Sustainable concrete using hemp fibres

Abstract

This paper reports a study encapsulating natural industrial hemp fibres in plain concrete mixes. It targets a green concrete material by reducing the coarse aggregate content while maintaining its performance. Small cubes, beams and cylinders were tested to evaluate the performance of concrete mixes prepared with different volumetric ratios of fibres and different proportions of aggregates reduction. Results with hemp fibres are compared with samples with steel and polypropylene fibres, as well as control samples without fibres. Although the compressive strength is partially reduced, the presence of hemp fibres allows ductile flexural performance, instead of the brittle failure found in plain concrete. The hemp fibre mixes show similar performance with respect to polypropylene mixes. The use of industrial hemp fibres may allow for the reduction of coarse aggregates while providing a ductile flexural performance. The adoption of agricultural fibres in concrete will encourage farming activities to prosper, leading to rewarding economic benefits.