Fibre-reinforced expansive concrete

An innovative concrete material has been developed that utilizes highly expansive cement with deformed fibres to create an effective internal prestressing force within the concrete. This system is referred to as Fibre Reinforced Expansive Concrete (FREC). This research program studied FREC by firstly varying the constituents of FREC in an attempt to optimize the system. Tests were then conducted on the optimum FREC mixes and compared to results from plain concrete and fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) tests in order to determine the merits of FREC. The results of this testing were inconclusive in that the optimum FREC systems chosen did not exhibit net expansion and therefore were unlikely to be in a state of prestress. Furthermore. the compressive strengths of the different concretes varied widely, making direct comparisons difficult. It is still felt that the theory of FREC has merit and that it possesses great potential in the area of concrete repairs.