibers in other concrete or mor- 2. Influencing parameters on interfacial bond strength
tar matrices (Alwan et al., 1999; Naaman, 1999, 2003; Gurrero and
Naaman, 2000; Kim et al., 2007, 2010). There are general require- The interfacial bond strength of steel fiber is influenced by many
ments especially for the concrete for NPP according to ASME boiler parameters. The parameters include the properties of fiber, matrix,
and pressure vessel code (2011). The concrete for NPP should min- and interface. The influencing parameters of fiber are the geometry,
imize the temperature rise in concrete due to heat of hydration strength, stiffness, and Poisson’s ratio; those of matrix are the stiff-
and provide proper strength development with respect to form- ness and strength; and, those of interfacial transition zone (ITZ) are
work removal, construction stresses, and application of prestress. the local stiffness and porosity (Naaman and Najm, 1991; Naaman,
And, the concrete and its constituents shall be sufficiently investi- 1999; Bentur and Alexander, 2000). To improve the interfacial bond
gated prior to use to ensure acceptable creep and other properties strength, the parameters can be adjusted: the mechanical bond
 J.J. Kim et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 252 (2012) 1–10 3

Table 1
Matrix of single fiber pullout tests.

Fiber type Sand to aggregate ratio (S/a)

0.444 0.515 0.615

Smooth (S-) 5ea 5ea 5ea

Hooked (H-) 5ea 5ea 5ea
Twisted (T-) 5ea 5ea 5ea

to the strength of matrix than hooked fiber although both fibers

Fig. 3. Parameters of influencing the interfacial bond strength of steel fibers.
resistance of steel fiber can be improved by tailoring the geome-
try of fiber or by applying higher strength or stiffness; the frictional
bond resistance can be enhanced by using finer sand particles or
fine additives such as fly ash and silica fume; and, the adhesion at
the interface can also be improved by increasing the density of ITZ
(Gurrero and Naaman, 2000; Kang et al., 2012) (Fig. 3).
There are several types of steel fibers with different geometry
such as smooth, end hooked, crimped, and twisted. Their perfor-
mance varies according to the different geometry of steel fibers
as shown in Fig. 4. Besides, the pullout behavior of steel fiber is
also strongly affected by the matrix (or ITZ) surrounding the fiber.
Bentur and Alexander (2000) reported that the properties of ITZ
created significant effect on the mechanical properties of FRC. Kim
et al. (2010) investigated the effect of matrix strength on the pull-
out behavior of high strength deformed steel fibers and reported
that twisted steel fiber showed more sensitive behavior according
showed enhancement in the pullout resistance as the strength of
matrix increased.
There are various approaches available to improve the interfa-
cial bond strength of fiber: the different geometry of steel fibers
(Alwan et al., 1999; Naaman, 1999, 2003); the densification of ITZ
(Bentur and Alexander, 2000; Igarashi et al., 1996); the addition of
adhesive agent (Gurrero and Naaman, 2000); and, the use of finer
grains (Gurrero and Naaman, 2000; Kang et al., 2012). The approach
investigated in this study is to change the geometry of steel fibers to
utilize the mechanical bond from the deformed geometry. Further,
S/a was modified to improve the workability of fresh state concrete
after adding fibers and to increase the packing density of the ITZ
between fiber and matrix. Because the construction society of NPP
is still extremely conservative and reluctant to modify the current
composition of NPP concrete for the safety of NPP, the compressive
strength and matrix composition of the concrete for NPP should
not be modified. Thus, no change in water cement ratio, sand and
coarse aggregate type in the matrix composition of concrete for NPP
was considered.
3. Experimental program
An experimental program was designed to provide useful infor-
mation in developing FRC with high impact resistance for NPP by
investigating the pullout resistance of steel fiber in concrete for
NPP. First, the pullout resistance of steel fibers with different geom-
etry, smooth, hooked, and twisted were compared by carrying out
single fiber pullout tests of those fibers embedded in the concrete
used for NPP. And, S/a was changed to investigate the influence of
the ratio on the bond strength of those fibers, because S/a may pos-
sibly be adjusted to prevent reduction in the workability by adding
steel fibers. Furthermore, Backscattered Electron (BSE) images were
taken to visualize the interface between fiber and matrix as well.
The combination of three types of steel fiber and three S/a ratios
leads to nine series of pullout tests as summarized in Table 1. Three
S/a ratios were determined by reducing the amount of coarse aggre-
gate: M1 was the original composition of concrete used for NPP; M2
contained 75% of the coarse aggregate in M1 while M3 contained
50% of the coarse aggregate in M1.

