Seismic Response Characteristics of Fiber Reinforced Concrete

Seismic events have consistently caused substantial damage to civil infrastructure, highlighting the need for more resilient and energy dissipative structural systems Although Concrete remains the most extensively construction material in the building industry and ranks as the second most consumed substance by humans after water, it suffers from inherent limitations including brittleness, poor tensile performance, and inadequate energy dissipation capacity, which reduce its effectiveness under dynamic loading. To improve its performance, Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (FRC) has been developed by incorporating fibers such as steel, glass, polypropylene (PP), or carbon to the mix. These fibers help control cracking and improve both mechanical and dynamic properties. This study explores the seismic behavior of a three-story reinforced concrete building using different FRC configurations. Both single-fiber and hybrid-fiber mixes were tested, with fiber volume fractions (\((V_f)\)) ranging from 0.5% to 2.5%. Two major Moroccan earthquakes the 2004 Al Hoceima and the 2023 Al Haouz events were used as seismic inputs. Numerical simulations were carried out using the fourth-order Runge-Kutta (RK4) method. The results show that steel fibers improve stiffness and strength, while PP fibers enhance energy dissipation and damping. Hybrid combinations of fibers provided more balanced performance. Overall, the study confirms that carefully selected fiber types and ratios can significantly improve the seismic resilience of concrete structures.