Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Impact of Basalt Fibers and Tie Spacing On Short Concrete Column Behavior

This paper aims to demonstrate the combined effect of adding basalt fibers into a concrete matrix and altering tie spacing on the behavior of short concrete columns. Also, the impact of changing the reinforcement ratio on column behavior is numerically discovered. Three volume fractions of basalt fiber are considered:۰.۰, ۰.۳ %, and ۰.۶%. Three columns per fiber percentage, in which the tie spacing varies from ۸۰ mm to ۱۲۰ mm and ۱۸۰ mm, are cast to produce nine columns. The results illustrate that no-fiber columns sustain more than ۵۰ % of the failure load before cracking. However, adding basalt fiber raises this ratio to ۰.۷۵ %. The ۰.۳ % of basalt fiber increases the compressive strength, cracking, and ultimate column loads better than ۰.۶ %. The impact of basalt fiber's addition on cracking load is more pronounced than on maximum load. Decreasing tie spacing slightly increases the column's ultimate load. Basalt fiber columns exhibit lower longitudinal displacement than no-fiber ones at the cracking state, and the longitudinal displacement increases with increasing tie spacing. The numerical analysis provides close results to the experimental ones at the ultimate state. The numerical analysis shows that increasing the reinforcement ratio raises the column's load capacity. For the same tie spacing, increasing the reinforcement ratio raises the loading capacity of columns, and the longitudinal displacement slightly increases upon increasing tie spacing. However, it decreases with increasing the reinforcement ratio. Basalt fibers are beneficial in delaying cracking and improving the loading capacity of the short columns.