Abstract
Self-compacting concrete has a characteristic microstructure inherent to its specific composition. The higher content of fine particles in self-compacting concrete relative to the equivalent vibrated concrete produces a different fracture behavior that affects the main fracture parameters. In this work, a comprehensive experimental investigation of the fracture behavior of self-compacting concrete has been carried out. Twelve different self-compacting concrete mixes with compressive strength ranging from 39 to 124 MPa (wider range than in other studies) have been subjected to three-point bending tests in order to determine the specific fracture energy. The influence of the mix design and its composition (coarse aggregate fraction, the water to binder ratio and the paste to solids ratio) on its fracture behavior has been analyzed. Moreover, further evidence of the objectivity of the size-independent fracture energy results, obtained by the two most commonly used methods, has been provided on the self-compacting concrete mixes.
Highlights
Self-compacting concrete has a characteristic microstructure inherent to its specific composition
- The results show that the size-independent fracture energy of self-compacting concrete can be obtained by means of two methods (SBE and the method proposed by Guinea et al.)
Other authors have postulated this conclusion, it has been demonstrated to be so for Self-compacting concrete (SCC) mixes with a wide compressive strength range
Summary
Self-compacting concrete has a characteristic microstructure inherent to its specific composition. Cifuentes and Karihaloo [3] performed a comprehensive experimental study to obtain the fracture properties of self-compacting concrete by means of wedge splitting tests (WST) varying the size of the specimens and relative notch depth They obtained the size-independent fracture energy of concrete by using the boundary effect (BE) method of Hu and Wittmann [4] and verified the applicability of the simplified version (SBE) of the BE method proposed by Abdalla and Karihaloo [5] and validated by Karihaloo et al [6]. Very useful information about the influence of the mix proportions, inherent to self-compacting concrete mixes, on their fracture behavior is provided
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