Eco-friendly fiber-reinforced concretes

Environmental sustainability and ecofriendliness are essential components of the present and future construction industry. Ecofriendly fiber-reinforced concrete is one example of sustainable solutions in the built environment. This chapter discusses on the development of ecofriendly fiber-reinforced concretes, with a special focus to the work undertaken by the authors on the behavior and performance of ecofriendly fiber-reinforced concretes produced with fly ash, a byproduct of thermal power plants, as a partial substitute for cement, and coconut shell, a discarded agricultural solid waste, as coarse aggregates, with the incorporation of manufactured fiber (steel fiber), and plant-based natural fibers (sisal and roselle fibers). The development process as well as the mechanical properties of the resulting ecofriendly fiber-reinforced concretes were studied. The findings showed that the manufactured and natural fibers revealed a promising result on the strength and mechanical characteristics of coconut-shell aggregate-based ecofriendly fiber-reinforced concretes.