Full-scale pipes using dry-cast steel fibre-reinforced concrete Nedal Mohamed, Ahmed M. Soliman, Moncef L. Nehdi ⇑ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Western University, London, ON N6A 5B9, Canada highlights  Engineering properties of DCSFRC have been explored.  Steel fibre type and dosage for precast pipes have been determined.  Full-scale DCSFRC pipes were successfully fabricated.  DCSFRC precast pipes achieved ultimate loads greater than the required strength.  Steel fibres could be an alternative to conventional steel cages in precast concrete pipes. article info Article history: Received 26 April 2014 Received in revised form 10 September 2014 Accepted 21 September 2014 Available online 10 October 2014 Keywords: Dry-cast Steel fibres Precast Concrete pipes Three edge bearing test abstract The mechanical properties of dry-cast steel fibre-reinforced concrete (DCSFRC) were investigated in the present study. Four commercially available steel fibres were added at rates of 0, 20, 40 and 60 kg/m 3 . Full-scale 300 mm diameter precast pipes were fabricated using the tested DCSFRC mixtures to examine its potential for such application. In addition, plain (PC) and conventionally reinforced concrete (RC) precast pipes were fabricated and tested for comparison. As expected, results showed that the mechanical properties of DCSFRC were enhanced as the fibre dosage increased. Generally, hooked-end fibres with the highest aspect ratio led to highest tensile and flexural strengths. Furthermore, DCSFRC precast pipes achieved ultimate loads greater than the required strength for Class V pipes according to the ASTM C76 standard. The post-peak behaviour of DCSFRC pipes was comparable or superior to that of conven- tional RC pipes. Findings of this research indicate that discrete steel fibres could be an adequate alterna- tive to the labour intensive and time-consuming steel cages normally used for reinforcing precast concrete pipes. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Precast reinforced concrete (RC) pipes have been in widespread use in North America in the conveyance of sewage and storm water for several decades. They generally have shown reliable long-term performance. However, the manufacturing cost is a challenge facing precast RC pipes production. Specifically, manufacturing the pipe’s reinforcing steel cage from conventional steel bars, which requires special bending, welding and placement machinery, is costly and time consuming. Therefore, it is hypothesized that using discrete steel fibres as the primary reinforcement for concrete pipes instead of conventional steel cages could overcome this disadvantage without compromising the overall quality of the product. Recently, structural applications of steel fibre-reinforced concrete (SFRC) have been increasing. For instance, SFRC has been used in tunnel linings [20,54], slabs on grade [47], pavements on metal decks [39], seismic retrofitting and rehabilitation of various concrete structures [38,46,32,52,21]. However, only about 5% of the total amount of FRC that is produced annually is used in precast members [16]. Steel fibres (SF) enhance the post-cracking behaviour of hard- ened concrete through maintaining some of its load-carrying capacity after crack formation. Moreover, during fracture, energy is consumed in the de-bonding, pulling-out, and rupture of fibres leading to higher concrete toughness [16]. The overall improve- ment in the engineering properties of concrete owing to SF addition is a function of several variables, including the fibre shape, length, aspect ratio, volume fraction with respect to the total concrete volume, and the quality of the hosting matrix [18]. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2014.09.025 0950-0618/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 (519) 661 2111x88308; fax: +1 (519) 661 3779. E-mail address: mnehdi@uwo.ca (M.L. Nehdi). Construction and Building Materials 72 (2014) 411–422 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Construction and Building Materials journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat