At the event, ASCE members learned how self consolidating high performance steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) was taken from material concepts towards structural applications of being used in an industrial building in the precast roof elements in Italy. The lecture went into further detail about the advantages of using fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) instead of welded wire meshes for shear and transverse flexural in precast roof elements.
The key issue of fiber dispersion within the roof elements was investigated by means of a suitable test procedure and correlated with results obtained from cube samples drawn from the batches and tested in the fresh state. Companion slabs were also cast and tested under four point bending in order to study the correlation between fiber distribution and the mechanical properties of the composite. Dr. Ferrara presented the analyses and the correlation between fiber distribution, workability and mechanical properties of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) with the aim of optimizing both its fresh- and hardened-state properties of precast SFRC roof elements.