Fiber Reinforced Concrete: A Review

Concrete is the most widely used constituent in the construction industry as a construction material due to its wide range of applications to civil infrastructure works. However, the use of concrete has been limited due to its certain deficiencies such as brittleness, low tensile strength, proneness to crack opening and propagation and low durability. To subdue these drawbacks, researchers have modified concrete by adding various synthetic and natural fibers to upgrade the nature of concrete. The demand for high strength and cracks resistant concrete led to the development of fiber-reinforced concrete. This paper reviews the effects of fibers inclusion on the performance of concrete. Generally, the addition of fibers improves tensile strength, flexural strength, and durability performance. Moreover, incorporating fibers reduces the shrinkage cracks of concrete. However, incorporating fibers in concrete has some negative effects like low workability.