Underwater abrasion of steel fiber-reinforced self-compacting concrete

Hundreds of tons of concrete may be ruined due to the abrasion erosion phenomenon that takes place in several hydraulic structures. Such unfavorable action can impose high maintenance costs and reduce the life span of these structures. The high-velocity water flow which carries large amounts of sediments is basically the main cause of this phenomenon. To better understand concrete abrasion in hydraulic structures, an experimental investigation was conducted to study the underwater frictional abrasion of self-compacting concrete (SCC) using the ASTM C1138 test method. Six SCC mixtures were prepared with different design grades of 30, 40 and 50 MPa and different micro-steel fiber contents of 0, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0%. Four fresh SCC tests were adopted, while abrasion and control tests were conducted at ages of 7, 28 and 90 days. The ASTM C1138 tests showed that increasing the mixture strength by 20 MPa improved the abrasion resistance more effectively than the inclusion of 1.0% of steel fiber. Compared to the 30 MPa plain SCC, the 90-day abrasion resistance improved by 78% for SCC with 50 MPa strength, while the inclusion of 1.0% of micro-steel fiber enhanced the resistance by only 26%. Keywords: Self-compacting concrete, SCC, Abrasion, Underwater abrasion, Micro steel fiber