Real fracture toughness of FRC and FGC: size and boundary effects

Abstract

The present dilemma is how to simulate the real crack in full depth (FD) fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC), FD FRC, to get the actual fracture toughness of such fibrous composites, i.e., through-thickness pre-cracks are inappropriate for such materials. To overcome this dilemma, a new technique was adopted to create a pre-matrix crack (MC) without cutting the fibers bridging the two surfaces of the pre-crack. The main objective of the present work is to study the size and boundary effects on the real fracture toughness of MC-FD FRC and functionally graded concrete (FGC). Forty-eight MC-FD FRC and MC-FGC beams with three different span to depth ratios L/d equal 4, 5, and 6, and three different beam depths of the same beam span have been tested under three-point bending. All beams have the same pre-MC length to beam depth ratio (ao/d) of 1/3. Hooked end steel fibers of 1% fiber volume fraction produced FRC. FGC beams consist of three equal layers, FRC layer at the tension side, normal strength concrete layer at the middle of the beam, and high strength concrete layer at the compression side. The applied load versus all beams' crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD) curves have been analyzed. The present load/CMOD results showed that beams having constant L/d ratios are recommended to capture independent size effect parameters. The size effect law (SEL) and boundary effect model (BEM) are good candidates to predict the size effect. According to the maximum non-damaged defect concept, the SEL is more reliable in predicting MC FD FRC fracture toughness than BEM.