Title:
Measurement of Flexural Toughness of Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Using a Novel Technique—Part 2: Performance of Various Composites
Author(s):
Nemkumar Banthia and Ashish Dubey
Publication:
Materials Journal
Volume:
97
Issue:
1
Appears on pages(s):
3-11
Keywords:
concretes; deformation; fibers; flexural strength; reinforcing materials; testing.
DOI:
10.14359/799
Date:
1/1/2000
Abstract:
In Part 1 of this paper, a newly developed method of measuring the flexural toughness of fiber-reinforced concrete in terms of its postpeak residual strength was investigated. In this technique, called the residual strength test method (RSTM), a stable narrow crack is first created in the beam specimen by loading it in parallel with a steel plate. Next, the plate is removed and the specimen is reloaded to obtain the postcrack load-displacement response which, when analyzed, provides the residual strength of the material. A direct comparison of the technique with the closed-loop method revealed that the technique produced reliable toughness data, and was especially useful for measuring the postcrack residual strengths of composites with a pronounced postpeak instability. In this paper, the technique was applied to a wide range of fiber-reinforced composites carrying various volume fractions of polymeric and steel fibers. It was found that the variability in the test remained acceptably low, and the technique was capable of identifying the influence of various fiber characteristics such as type, length, configuration, volume fraction, geometry, and the elastic modulus.