Alireza Azarioon

In the presentstudy, the effectiveness offiber inclusion onenhancingfrostdurabilitywasexperimentally examined.Polypropylenefiberof0.2,0.3,0.4,and0.5% andsteel fiberof0.2,0.4,0.6,0.8,and1.0%byvolume fraction wereused. Additionally,reference and air-entrained specimens(with 5%aircontent)werepreparedto comparetheresults.Thewater/cementratioforallconcrete mixtureswas0.465.Thecompressiveandtensilestrengths, andlongitudinal strains offrost-exposed specimens were measured.Theresultsshowedthatbothfibersimprovedthe frost resistance ofconcrete,and1%steel fiberinclusion causedthesamplestobesafeagainstfreeze–thawcyclesas wellasairentraining.Minimumfibervolumesof0.4and 0.5%wererequired for frost resistance in the steel and polypropylene fiberspecimens, respectively. Theresults werealsonumericallyexaminedusinganartificialneural network(ANN). Dataanalysisshowedthat the ANNwas capableofgeneralizingbetweeninput andoutputvariables withreasonably finepredictions.