3.1. Materials and specimen preparation

The compositions of matrices in the experimental program are

given in Table 2, while the properties of steel fibers investigated
are provided in Table 3. The matrix M1 is the composition for the
Fig. 4. Different pullout mechanisms according to the geometry of steel fiber. concrete currently used for NPP by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power

Table 2
Composition of concrete for NPP by weight ratio and compressive strength.
a b
Name S/a Cement (type I) Fly ash Sand Coarse aggregate WRA AEA Compressive strength (MPa)

M1 0.444 1.0 0.25 2.3 2.884 0.0079 0.00089 50.13

M2 0.515 1.0 0.25 2.3 2.163 0.0079 0.00089 52.62
M3 0.615 1.0 0.25 2.3 1.442 0.0079 0.00089 54.10
a
Water reducing agent.
b
Air entraining agent.
4 J.J. Kim et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 252 (2012) 1–10

Table 3 with high temperature (60 ± 2 ◦ C) was carried out for 14 days after
Properties of fibers.
demolding. All the specimens were tested in a dry condition at the
Type of fiber Diameter Length Density Tensile strength Elastic modulus age of 21 days.
(mm) (mm) (g/cc) (MPa) (GPa) The samples for scanning electron microscope back-scattered
Smooth (S-) 0.3 30 7.9 2580 200 electrons (SEM-BSE) analysis were prepared according to the fol-
Hooked (H-) 0.375 30 7.9 2311 200 lowing procedure: cutting, drying, epoxy resin coating, grinding,
Twisted (T-) 0.3a 30 7.9 2428b 200 and polishing. After casting the samples for SEM-BSE analysis, the
a
Equivalent diameter. samples were placed in an oven at 50 ± 2 ◦ C for 3 days to remove
b
Tensile strength of the fiber after twisting. the free water. The samples in dry condition were impregnated
with low viscosity epoxy and then were sliced perpendicular to the
aligned direction of steel fiber by using a diamond saw. The polish-
(KHNP) in South Korea while M2 and M3 are modified ones to inves-
ing on the surface of sample was performed using an auto polisher
tigate the influence of varying S/a. The maximum size of coarse
according to the procedure as follows: the sample was ground for
aggregate used is 19 mm. The twisted fiber investigated in this
2 min with 120 revolution per minute (rpm) using a 600 grit silicon
experimental program has triangular section and six ribs per fiber
carbide sand paper, and for 2 min more using a 800 grit silicon car-
length.
bide sand paper, then the sample was ground more using polishing
Before mixing the concrete, the fibers were pre-installed in the
cloths containing 6 ␮m, 1 ␮m, and 0.04 ␮m diamond compounds,
device shown in Fig. 5a and then placed in molds for pullout spec-
respectively. The samples after polishing were cleaned using ace-
imens as shown in Fig. 5b. A Hobart type laboratory mixer with
tone and dried for 3 days at 50 ± 2 ◦ C in an oven. The samples were
a 20 L capacity was used to prepare the mix. Cement, fly ash, and
stored in a low vacuum chamber before SEM-BSE image analysis.
sand were first dry-mixed for 90 s. Half of the water was added and
The samples for SEM-BSE analysis are shown in Fig. 6.
mixed for 60 s and then remaining water was added and mixed
again for 60 s. Super-plasticizer was then added, and further mix-
ing was carried out for 60 s. When the mortar showed adequate 3.2. Test setup and procedure
workability and viscosity, coarse aggregate was added and mixed
for 60 s. The concrete matrix was poured into molds by using a The test set-ups for single fiber pullout test and BSE image
beaker. The specimens were covered with plastic sheets and stored analysis are illustrated in Fig. 7. The section of pullout test spec-
at room temperature for 24 h prior to demolding. Hot water curing imens used is 25 mm × 25 mm (1 in. × 1 in.). The pullout load was

Fig. 5. Molds for pullout specimens.

Fig. 6. Specimen for SEM-BSE analysis.

 J.J. Kim et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 252 (2012) 1–10
Fig. 7. Test set-ups for single fiber pullout test and SEM-BSE analysis.
measured from a load cell directly attached to the bottom of the
cross head while the slip of embedded fibers was measured from
a linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) attached to the
specimen as illustrated in Fig. 7a. The capacity of load cell used
in measuring pullout resistance was 5000 N and its resolution was
0.1 N. The SEM-BSE images were captured by using an instrument
JSM-6390 to investigate the microstructure of ITZ as shown in
Fig. 7b.
3.3. Test results and general discussion
The pullout load versus slip curves of smooth, hooked and
twisted steel fibers embedded in the concrete for NPP are provided
5
in Figs. 8–10, respectively. All the results of single fiber pullout
tests were very consistent. As S/a increased, twisted steel fiber pro-
duced significant enhancement in the pullout resistance as shown
in Fig. 10, while smooth and hooked fibers showed no noticeable
difference as shown in Figs. 8 and 9, respectively. To compare the
pullout resistance of steel fibers with different geometry, maxi-
mum bond strength in Eq. (1) and equivalent bond strength in Eq.
(2) were estimated and summarized in Table 4.
Pmax
max = (1)
 · df · Lem.
2 · PW
equiv. = 2
(2)
df · Lem.
where,  max is the bond strength at maximum pullout load, equiv.
is the equivalent bond strength, Pmax is the maximum pullout load,
PW is the pullout work until the complete pullout of fiber, df is the
equivalent diameter of fiber, and Lem. is the embedded length of
fiber.
The pullout work during fiber pullout is used to estimate equiv-
alent bond strength which is closely correlated with cracking
behavior of fiber reinforced cement composites (Kim et al., 2007).
3.4. Effect of fiber geometry on the pullout behavior of steel fiber
The effect of fiber geometry on the pullout behavior of steel
fiber is clearly confirmed again as shown in Figs. 8–10. Hooked and
twisted steel fibers produced slip hardening behavior while smooth
steel fiber showed slip softening behavior right after debonding
at the interface. The slip hardening pullout behavior of deformed,
hooked, and twisted fibers is based on their mechanical interaction
between fiber and matrix during fiber pullout. The main pullout
mechanism of smooth steel fibers after debonding is frictional bond
resistance unlike the deformed steel fibers. Although the pullout
behavior of both deformed fibers is dependent upon the mechani-
cal interaction, hooked fiber use the plastic energy from two plastic
hinges at the end hook while twisted fiber utilize its untwisting
moment during fiber pullout (Alwan et al., 1999; Naaman, 1999,
2003; Kim et al., 2007). Thus, smooth steel fibers showed the worst
pullout resistance: the pullout load suddenly decreased right after
debonding at the interface between fiber and matrix. Smooth steel
fibers, before 0.5 mm slip, lost most, 90–95%, of their pullout resis-
tance while hooked and twisted steel fibers still maintained slip
hardening behavior, i.e., higher pullout resistance after debond-
ing at the interface. Hooked steel fiber generated higher pullout
stress than smooth and twisted steel fibers. Although both hooked
and twisted steel fibers showed slip hardening behavior, their slip
capacity, the amount of slip before pullout load decay, is com-
pletely different. Hooked fibers showed a noticeable reduction of
pullout resistance when the slip reached about 3 mm while twisted
steel fibers maintained their slip hardening behavior until the slip
reached 9–13 mm. The different slip capacity of both hooked and
twisted steel fiber is based on their different pullout mechanisms:
hooked fiber utilize only a small portion of embedded length to gen-
erate mechanical pullout resistance unlike twisted steel fiber use
whole embedded length of fiber to be untwisted (Kim et al., 2007).
The maximum bond strengths of smooth, hooked, and twisted steel
fibers are demonstrated in Fig. 11. The maximum bond strengths
of hooked steel fibers are between 9 MPa and 13 MPa while those
of smooth steel fibers are ranging from 3 MPa to 9 MPa. The maxi-
mum bond strengths of twisted steel fibers are between 5 MPa and
10 MPa. Thus, the order of maximum bond strength, according to
the geometry of steel fiber, in concrete used for current NPP in Korea
is as follows: hooked > twisted > smooth steel fibers.
However, in terms of equivalent bond strength, twisted steel
fiber produced the highest value while smooth steel fiber showed
6 J.J. Kim et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 252 (2012) 1–10

Fig. 8. Pullout load versus slip curves of smooth steel fiber.

the lowest one as shown in Fig. 12. The equivalent bond strengths
of smooth steel fibers are ranging between 0.5 MPa and 2.0 MPa
while those of twisted steel fibers are between 6.0 MPa and 9.6 MPa.
Hooked steel fibers also provide comparative equivalent bond
strengths between 4.1 MPa and 8.5 MPa. Thus, the order of equiv-
alent bond strength is as follows: twisted > hooked > smooth steel
fibers.
It is clear that deformed steel fibers including hooked and
twisted steel fibers are favorable in concrete used for current
NPP due to the higher pullout resistance than smooth steel fiber.
Moreover, it is noticeable that the equivalent bond strength of
twisted steel fiber, due to higher slip capacity, is even higher than
hooked fiber albeit the maximum bond strength of twisted fiber is
much lower than that of hooked fiber. However, the difference in
the equivalent bond strength between twisted and hooked fiber
is lower than the reported results by Kim et al. (2010). In high
strength mortar, twisted steel fibers produced 2–5 times higher
equivalent bond strength than hooked fiber. Twisted steel fiber was
much more efficient in mortar rather than in concrete while hooked
steel fiber showed no considerable difference.

