Basalt Reinforced Concrete in Load Carrying Structures: Structural Behaviour in the Serviceability and Ultimate Limit State

Abstract

Reforcetech AS is about to develop, and has just started, the manufacturing of basalt fibres for reinforcing concrete structures. Contrary to steel bars, the basalt reinforcement is non-corrosive, non-conductive, and non-magnetic. Basalt fibres can be delivered both as reinforcement bars and as fibre reinforcement, known as Minibars. This report evaluates the use of both basalt rods and basalt fibres in load carrying concrete beams. As a part of this report, six beams were tested; three pairs with different reinforcement setup. The first pair was lightly reinforced with three Ø10,1 bars as longitudinal reinforcement. The second pair was similar to the first, but with 0,75 vol% added basalt fibres. The third, and last pair, was more heavily reinforced; seven reinforcement bars and 0,75 vol% added basalt fibres. All beams had dimensions of 200x300x4000 mm. With this setup, the effects of basalt fibres could be examined as well as the influence of an increased reinforcement area. The test results were compared to available design rules.