Characterization of hardened state behavior of self compacting fiber-reinforced cementitious composites (SC-FRCC's) with different beam sizes and fiber types

This paper presents the second part of a comprehensive study to evaluate the hardened state performances of SC-FRCCs, which was carried out to understand the effects of various parameters on the mechanical performance of these materials. Main objective of this study was to identify the different behaviors of SC-FRCCs in terms of hardened state performance by considering parameters such as specimen thickness/fiber length ratio (t/f(L)), fiber type (straight or hooked), and fiber aspect ratio. Specimens were cast using same self-compacting mix designs, only fiber length, fiber type and specimen depth were varied. Four different fiber lengths (6, 13, 35 and 50 mm), two different fiber types (straight and hooked-end) and ten different specimen thickness (from 18 to 100 mm) values were set. As a result, 12 different groups of specimen were obtained. Experimental studies include fiber orientation density, flexural strength, strain localization and crack propagations measurements for hardened state using both traditional methods and a full field image based method called Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), which measures surface displacements and strains using digital image analysis. Hardened state tests were carried out with un-notched specimens under four-point bending. Results obtained from both traditional measurement methods and PIV analyses, were combined and used in order to have a detailed understanding on how changing material parameters may affect the material behavior. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.