Influence of Fiber Reinforcement on Strength Characteristics of Ash-Based Concrete

Authors

  • Asil Adil Said Al-Hadhrami

    Department of Civil Engineering, Middle East College, Muscat 124, Oman
  • Kiran Kumar Poloju

    Department of Civil Engineering, Middle East College, Muscat 124, Oman

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/jbms.v8i1.13142
Received: 9 February 2026 | Revised: 3 March 2026 | Accepted: 19 March 2026 | Published Online: 24 March 2026

Abstract

The cement industry releases about 7 to 8% of the total anthropogenic CO2 in the world, which requires the creation of sustainable and performance-based alternatives to ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) concrete. The paper examines the synergistic behavior of fly ash (FA), rice husk ash (RHA), and fiber reinforcement in structural concrete. The concrete mix was made using the replacement content of FA-RHA cement (0, 10, 20, and 30%), and the dose of fiber was 0 and 0.2. Slump, compressive strength, split tensile strength, flexural strength, and water absorption tests of fresh and hardened properties were done at 7 and 28 days. One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was carried out at 95% confidence level in order to statistically validate it. The findings show that the mix with the 20% ash replacement and 0.2% fiber (AF20) had the best performance, with a 19.3% increase in compressive strength, a 22% increase in split tensile strength, a 31% increase in flexural strength, and a 27.5% decrease in water absorption relative to the control mix. Changes were significantly better (p < 0.05). According to microstructural interpretation, densification of the matrix and interfacial transition zone refinement through the use of pozzolanic cations increases the effectiveness of fiber-matrix bonding, which is beneficial to crack-bridging capacity and durability. The results validate that there is a mechanism-based synergy of FA-RHA hybrid supplementary cementitious systems and fiber reinforcement. The contribution made by the study to sustainable concrete technology is the combination of mechanical performance, durability enhancement, statistical verification, and embodied carbon elimination into one performance system.

Keywords:

Sustainable Concrete; Fly Ash; Rice Husk Ash; Fiber Reinforcement; Mechanical Properties; Durability; Pozzolanic Reaction; Low-Carbon Materials

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How to Cite

Al-Hadhrami, A. A. S., & Poloju, K. K. (2026). Influence of Fiber Reinforcement on Strength Characteristics of Ash-Based Concrete. Journal of Building Material Science, 8(1), 179–193. https://doi.org/10.30564/jbms.v8i1.13142

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Vol. 8, Iss. 1 (March 2026)

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Article

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Copyright © 2026 Asil Adil Said Al-Hadhrami, Kiran Kumar Poloju

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This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.

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