Can I use steel fibers in place of steel reinforcement bar (rebar) as the primary reinforcement in a Monolithic Dome?
Concrete is a fantastic construction material. However, the real strength of concrete is in compression. In tension, concrete has little reliable strength. We make up for lack of tension strength by using reinforcement. We have learned that steel reinforcement bar (rebar) adds the best tension strength for the lowest cost of any reinforcement material. Many other reinforcements are available. They range from bamboo to carbon strands to fiberglass rebar, etc. In addition many fibers (glass, polypropylene, carbon, nylon and steel) have been used primarily for secondary reinforcements. Fibers are used in hundreds of concrete applications for both primary and supplementary reinforcements. But we are concerned with its use in thin shell domes. Rebar is the only reinforcement recognized by the codes for primary reinforcements. Small domes can be fiber reinforced but they will not meet codes and they are not as tough as rebar reinforced buildings. So far, we have had serious failures on sever
