Simulation and test of flexural performance of polyvinyl alcohol-steel hybrid fiber reinforced cementitious composite

Abstract

The flexural performance of polyvinyl alcohol-steel hybrid fiber reinforced engineered cementitious composite with characteristics of low drying shrinkage special focus on impacts of steel fiber content and matrix strength has been investigated in both experimental and theoretical aspects in this paper. Four matrix types with water to binder ratio of 0.25, 0.35, 0.45, and 0.55 and three additional steel fiber contents in the composite with polyvinyl alcohol fiber content of 1.7% in volume were used in the test program. The experimental results show that cracking and flexural strength of the composites are increased with the addition of steel fiber. This enhancement becomes more and more pronounced with decreasing of water to binder ratio of the composites. Meanwhile, fracture mechanics-based flexural model is used to simulate the flexure performance of the polyvinyl alcohol -steel hybrid fiber reinforced engineered cementitious composite with characteristics of low drying shrinkage. The model results show that a double peak load is expected of the composites under bending load. The first peak is controlled by the fracture toughness of matrix or cracking strength of matrix, and the second peak is governed by the fiber bridging. The effect of addition of steel fiber in engineered cementitious composite with characteristics of low drying shrinkage on the first peak is unapparent. The impact of steel fiber on the second peak is significant. This enhancement of additional steel fiber gradually decreases with the decrease of water to binder ratio of the matrix, which coincides well with the experimental findings. The test results are compared to the model and reasonable agreement is found.