Use of Natural Fibres to enhance tensile strength of concrete

Abstract

This paper discusses the influence of natural fibres on density, compressive strength and flexural strength of fibre reinforced concrete specimens. Coir fibre extracted from coconut husk was added to high strength concrete to produced 36 test cubes and 36 beam samples. Tests carried out on cube and beam samples show that compressive strength of high strength concrete reduces with addition of coir fibres. The reduction is noticed varying with the change of fibre content and fibre length. Further, comparison between cubes and beams indicate variation in density of the concrete as well. The test results show that a reduction in flexural strength in most cases except for 2% coir fibre reinforced concrete, where a slight enhancement was noticed in flexural strength.