Bending performance of ECC-RC composite beam reinforced with textile

Abstract

To investigate the bending performance of composite beams comprising engineered cementitious composites and reinforced concrete (ECC-RC), which are reinforced with a textile (TRECC-RC composite beams), thirteen beams were designed and tested, including one reinforced concrete (RC) beam, three ECC-RC composite beams and nine TRECC-RC composite beams. The test variables included the ECC height ratio and textile ratio. The results revealed that all TRECC-RC composite beams underwent ductile failure with the features of tension steel yielding, partial textile fracture, and concrete crushing. Compared with ECC-RC composite beam, the TRECC-RC composite beam also exhibited a remarkable capacity of crack control and the textile application further reduced the crack width. Both the ECC height ratio and textile ratio had a minor effect on the crack distribution of the TRECC-RC composite beam. The textile effectively improved the bearing capacity even if the ECC height was reduced. The ECC height ratio had a minor effect on the stiffness of the TRECC-RC composite beam; however, the textile ratio resulted in slight improvement. The plane section assumption is valid for all composite beams.