Mechanical Properties of Basalt Fibre Reinforced Concrete: Effect of Fibre Dosage

In a quest to reduce the shrinkage of concrete at an early age and during its service life, the incorporation of short fibres has been found to inhibit the shrinkage thereby preventing cracks formation in the concrete. Recently, the use of chopped basalt fibres (BF) to mitigate cracks has been gaining huge attention due to its economic and sustainable advantage. However, in order to ensure that the overall performance of concrete is improved, it is paramount to evaluate how different dosages of basalt fibres typically used to reduce/prevent shrinkage in concrete mixtures affect its mechanical properties. Therefore, this study was carried out to investigate the effect of three fibre dosages on the mechanical properties of concrete. BF was used at a dosage of 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3% while the mechanical properties investigated are the compressive strength, flexural strength and split tensile strength. The results from this study showed that there is a slight reduction in the compressive strength of concrete incorporating BF when compared to concrete without any fibre.