Flexural behavior of artificial lightweight aggregate concrete reinforced by carpet waste fiber

Artificial lightweight aggregate (ALWA) can be used as a replacement for coarse aggregates to produce low-density lightweight concrete. It can reduce the total weight of structural members, and consequently, the seismic forces on the building can be minimized. When adding a certain amount of fibers to the concrete mixture, the concrete performance can be improved by enhancing bonding between the mortar matrix and aggregates. To find more robust results, the study of combining the ALWA and fibers needs to be investigated. This paper deals with the impact of carpet fiber on flexural strength and failure mode of ALWA concrete. The experimental work was conducted on 150x150x600â mm concrete beams with ALWA aggregates and a 0 to 1% carpet fiber fraction range. The test results show that the optimum flexural strength of the beam improves by 7.15% with a 0.47% carpet fiber addition. In contrast, the specimen's failure mode indicates that it does not happen suddenly, with the deflection quality experiencing a reduction of 24.32% due to the presence of fibers. The results offer valuable information on the progress of lightweight concrete and fiber concrete research, also will contribute to the future research of the ALWA concrete strengthened with fibers.