Table 4
Influence of sand to aggregate ratio on interfacial bond strength.

Fiber type Maximum bond strength (MPa) Equivalent bond strength (MPa)

Sand to aggregate ratio Sand to aggregate ratio

0.444 0.515 0.615 0.444 0.515 0.615

Average 4.939 7.378 6.961 1.377 0.931 1.242

Smooth (S-)
Standard deviation 1.008 1.232 1.457 0.198 0.159 0.438
Average 9.595 11.057 10.030 4.950 6.496 5.758
Hooked (H-)
Standard deviation 0.677 1.794 1.075 0.762 1.272 0.717
Average 6.265 7.556 8.136 6.736 6.882 8.411
Twisted (T-)
Standard deviation 1.501 1.208 1.366 0.589 0.656 1.101
 J.J. Kim et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 252 (2012) 1–10
Fig. 9. Pullout load versus slip curves of hooked steel fiber.
3.5. Effect of sand to aggregate ratio on the interfacial bond
strength
The influence of S/a on the compressive strength is provided
in Table 2: there is a little enhancement of compressive strength
as S/a increases, but the effect is not much. The effect of S/a on
interfacial bond strength is quite different according to the geom-
etry of steel fibers. Deformed steel fibers showed higher sensitivity
according to the different S/a while there is no clear effect of S/a
on the pullout behavior of smooth steel fibers. The pullout load
versus slip curves of smooth, hooked, and twisted steel fibers
according to the different S/a are shown in Figs. 8–10, respectively.
To quantify the effects of S/a on the interfacial bond properties
of the steel fibers, the maximum and equivalent bond strength
using Eqs. (1) and (2) are graphically compared in Figs. 11 and 12,
respectively. In both maximum and equivalent bond strength of
smooth steel fiber, there was no clear tendency according to S/a.
As S/a increased, the maximum bond strengths of smooth steel
fibers were ranging between 4.5 MPa and 7.6 MPa while the equiv-
alent bond strengths were between 1.0 MPa and 1.5 MPa. Smooth
7
steel fibers demonstrated their maximum bond strength was much
higher than equivalent bond strength. The maximum and equiv-
alent bond strength of hooked steel fibers, unlike smooth steel
fibers, were similar in their magnitude. Albeit hooked steel fiber
produced the highest bond strength in M2 where S/a was 0.515,
the difference of both maximum and equivalent bond strength
was not significant. However, twisted steel fibers produced a clear
trend in both maximum and equivalent bond strength: the max-
imum bond strengths of twisted fibers are 6.265 MPa, 7.556 MPa,
and 8.136 MPa while the equivalent bond strengths of them are
6.736 MPa, 6.882 MPa, and 8.411 MPa for M1 (S/a = 0.444), M2
(S/a = 0.515), and M3 (S/a = 0.615), respectively. Thus, it is clear that
twisted steel fiber produced the enhanced pullout resistance as S/a
increased.
The different influence of S/a on the pullout behavior and inter-
facial bond properties is thought to be mainly from the different
pullout mechanisms of smooth, hooked, and twisted steel fibers.
Twisted steel fiber utilizing the whole embedment length of fiber
has much more mechanical interaction between fiber and matrix to
generate mechanical bond strength than hooked steel fiber. Hooked
8 J.J. Kim et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 252 (2012) 1–10

Fig. 10. Pullout load versus slip curves of twisted steel fiber.

