Experimental Analysis of Fiber Movement and Rheological Response of Steel Fiber-Reinforced Concrete under Vibration Compaction
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14311/CEJ.2026.03.0024Keywords:
Steel fiber-reinforced concrete, Vibration compaction, Fiber movement, Fresh concrete rheology, Numerical model validation, Immersion vibratorAbstract
This experimental study investigates the movement of steel fibers in fresh steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) during vibration compaction, with emphasis on generating controlled data suitable for validation of numerical models. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD), lattice Boltzmann methods (LBM), and discrete element methods (DEM) are increasingly used to simulate fresh concrete flow; however, their validation remains limited by the availability of experimental datasets with clearly defined boundary conditions.
To address this limitation, experiments were performed with controlled vibration parameters, prescribed initial fiber arrangements, and measured fiber positions at different depths and radial distances from an immersion vibrator. A modified destructive method was used to expose and record the position of steel fibers after vibration durations of 10 s and 30 s.
The measured fiber movement was evaluated using basic rheological assumptions and was approximated by a shear-thinning power-law fluid model with a behavior index of n=0.81. The angular velocity of fiber displacement was expressed as a function of radial distance from the vibrator, providing a practical relation for comparison with numerical simulations.
The results indicate that fiber movement was governed mainly by radial distance from the vibrator and vibration duration. Within the tested configuration, vibration up to 30 s caused local fiber displacement but did not indicate systematic fiber alignment within the tracked fiber positions. The presented dataset and analytical approximation may support the validation of numerical models of fresh SFRC during vibration compaction.
Received: 26.04.2026
Received in revised form: 13.07.2026
Accepted: 22.07.2026
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