Stress-strain relation of steel-polypropylene-blended fiber-reinforced concrete under uniaxial cyclic compression

Abstract

This paper investigates the cyclic stress-strain behavior of steel-polypropylene-blended fiber-reinforced concrete (BFRC) under uniaxial cyclic compression. A total of 48 prism specimens were tested for different fiber volume fractions and aspect ratios. The results show that the introduction of blended fibers has synergetic effects on improving the cyclic behavior of concrete in terms of peak strength, postpeak ductility, hysteretic energy dissipation, and stiffness degradation. Moreover, the increase in the volume fractions of both steel and polypropylene fibers can lead to a remarkable decrease in plastic strain accumulation. Furthermore, the stiffness degradation ratio as well as the stress deterioration ratio of BFRC can be significantly alleviated in comparison with those of plain concrete, notwithstanding that the degradation amount is insensitive to the variations of fiber parameters. Subsequently, based on the test results, a constitutive model is developed to generalize the cyclic stress-strain responses of BFRC, with the contributions of blended fibers taken into account. The developed model is then verified by independent experimental results and other test data reported in the literature. It is observed that the prediction yields a close estimation of the cyclic compressive behavior of BFRC with varying fiber parameters.