Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

Concrete is a brittle material that fractures easily. Reinforcing concrete with short, randomly oriented fibers significantly enhances its fracture toughness and improves its ductility. The various sectors of the construction industry currently use over 300,000 metric tons of fibers as concrete reinforcement annually. The objective of proposed project is to develop a family of innovative, high performance FRP (fiber reinforced polymer) fibers for concrete reinforcement. The intent is to combine the relatively high modulus and high strength of glass fiber with a durable polymeric matrix to produce a fiber uniquely suited for concrete reinforcement. Fiber deformations will be studied as a way of enhancing fiber's bond-slip response with concrete. Six FRP fibers spanning two different compositions and five different geometries will be investigated. In addition to fiber-matrix bond-slip studies, concrete reinforced with FRP fibers will be tested for mechanical properties such as quasi-static toughness and impact resistance, and durability characteristics such as resistance to shrinkage, stability in an alkaline environment, curling and abrasion. Wet-process shotcrete with FRP fibers will also be examined. Finally, the developed FRP fibers will be applied to three fully monitored demonstration projects including an industrial floor, a beam-column joint and a repair project involving shotcrete. An industry workshop will be organized in the last year. There are no FRP fibers currently on the market. This development will therefore provide the collaborating company with a novel family of innovative fibers for worldwide distribution. The project has ambitious plans for HQP training. Each year, it will have one doctoral, two masters, one post-doctoral fellow and four undergraduate research assistants (a total of 7 HQP) associated with it.