Evaluating the Influence of Elevated Temperature on Compressive Strength of Date-Palm-Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Using Response Surface Methodology

Musa Adamu; Yasser E Ibrahim; Hani Alanazi

doi:10.3390/ma15228129

Evaluating the Influence of Elevated Temperature on Compressive Strength of Date-Palm-Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Using Response Surface Methodology

Materials (Basel). 2022 Nov 16;15(22):8129. doi: 10.3390/ma15228129.

Authors

Musa Adamu^{1

2}, Yasser E Ibrahim¹, Hani Alanazi³

Affiliations

¹ Engineering Management Department, College of Engineering, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh 11586, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Civil Engineering, Bayero University Kano, Kano P.M.B 3011, Nigeria.
³ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, Majmaah University, Al-Majmaah 11952, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Due to its availability and affordable processing, date palm fiber (DPF) is among the natural and sustainable fibers used in cementitious composites. Furthermore, DPF is an agricultural, organic, and fibrous material that when subjected to higher temperature can easily degrade and cause reduction in strength. Therefore, the influence of elevated temperatures on the unit weight and strengths of DPF-reinforced concrete needs to be examined. Under this investigation, DPF is used in proportions of 0-3% weight of binder to produce a DPF-reinforced concrete. Silica fume was utilized as a supplemental cementitious material (SCM) in various amounts of 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15% by weight to enhance the heat resistance of the DPF-reinforced concrete. The concrete was then heated to various elevated temperatures for an hour at 200 °C, 400 °C, 600 °C, and 800 °C. After being exposed to high temperatures, the weight loss and the compressive and relative strengths were examined. The weight loss of DPF-reinforced concrete escalated with increments in temperature and DPF content. The compressive and relative strengths of the concrete improved when heated up to 400 °C, irrespective of the DPF and silica fume contents. The heat resistance of the concrete was enhanced with the replacement of up to 10% cement with silica fume when heated to a temperature up to 400 °C, where there were enhancements in compressive and relative strengths. However, at 800 °C, silica fume caused a significant decline in strength. The developed models for predicting the weight loss and the compressive and relative strengths of the DPF-reinforced concrete under high temperature using RSM have a very high degree of correlation and predictability. The models were said to have an average error of less than 6% when validated experimentally. The optimum DPF-reinforced concrete mix under high temperature was achieved by adding 1% DPF by weight of binder materials, replacing 12.14% of the cement using silica fume, and subjecting the concrete to a temperature of 317 °C. The optimization result has a very high desirability of 91.3%.

Keywords: date palm fiber; elevated temperature; natural fiber; residual compressive strength; silica fume; weight loss.

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Structures and Materials (S&M) Research Laboratory of Prince Sultan University, Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, the authors acknowledge the support of Prince Sultan University in paying the article-processing charges (APC) of this publication.