Experimental procedure for determination of the energy dissipation capacity of ultra-high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete under localized impact loading

Abstract

Research presented in this article is aimed to investigate the ability of ultra-high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete to absorb and dissipate mechanical energy at elevated strain rate loading. Specimens made of ultra-high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete were subjected to the low-velocity impact using the new testing procedure where no fixed supports that hold the sample during the impact were applied. The fibre volume fraction of the ultra-high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete was set as the main test variable in the framework of this study and the volumetric fraction of fibres was ranging from 0.125% to 2%. A high-speed camera was used to measure velocities of the impactor and the ultra-high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete specimen before and after the impact. Consequently, the energy dissipated by the ultra-high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete specimen during the impact was calculated using a simple energy balance equation. To determine the basic material properties of ultra-high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete, quasi-static loading rate was applied and conventional methods were used. A significant difference between the values of dissipated energies for different loading rates and various fibre volumetric fractions was observed. It can be noted that the new procedure shows a reasonable approach for testing the fibre-reinforced cementitious composites under localized impact loading and is worthy of further optimization.