The effect of recycled steel fibers on the deflection of reinforced concrete beams

Nowadays everybody knows how much the environmental degradation represents a problem caused by the global warming due to greenhouse gasses. The global average temperature is closely connected to the carbon dioxide: if emissions and concentrations in the atmosphere of CO2 increase, also the global average temperature does. The increasing of CO2 has characterized the entire XIX century and it is reaching higher and higher values. It is mainly due to fossil fuels and changes in the use of soils, but a great percentage, almost 6%, is also given by the production process of concrete which significantly contributes to the growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In order to provide an effective solution, new construction technologies are developed and, in particular, the introduction of new materials into the concrete mixture that could allow the reduce of cement production. The aim of this thesis is to contribute, in some small way, to a bigger European project focused into the study of Fiber Reinforced Concrete (FRC) and, more precisely, into the analysis of beams’ deflection behavior. Based on experimental results, a model is carried out in order to demonstrate that the use of recycled steel fibers, obtained from ed-of-life tires, represents a great advantage in terms of mechanical characteristics of the material and, thanks to them, it is possible to realize elements with smaller cross-sections, reducing, consequently, the cement production.