Micromechanical modeling and experimental study of the flexural properties of impregnated woven textile-reinforced concrete

Abstract

As a high-performance composite material in construction, textile-reinforced concrete has been of interest in recent years. This study significantly contributes to the characterization of textile-reinforced concrete through an extensive experimental and analytical investigation, focusing on impregnated textile-reinforced concrete under flexural loading. For this purpose, two sets of experiments were conducted. The first set involved model input parameters tests, including the tensile test of epoxy resin and E-glass yarn, as well as the compression and flexural tests of concrete. The second set is related to validation tests, specifically focused on the flexural behavior of textile-reinforced concrete. Micromechanical frameworks were employed to model the flexural behavior of textile-reinforced concrete and a multiscale micromechanical model based on the classical lamination theory was developed to predict the load-deflection diagram of textile-reinforced concrete in the three-point bending test setup. The modeling results demonstrated a remarkable agreement between predictions and experimental data. Key performance indicators, including the first crack force, ultimate force, flexural modulus, and maximum deflection, were accurately predicted with errors of 2.4%, 6.1%, 11.1%, and 6.3%, respectively. Furthermore, from a parametric study, it is perceived that the flexural modulus of elasticity in textile-reinforced concrete is predominantly influenced by concrete properties, while the ultimate strength of textile-reinforced concrete is significantly affected by the properties of the impregnated fabric.