Recently, 3D concrete printing has progressed rapidly in the construction industry. However, this technique still contains several factors that influence the buildability and mechanical properties of the printed concrete. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of the nozzle speed, the interlayer interval time, the rotations per minute (RPMs) of the screw in the 3D printing device, and the presence of lateral supports on the buildability of 3D concrete printing. In addition, this paper presents the results of the mechanical properties, including the compressive, splitting tensile, and flexural tensile strengths of 3D printed concrete. The buildability of 3D printed structures was improved with an extended interlayer interval time of up to 300 s. The printing processes were interrupted because of tearing of concrete filaments, which was related to excessive RPMs of the mixing screw. The test results also showed that a lateral support with a wide contact surface could improve the resistance to buckling failure for 3D printed structures. The test results of the mechanical properties of the 3D printed concrete specimens indicated that the compressive, splitting tensile, and flexural tensile strengths significantly depended on the bonding behavior at the interlayers of the printed specimens. In addition, although metal laths were expected to improve the tensile strength of the printed specimens, they adversely affected the tensile performance due to weak bonding between the reinforcements and concrete filaments.

Ultrahigh-performance concrete (UHPC) and high-strength concrete (HSC) are currently widely used because of their distinct superior properties. Thus, a comprehensive comparison of the flexural behavior of UHPC and HSC beams is presented in this study. Nine UHPC beams and three HSC beams were subjected to pure bending tests to investigate the effect of various reinforcement ratios and steel fiber volume contents on the cracking and failure patterns, load-deflection behavior, ductility, and flexural toughness of these beams. The addition of steel fibers in the UHPC improved the energy absorption capacity of the beams, causing the UHPC beams to fail via rebar fracture. The deflection and curvature ductility indices were determined and compared in this study. The ductility indices of the HSC beam tended to decrease sharply as the rebar ratio increased, whereas those of the UHPC beam did not show a clear trend with respect to the rebar ratio. In addition, a comparison between the results in this study and the results from previous studies was performed. In this study, the addition of steel fiber contents up to 1.5% in UHPC increased the load capacity, ductility, and flexural toughness of the UHPC beams, whereas the addition of a steel fiber content of 2.0% did not significantly increase the ductility or flexural toughness of the UHPC beams.

The flexural responses of high‐strength fiber‐reinforced concrete (HSFRC) beams and high‐strength concrete (HSC) beams are compared in this study. A series of HSFRC and HSC beams were tested under pure flexural loading. The effects of the type of concrete, compressive strength of the concrete, and tensile rebar ratio on the flexural behavior of the concrete beams were investigated. The flexural behavior of the HSFRC and HSC beams including the induced crack and failure patterns, load and deflection capacity, crack stiffness, ductility index, and flexural toughness was compared. The crack stiffness of the HSC and HSFRC beams increased with the rebar ratio. For the same rebar ratios, the crack stiffness of the HSFRC beams was much greater than that of the HSC beams. The ductility index of the HSC beams decreased sharply with an increase in the rebar ratio, but the ductility index of the HSFRC beams did not show a clear decrease with increasing rebar ratio. The flexural toughness of the HSFRC beams was greater than that of the HSC beams at higher rebar ratios of 1.47% and 1.97%, indicating that the energy absorption of the HSFRC beams was greater than that of the HSC beams. Test results also indicated that HSFRC developed better and more consistent ductility with higher rebar ratio. In addition, the tested bending strength and sectional analysis results were compared.

Although there is a growing trend to use higher strength for concrete and steel in reinforced concrete structures due to the lightness and slenderness of these members together with the simplified arrangement of their reinforcement, there is still the necessity to inspect the reduction of ductility resulting from the gain in strength. Taking into account that this also concerns the design for torsion, this study intends to investigate the regulations related to the torsional minimum reinforcement ratio in view of the minimum ductility requirement with focus on Eurocode 2. To that goal, the relation between the torsional cracking moment and the ductile behavior is discussed for the beam reinforced with the minimum torsional reinforcement ratio to examine the eventual properness of the minimum torsional reinforcement ratio recommended by Eurocode 2. Moreover, a pure torsion test is performed on 18 beams made of 80 MPa concrete reinforced by high‐strength bars with rectangular section and various test variables involving the minimum torsional reinforcement ratio, the transverse‐to‐longitudinal reinforcement ratio, and the total reinforcement ratio. As a result, for the high‐strength concrete beams, the minimum torsional reinforcement ratio recommended by Eurocode 2 was insufficient to prevent the sudden loss of strength after the initiation of the torsional cracking. But with regard to the compatibility torsion of statically indeterminate structure, the adoption of the minimum torsional reinforcement ratio recommended by Eurocode 2 might secure enough deformability under displacement‐controlled mode to allow the redistribution of the torsional moment.

Most previous studies on the strength properties of coal bottom ash (CBA) concrete have focused on concrete with a normal compressive strength, and thus, studies on the strength properties of high‐strength concrete (HSC) containing CBA are limited. Therefore, the effects of replacing fine aggregates with CBA and variations in the curing age on the strength properties of HSC with a compressive strength of greater than 60 MPa were investigated in this study. The different CBA contents included 25, 50, 75, and 100%, and the different curing ages were 28 and 56 days. The mechanical properties of the HSC with CBA incorporated as fine aggregates were examined. The experimental results revealed that CBA could be partially or totally substituted for fine aggregates during HSC production. The test results also showed that the compressive, splitting tensile, and flexural strengths of the HSC containing CBA fine aggregates slightly decreased as the CBA content increased. Moreover, useful relationships between the compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and flexural strength were suggested, and the predictions reasonably agreed with the measurements. Compared to those of the control specimen, the pulse velocities of the HSC specimens at various CBA contents decreased by less than 3%. In addition, equations for predicting the strength values of CBA concrete by using the ultrasonic pulse velocity were suggested.

This paper describes an experimental study on the mechanical properties of high‐strength fiber‐reinforced concrete (HSFRC). The experimental parameters included the content and length of the steel fiber as well as the use of either a single‐type fiber or hybrid steel fibers. The steel fiber contents were 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0% based on the volume of HSFRC, and the steel fiber lengths were 13, 16.5, and 19.5 mm. In addition, hybrid steel fibers incorporating steel fibers of different lengths were used. Compression tests and crack mouth opening displacement tests were performed for each HSFRC mixture with different experimental parameters. The mechanical properties of the HSFRC, such as compressive strength, elastic modulus, and tensile strength, increased with the steel fiber content. The mechanical property results of the HSFRC mixture using a single fiber length of 13 mm were greater than the results of the other mixtures. The compressive strength, elastic modulus, and tensile strength of the HSFRC mixture with hybrid steel fibers were similar to those of the mixtures with a single length of steel fiber. Additionally, based on the test results of the material properties, equations for predicting the elastic modulus and tensile strength of the HSFRC were suggested; the predictions using the proposed formula closely agreed with the experimental results.