Fibers in Reinforced Concrete for Design, Strengthening and Re-Habilitation

Incorporating natural or man-made fibers into construction material to improve material behavior has been a common practice in construction for millennia. With emerging multi-faceted challenges in the design and construction of concrete structures, such as aging infrastructure, extreme events, and environmental impact, incorporating fibers into construction material has become imperative to address these challenges and improve strength, ductility, toughness, etc. The application of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) bars in the design and construction of reinforced concrete structures has gained significant traction due to their unique material properties and reduced environmental impact, compared to typical steel reinforcement, leading to their incorporation in design codes and standards. FRP-based strengthening and retrofitting of existing reinforced concrete structures is a widely utilized solution globally and has been investigated by numerous researchers under various design and loading conditions. With the advent of new construction methods, such as 3D printing of concrete, the incorporation of fiber into the concrete mix when reinforcement is absent has also been investigated to improve its strength. Application of artificial intelligence to optimize the design mix and characterize material behavior has been reported in various studies. Incorporating fibers into concrete to improve the material behavior and performance of structural elements under extreme events, such as earthquakes, fires, and blasts, has shown tremendous potential for the design of protective structures.

This issue focuses on the various applications of fibers in concrete construction regarding material behavior, design issues, novel applications, and strengthening and rehabilitation solutions. For this publication, we invite researchers to present their latest research findings through high-quality journal papers in the field of fiber in concrete construction to benefit researchers, engineers, industry, and students.

Dr. Akanshu Sharma
Dr. Deepak Suthar
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fibers is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.