Simplified Inverse Method for Determining the Tensile Properties of Strain Hardening Cementitious Composites (SHCC)

As an emerging advanced construction material, strain hardening cementitious composite (SHCC) has seen increasing field applications in recent years. Reliable data on tensile properties, including tensile strength and tensile strain capacity, are needed for structural design and for quality control. However, existing uniaxial tensile tests are relatively complicated and sometime difficult to implement, particularly for quality control purpose in the field. A simple inverse method based on beam bending test was presented by the authors (Qian and Li, 2007) for indirect determination of tensile strain capacity, aimed at quality control of SHCC in field applications. This paper extends this method to also determining the tensile strength based on beam bending test data. This proposed method (UM method) has been validated with uniaxial tensile test results with reasonable agreement. In addition, this proposed method is also compared with the Japan Concrete Institute (JCI) method. Comparable accuracy is found, yet the present method is characterized by much simpler experiment setup requirement and data interpretation procedure. Therefore, it is expected that this proposed method can greatly simplify the quality control of SHCCs both in execution and interpretation phases, contributing to the wider acceptance of this type of new material in field applications.