Reinforcement corrosion in concrete structures in the harsh environment of the humid and cold climate of the Norwegian west coast is one of the most challenging problems pertaining to the design and construction of marine concrete structures. Using new materials with a higher strength and durability than steel reinforcement can be a good solution in such circumstances. In our study we investigate the use of new forms of macro fibres termed MiniBars made from basalt fibres. The paper presents our preliminary findings indicating that basalt fibres might provide more sustainable reinforcement in concrete barges.

Macro basalt fibres (MiniBar) with high corrosion resistance could be a suitable material in fibre concrete for marine applications. Due to the lack of knowledge about macro basalt fibre concretes (BFCs), the main objective of this paper is to assess the fresh state properties of macro basalt fibre conventional slump concrete and self-compacting concrete as the first step of developing BFC for concrete barges for fish farming on the west coast of Norway. To satisfy the requirements for marine applications, DNV and NS-EN standard rules are employed as the basis for the durability performance design. The concrete mix is designed to achieve densely compacted matrix by using the modified Andreasen & Andersen model as the particle size distribution target. In this paper, slump, flow-ability, passing-ability, fibre dynamic segregation and also flow rate as an indication for viscosity of different BFCs are measured and analysed. The result shows that there is a possibility to produce BF-SCCs with a fibre content of 1.15%. The fibres have an aspect ratio of 65.15. In addition, the mixture composed of a maximum gravel size of 16 mm shows a higher flowability in comparison with the maximum gravel size of 12 mm.

This paper addresses the flexural behaviour of medium-strength, and high-performance concrete (HPC) reinforced with macro fibres made of basalt fibre reinforced polymer (BFRP) with the intended use for marine applications. Mechanical properties of the fibre concrete were studied through an experimental programme consisting of 18 beam specimens and 45-cylinder samples. In this study two types of concrete were used; medium-strength and high-performance concrete with the compressive strength of approximately 60-75 MPa and 90-105 MPa, respectively. The aspect-ratio of the used fibres were 65 and 83, respectively. The experimental results show that the post-cracking properties of macro basalt fibre concrete is a function of the fibre volume content.