Fig. 11. Influence of S/a on maximum bond strength. Fig. 12. Influence of S/a on equivalent bond strength.
 J.J. Kim et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 252 (2012) 1–10
steel fiber produces mechanical bond strength using a small por-
tion of embedded length at the end hooks (Kim et al., 2008; Alwan
et al., 1999; Naaman, 1999, 2003).
As S/a increases, the matrix surrounding the fiber contains more
amounts of cement and sand particle. Thus, the increased amounts
of cement and sand particle accelerate the hydration process, pro-
duce more amounts of high density CSH and also reduce the micro
Fig. 13. BSE images of ITZ according to different sand to aggregate ratio.
9
porosity at the ITZ between fiber and matrix: thus, the local strength
and stiffness at ITZ is enhanced as S/a increases (Igarashi et al.,
1996; Sahmaran et al., 2009; Kang et al., 2012). Consequently,
twisted steel fibers showed much higher sensitivity according to
the change of S/a because of their more intensive mechanical inter-
action between fiber and matrix during fiber pullout.
3.6. Effect of S/a on the ITZ
The property of ITZ is the most important parameter influenc-
ing the bond strength of fiber and consequently the performance
of fiber reinforced concrete. The microstructure of ITZ is highly
influenced by the type of cement, the water to cement ratio, the
procedure of mixing (Igarashi et al., 1996) and the size of aggregates
(Kang et al., 2012); the stiffness and strength of ITZ is accordingly
determined by the characteristics of the ITZ microstructure. The
components of ITZ microstructure include sand, coarse aggregate,
calcium hydroxide, low and high density CSH and porosity; and,
all of them have different stiffness. Bentur and Alexander (2000)
reported that the porosity of ITZ was reduced as the size of coarse
aggregate decreased due to the densified CSH microstructure. In
addition, the mechanical properties of the microstructure compo-
nents including sand, coarse aggregate, calcium hydroxide, low and
high density CSH, and porosity are various. The sand among the
components generally has the highest stiffness (Sorelli et al., 2008);
thus, the local stiffness of ITZ of matrix with the higher S/a might
be higher than that of matrix with lower S/a. The SEM-BSE images
describing the ITZ are provided in Fig. 13a for M1 (S/a = 0.444),
Fig. 13b for M2 (S/a = 0.515), and Fig. 13c for M3 (S/a = 0.615). It was
observed that the porosity of ITZ was reduced as the ratio increased
as shown in Fig. 13 (Diamond, 2001; Diamond and Huang, 2001)
although no image analysis was carried out to quantify the effect
of S/a on the microstructure of ITZ.
3.7. Effect of S/a on the flexural behavior of FRC with twisted steel
fibers
The higher bond strength of twisted steel fibers in a matrix
with higher S/a ratio as shown in Fig. 10 produced better flexu-
ral performance of FRC with 1% twisted steel fibers as shown in
Fig. 14. In addition, the addition of fibers in concrete demonstrated
Fig. 14. Influence of S/a on the flexural behavior of FRC with twisted steel fibers.
10 J.J. Kim et al. / Nuclear Engineering and Design 252 (2012) 1–10
much enhanced energy absorption capacity as well as higher load
carrying capacity. The improved load carrying and energy absorp-
tion capacity would provide higher impact resistance than normal
concrete. The behavior of FRC under impact is under investigation
and will be reported.
4. Summary and conclusion
This study, under the final goal to develop a fiber reinforced
concrete for impact- and blast-resistant nuclear power plant, inves-
tigated the effect of sand to aggregate ratio (S/a) on the pullout
behavior and interfacial bond strength of high-strength steel fibers
including smooth, hooked, and twisted steel fibers. Three sand
to aggregate ratios, 0.444, 0.515, and 0.615, were investigated.
While hooked and smooth fibers showed little sensitive behavior
according to the S/a, twisted fiber showed a clear sensitivity. The
difference could be attributed to the greater mechanical interac-
tion between fiber and matrix based on the twisted fiber’s unique
untwisting pullout mechanism. The following observations and
conclusions can be drawn from the experimental study:
• Deformed steel fibers including hooked and twisted steel fiber
produced much higher interfacial bond strength in the concrete
for nuclear power plants (NPPs) than smooth steel fiber: hooked
fiber produced the highest maximum bond strength while
twisted fiber generated the highest equivalent bond strength in
the concrete for NPP.
• As the S/a increased from 0.414 to 0.615, twisted fiber showed a
significant enhancement in both maximum and equivalent bond
strength while smooth and hooked fiber showed no clear differ-
ence.
• The local stiffness of ITZ surrounding fibers was enhanced as
the S/a increased because of more sand particles having higher
stiffness than cement hydroxides or CSH in concrete with higher
S/a.
• Thus, twisted fiber having more intensive mechanical interaction
between fiber and matrix during pullout took better advantage
of the densified microstructure with lower porosity and higher
stiffness of ITZ in concrete with higher S/a.
Acknowledgments
This research was sponsored by the research project was
granted by the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and
Planning (2010161010004K). The authors are grateful to the spon-
sors for the financial support. The opinions expressed in this paper
are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of
the sponsors.
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