Tensile Behavior of Slurry Infiltrated Mat Concrete (SIMCON)

Abstract

This paper presents the tensile behavior of a new type of high-performance (steel) fiber reinforced concrete called slurry infiltrated mat concrete (SIMCON). SIMCON is made by first placing continuous steel fiber-mats into the form, followed by infiltration of the dense fiber network with a cement-based slurry. Due to the very high fiber aspect ratio, SIMCON displays a high increase in both strength and toughness. In addition, since fiber-mats are easier to handle than short discontinuous fibers, SIMCON has no major construction-related shortcomings. Thus, SIMCON is well suited for repair, retrofit, and new construction of earthquake resistant buildings, bridges, and other structures that require high strength and ductility. This paper presents experimentally obtained stress-strain properties of SIMCON in direct tension. After a month of curing, tensile strengths of up to 17 MPa and strains at ultimate stress ranging between 1 and 1.5 percent were reached with as little as a 5.29 percent fiber volume fraction SIMCON. This paper discusses the observed tensile behavior and proposes models for predicting the entire stress-strain relationship including the elastic modulus, ultimate stress, and strain at ultimate stress.