Damage Modeling of Metallic Fiber-Reinforced Concrete

Abstract

This contribution presents a practical 3D numerical model to predict the mechanical behavior of concrete matrix reinforced with sliding metallic fibers. Considering fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) as two phase-composite, constitutive behavior laws of plain concrete and fibers were described first and then they were combined according to anisotropic damage theory to predict the mechanical behavior of metallic fiber-reinforced concrete. The behavior law used for the plain concrete is based on damage and plasticity theories. The constitutive law of the action of fibers in the matrix is based on the effective stress carried by the fibers. This effective stress depends on a damage parameter related to on one hand, on the content and the mechanical properties of the fiber and on the other hand, on the fiber-matrix bond. The proposed model for FRC is easy to implement in most of the finite element codes based on displacement formulation; it uses only measurable parameters like elasticity coefficient, tensile and compressive strengths, fracture energies and strains at peak stress in tension and compression. A comparison between the experimental data and model results has been also provided in this paper.