Influence of Shrinkage Compensation in Cement Matrix on the Tension Stiffening of Reinforced Strain-Hardening Cement Composite (SHCC) Tension Ties

Abstract

This paper investigates the interaction of structural deformed bar reinforcement and strain hardening cement composite (SHCC). The SHCC shows excellent mechanical properties such as multiple cracks and strain-hardening. Generally, SHCC material consists of cement, silica sand and fibers and is rich mixture without aggregate. Rich mixture leads to much shrinkage strain of SHCC material. In this research, the replacement of a part of cement by expansive admixture (EXA) is considered as an alternative to compensate the shrinkage strain of SHCC material. This paper presents the experimental results of tests on tension stiffening and cracking behavior of reinforced conventional and shrinkage-compensating SHCC ties in monotonic and cyclic tension. Each tie specimen had a square cross-section dimension of 100 x 100mm and length of 1,500mm. A 16mm diameter deformed bar was embedded centrally and mixed with 1.5% hybrid fibers composed of Polyethylene(PE) and Steel core(SC). The test results indicated that the shrinkage compensation of cement matrix in SHCC improve the tension stiffening and cracking behavior of reinforced SHCC ties in monotonic and cyclic tension loading.