In this paper, the sorption isotherm and the hygral deformation of a tensile strain-hardening fiber reinforced engineered cementitious composite (ECC) is described using a physical model. The influence of using a low alkali content Portland cement on the physical mechanisms of drying shrinkage is discussed. From a durability point of view the crack width of a material as a result of restrained ...

Cracking is one of the most severe problems facing the concrete industry worldwide. Of critical importance is the drastic decline of durability associated with these cracks, and the resulting cost of repair or replacement of concrete structures. This research examines the effect of crack width and crack frequency upon the durability of reinforced mortar, quantified by water permeability. Crack ...

This paper describes analytical methods that can be used to determine the deflections and stresses in highly compliant graphite-reinforced cementitious composites. It is demonstrated that the standard transform section method fails to provide accurate results when the elastic modulus ratio exceeds 20. So an alternate approach is formulated by using the rule of mixtures to determine a set of eff...

The use of Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) for structural design requires a number of assumptions of the material, some of which can be drastically different from those suitable for normal concrete and tension-softening fiber reinforced concrete. This contribution focuses on design assumptions of the constitutive models of ECC in tension and compression. Specifically, while the tensile...

An engineered cementitious composite (ECC) suitable for wet-mixture shotcreting (sprayable ECC) in the fresh state, while maintaining tensile strain-hardening behavior in the hardened state, has been developed by employing a parallel control of micro-mechanics-and rheology-based design. In the development concept of sprayable ECC, micromechanics is adopted to properly select the matrix, fiber, ...

Part I of this three-part paper describes the various steps that led to the development of a class of high performance short steel fibre-reinforced cementitious composites (HPFRCCs) which has been patented under the trade name CARDIFRC1. This class of materials generally contains no coarse aggregates and is characterised by high tensile/ flexural strength and high toughness. A method is propose...

In this work, nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) has been evaluated as a potential reinforcement for cement mortar composites. Two types of vegetable fibres with different composition and properties (cellulose content and microfibrillar angle), sisal, and cotton linters pulps, were initially characterised in order to assess their reinforcing capability. Sisal pulp was found to be most suitable as ...

Part III of this three-part paper about CARDIFRC 1 , a class of high performance short steel fibre-reinforced cementitious composites (HPFRCCs), deals with the measurement of the tensile response of CARDIFRC 1 mixes on a specially developed specimen geometry and loading arrangement. It also compares the measured mechanical properties (Young’s modulus, E, compressive strength, fc, tensile streng...

This article proposes a new theory for predicting the crack bridging performance of random short fibers involved in cementitious composites. The current theoretical model for estimating crack bridging performance of Random Short Fiber Reinforced Cement Composites (RSFRCC) under tension is limited to specific constituent properties: friction dominant fiber-matrix interface and complete fiber pul...