Are structural fibres in concrete worth it??

[popeye151]

2 different companies have told me 2 different things
Anyone with experience understand the difference and if its worth doing??
Thanks very much

 

[HatsOff]

Mesh and fibres do different jobs in concrete.

Steel mesh = will enable the concrete to span across any soft spots in the ground below and provides some cracking control.
Short plastic/metal fibres = will not provide any structural capacity for soft spots. Provides excellent crack control and lessens the effect of cracks that do appear.

In short, mesh makes concrete stronger; fibres make concrete tougher.

If you have an excellent sub-base you can forgo the mesh and use some fibres, but for most agriculture applications where you haven't got access to CBR testing and heavy duty rollers, I'd stick with mesh and accept a few hairlines cracks will appear with time.