Dive Brief:

• At University of the Basque Country in Spain, engineers have determined that structures formed from self-compacting concrete mixed with steel fibers can produce a better product for some applications than the usual process of putting steel reinforcing rods into regular concrete.
• The result, they found, is a product that is less prone to cracking, which is better, for example, for tanks holding liquids.
• Researchers said their experiments showed that the steel fibers in the more-liquid self-compacting concrete usually oriented the right way, but they concede that selling contractors on a reinforcing system they cannot see will be an uphill effort.

Dive Insight:

The researchers claim that using the mix-in, self-compacting process will be easier because it requires fewer steps. The report did not talk about whether that will save money.