3. Test results and discussion
3.1. Unconfined specimens
Table 5 presents the compressive strengths (f0
co) and the corresponding
axial strains (eco) of the unconfined specimens. As
evident from the results shown in the table, the addition of steel
fibers often resulted in a slight increase in the compressive
strength. The axial strains at peak (eco) reported in Table 5 were
determined using two different measurement methods (i.e.,
LVDTs and axial strain gauges). As evident from the table, the axial
strains (eco) obtained from the LVDTs installed along the full-height
of the specimens are slightly higher than those recorded by the
strain gauges placed at specimen mid-height. The results in
Table 5 also indicate that the presence of steel fibers resulted inan increase in the axial strain at peak (eco). This observation
accords with those reported in previous studies on unconfined
SFRCs, where it was found that the addition of steel fibers led to
an increase in peak axial strain of SFRCs [40,41,53].