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Observations on the electrical resistivity of steel fibre reinforced concrete

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Abstract

Steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) is in many ways a well-known construction material, and its use has gradually increased over the last decades. The mechanical properties of SFRC are well described based on the theories of fracture mechanics. However, knowledge on other material properties, including the electrical resistivity, is sparse. Among others, the electrical resistivity of concrete has an effect on the corrosion process of possible embedded bar reinforcement and transfer of stray current. The present paper provides experimental results concerning the influence of the fibre volume fraction and the moisture content of the SFRC on its electrical resistivity. The electrical resistivity was measured by alternating current (AC) at 126 Hz. Moreover, an analytical model for the prediction of the electrical resistivity of SFRC is presented. The analytical model is capable of predicting the observed correlation between the fibre volume fraction and the electrical resistivity of the composite (the SFRC) for conductive fibres and moisture saturated concrete. This indicates that the steel fibres were conducting when measuring the electrical resistivity by AC at 126 Hz. For partly saturated concrete the model underestimated the influence of the addition of fibres. The results indicate that the addition of steel fibres reduce the electrical resistivity of concrete if the fibres are conductive. This represents a hypothetical case where all fibres are depassivated (corroding) which was created to obtain a conservative estimate on the influence of fibres on the electrical resistivity of concrete. It was observed that within typical ranges of variation the influence of the moisture content on the electrical resistivity was larger than the effect of addition of conductive steel fibres, but also that the relative impact on the electrical resistivity due to conductive steel fibres increased when the moisture content of the concrete was reduced.

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Acknowledgments

The first author gratefully acknowledge the full financial support of the PhD project “Application of Fibre Reinforced Concrete in Civil Infrastructure” by the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation, COWI A/S, DTU, Bekaert NV, Grace and the Danish Road Directorate. Additionally, the helpfulness with the AC/IS equipment and the interpretation of the experimental data by Associate Professor Torben Jacobsen (DTU Kemi) is highly appreciated. Finally the help from students at the Department of Civil Engineering (DTU) with experimental observations is acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark

    Anders Ole Stubbe Solgaard & Mette Geiker

  2. COWI A/S Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark

    Anders Ole Stubbe Solgaard, Carola Edvardsen & André Küter

  3. Department of Structural Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway

    Mette Geiker

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  1. Anders Ole Stubbe Solgaard
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  2. Mette Geiker
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  4. André Küter
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Correspondence to Anders Ole Stubbe Solgaard.

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Solgaard, A.O.S., Geiker, M., Edvardsen, C. et al. Observations on the electrical resistivity of steel fibre reinforced concrete. Mater Struct 47, 335–350 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-013-0064-y

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