A Numerical Mesoscopic Method for Simulating Mechanical Properties of Fiber Reinforced Concrete

Abstract

The mechanical properties of steel fiber reinforced concrete are affected by aggregate gradation and content of steel fiber, mortar and aggregate. Appropriate stochastically distributed aggregate model is rather physically correct for numerical simulation of steel fiber reinforced concrete meso-structures. This paper proposes a numerical method to analyze the static mechanical properties of fiber reinforced concrete based on a multiscale perspective. The geometric relationship between penetration and intrusion of polygonal aggregates is investigated, and as consequence an algorithm of the generation of polygonal aggregates is developed. Considering the stochastic distribution of steel fibers and aggregates, a two-dimensional mesoscopic model is presented in a purely geometric context. Damage and failure behavior of steel fiber reinforced concrete specimens under uniaxial tension load is simulated base on the FEM. The finite-element analysis is found to agree well with the experimental data, showing validity of the proposed numerical method for the modeling of static mechanical properties of fiber reinforced concrete. The results provide insight into the mechanical relationship among multiscale structures of multi-phase quasi-brittle material.