Effect of Loading Rate on Tensile and Failure Behavior of Concrete.

Three-point bending experiments of concrete beams were conducted under the strain rate range of 10-6 s-1 and 1.5 × 10-3 s-1. A novel 3D laser scanner, Handy SCAN, was employed to detect the areas of interface, mortar and aggregate on the crack surface after the experiment. In this paper, the inhomogeneity of materials and the inertial effect were considered as the main factors in the strength enhancement of concrete together with a proposed dynamic model. With the obtained experimental results, the initial elastic modulus and tensile strength of concrete showed obvious rate sensitivity. Moreover, an empirical relationship of dynamic increase factor and strain rate was established for the strain rate range of 10-6 s-1 and 1.5 × 10-3 s-1. The contributions of aggregate and inertia effect to the dynamic enhancement of concrete strength were quantified with respect to the loading rate. The rate effect of concrete obtained by the experiments was verified by the finite element analysis on the mesoscopic scale with the model built by the three-dimensional random aggregate software.

Study on static and dynamic mechanical properties and microstructure of silica fume-polypropylene fiber modified rubber concrete.

Through tests and micro-observations, the static and dynamic mechanical properties and microstructure of rubber concrete samples modified with varying amounts of silica fume and polypropylene fiber content were explored. The results indicate that incorporation of silica fume and polypropylene fiber can effectively enhance the performance of rubber concrete. Moreover, at 10% and 0.1% of silica fume and polypropylene fiber content respectively, rubber concrete's compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, and dynamic compressive strength reached maxima. Furthermore, microstructure characteristic analysis indicated that inadequate adhesion between rubber particles and the matrix is responsible for compromised bearing capacity in unmodified rubber concrete. However, with the addition of silica fume and polypropylene fiber, the fiber binds the rubber particles closely with the matrix, while the silica fume fills the gaps between the matrix components. This combination results in rubber concrete with a denser internal structure and enhances its bearing capacity significantly.

Influence of Inertia on the Dynamic Compressive Strength of Concrete.

The rate sensitivity of concrete material is closely related to the inertia and viscous effects. However, the effect of inertia on the dynamic strength of concrete remains unclear. In this paper, digital image correlation technology was applied to study the strain variation of dry and saturated concrete with different loading rates. The test results indicated that the strain gradually decreased with the distance from the load end, and the strain gradient around the load region increased with the strain rate, especially for saturated concrete. Then, a single degree of freedom model was established to evaluate the dynamic compressive strength of elastic concrete. The calculated results indicated that the influence of inertia on the dynamic increase factor (DIF) was negligible for concrete within a low strain rate. When the strain rate is larger than 100/s, the inertial effect on the strength of concrete should be considered. After that, a quasi-static concrete damaged plasticity (CDP) model was employed to simulate the influence of inertia on the stress distribution and axial reaction force at the loaded end of concrete under different rates of compressive loading and verified with experimental results. The results obtained in this study indicated that the dynamic nominal strength of concrete obtained from the tests could not be directly used for structural analysis which may overestimate the effect of inertia on the dynamic response of the structure.

Dynamic Splitting Tensile Behaviour of Concrete Confined by Natural Flax and Glass FRP.

Flax fibre has been used to reinforce concrete composite, but its dynamic properties have not been thoroughly studied. This study investigates the dynamic splitting tensile properties of plain concrete (PC) confined by flax-fibre-reinforced polymer (FFRP) and glass-fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP). The dynamic splitting tensile tests were carried out on PC, FFRP-PC, and GFRP-PC cylinder specimens by the high-speed servo-hydraulic machine, with the impact-induced strain rates ranging from 0.1 to 58 s-1. The effect of the FRP confinement, FRP thickness and strain rate on the dynamic splitting tensile behaviour were assessed. The results indicated that similar confinement effectiveness of FFRP and GFRP is observed. The dynamic tensile strength of 1- and 2-layer FFRP-PC increased by 29% and 67%, and the one- and two-layer GFRP-PC increased by 32% and 84%, respectively. FFRP-PC and GFRP-PC cylinders showed less sensitivity to the strain rate compared with PC. The empirical relationship between the tensile DIF and strain rate for PC, FFRP-PC and GFRP-PC was proposed based on experimental data. The proposed model was developed to predict the dynamic splitting tensile strength. The results suggested the potential of FFRP composites applied into concrete structures under extreme dynamic loadings.

Dynamic Fracture Behavior of Steel Fiber Reinforced Self-Compacting Concretes (SFRSCCs).

Three-point bending tests on notched beams of three types of steel fiber-reinforced self-compacting concrete (SFRSCC) have been performed by using both a servo-hydraulic machine and a drop-weight impact instrument. The lo ading rates had a range of six orders of magnitude from 2.20 × 10-3 mm/s (quasi-static) to 2.66 × 10³ mm/s. These SFRSCCs had the same matrix, but various types of steel fiber (straight and hooked-end) and contents (volume ratios), 0.51%, 0.77% and 1.23%, respectively. The results demonstrate that the fracture energy and the flexural strength increase as the loading rate increases. Moreover, such tendency is relatively moderate at low rates. However, at high rates it is accentuated. For the 0.51% fiber content, the dynamic increase factors of the flexural strength and the fracture energy are approximately 6 and 3, while for the 1.23% fiber content, they are around 4 and 2, respectively. Thus, the higher the fiber content the less rate sensitivity there is.