For the efficient and durable design of concrete, the role of fiber-reinforcements with mineral admixtures needs to be properly investigated considering various factors such as contents of fibers and potential supplementary cementitious material. Interactive effects of fibers and mineral admixtures are also needed to be appropriately studied. In this paper, properties of concrete were investigated with individual and combined incorporation of steel fiber (SF) and micro-silica (MS). SF was used at six different levels i.e., low fiber volume (0.05% and 0.1%), medium fiber volume (0.25% and 0.5%) and high fiber volume (1% and 2%). Each volume fraction of SF was investigated with 0%, 5% and 10% MS as by volume of binder. All concrete mixtures were assessed based on the results of important mechanical and permeability tests. The results revealed that varying fiber dosage showed mixed effects on the compressive (compressive strength and elastic modulus) and permeability (water absorption and chloride ion penetration) properties of concrete. Generally, low to medium volume fractions of fibers were useful in advancing the compressive strength and elastic modulus of concrete, whereas high fiber fractions showed detrimental effects on compressive strength and permeability resistance. The addition of MS with SF is not only beneficial to boost the strength properties, but it also improves the interaction between fibers and binder matrix. MS minimizes the negative effects of high fiber doses on the properties of concrete.

The aim of this critical review is to show the applicability of recycled fine aggregates (RFA) in concrete regarding technical performance, environmental impact, energy consumption and cost. It is not possible to judge the performance of concrete by considering one dimension. Thus, this study focussed on the fresh and hardened (e.g., mechanical and durability) properties and environmental and economic life cycle assessment of concrete. Most literature investigated showed that any addition of recycled fine aggregates from construction and demolition waste as a replacement for natural fine aggregates proves detrimental to the functional properties (quality) of the resulting concrete. However, the incorporation of recycled fine aggregates in concrete was proven to enhance the environmental and economic performance. In this study, an extensive literature review based multi criteria decision making analysis framework was made to evaluate the effect of RFA on functional, environmental, and economic parameters of concrete. The results show that sustainability of RFA based concrete is very sensitive to transportation distances. Several scenarios for the transportation distances of natural and recycled fine aggregates and their results show that only if the transportation distance of the natural aggregates is more than double that of RFA, e the RFA based concrete alternatives would be considered as more sustainable.