Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 512–520

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Construction and Building Materials

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On the mixed mode I/II fracture properties of jute fiber-reinforced

concrete
A. Razmi a, M.M. Mirsayar b,⇑
a
Civil Engineering Department, Islamic Azad University-Ahar Branch, Ahar, Iran
b
Zachry Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3136, USA

h i g h l i g h t s g r a p h i c a l a b s t r a c t

Adding jute fibers improves mixed

mode fracture toughness of concrete.

Minimum fracture toughness of jute
fiber-reinforced concrete occurs at
mode II.

Jute fibers enhances compressive,
tensile, and flexural strengths of
concrete.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper, mixed mode I/II fracture toughness of jute fiber-reinforced concrete is investigated exper-
Received 6 February 2017 imentally using a large number of cracked semi-circular bend (SCB) specimens. For this purpose, jute
Received in revised form 24 April 2017 fibers with percentages of 0.1%, 0.3%, and 0.5% by weight and of 20 mm length are used to be mixed with
Accepted 5 May 2017
plain concrete. Cracked semi-circular bend (SCB) specimens are employed to obtain fracture toughness
under mixed mode I/II loading conditions from pure mode I to pure mode II. The results show that the
effects of the fiber percentages on the mixed mode fracture toughness is very significant. It is found that
Keywords:
specimens made of jute fiber-reinforced concrete represent higher resistance against crack growth than
Jute fibers
Concrete
those of made of plain concrete. The compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength
Fracture toughness of the concrete mixes is also studied. It is shown that jute fiber improves compressive, splitting tensile,
Semi-circular bend (SCB) specimen and flexural strength of concrete materials.
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Concrete is the most widely used construction material,
because of the some well-known benefits it offers, such as low cost,
wide applicability, and general availability. As a quasi-brittle mate-
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mirmilad@tamu.edu (M.M. Mirsayar).
rial, generally, concrete gets more brittle as its strength increases.
However, relatively low tensile strength and poor resistance to
crack growth are among the major disadvantages of plain concrete
[1].
Admittedly, adding fibers to concrete mixtures improves the
energy absorption capacity and cracking resistance of the plain
concrete [2–4]. By bridging fibers across the cracks in fiber rein-
forced concrete, a post-cracking ductility is attained, and conse-
quently, the toughness of concrete is remarkably improved.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2017.05.034
0950-0618/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 A. Razmi, M.M. Mirsayar / Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 512–520
Nomenclature
a crack length
H.O.T higher order terms
Keff effective stress intensity factor
KI, KII mode I and II stress intensity factors
KIC, KIIC mode I and II fracture toughness
KIf, KIIf mode I and II stress intensity factors corresponding to
the fracture load
Me mode mixity parameter
P applied load
Fracture toughness of a material determines the energy absorption
capacity and the cracking resistance, and hence, is vital to be eval-
uated for design purposes [5].
Natural fibers which are biodegradable, affordable, green, and
accessible [6], are obtained from naturally available resources such
as coconut tree, banana tree, cotton, and jute. Researchers have
conducted various studies on the impact of natural fibers on the
mechanical and physical behavior of concrete to investigate the
extent of improvement. In recent years, extensive studies have
been done on the effects of natural fibers in fiber reinforced con-
crete composites (FRCC) in terms of strength, energy efficiency,
and the impact resistance [7–10]. The demands to incorporate nat-
ural fibers for producing high-quality and low cost sustainable
FRCC for housing and other necessities are increasing. Other poten-
tial application of natural fiber-reinforced cement composites are
areas where energy needs to be absorbed or those areas prone to
impact damage. Accordingly, natural fiber-reinforced cement com-
posites are mostly applicable for shatter- and earthquake-resistant
construction, foundation floor for machinery in factories, fabrica-
tion of lightweight cement-based roofing and ceiling boards, wall
plaster, and construction materials for low-cost housing [11]. Var-
ious factors influence mechanical properties of FRCC reinforced
with natural fibers. Among them are characteristics of fibers, nat-
ure of the cement-based matrix, mixing procedure, casting, and
curing conditions of the composite [11]. The type of fiber and their
characteristics are among the most important factors that have
crucial effects on the mechanical properties of these composites
[12]. Ramakrishna and Sundararajan [13] tested sisal, coir, jute
and Hibiscus cannebinus (kenaf) fibers reinforced cement mortars
with different fiber lengths and fiber dosages to investigate impact
resistance of mortars. They found that the impact strength of mor-
tars with fiber reinforcement is always higher than that of those
without fiber reinforcement. Kundu et al. [14] reported a cost
effective process methodology for manufacturing jute fiber rein-
forced concrete sewage pipe. In that study, jute fibers were
chopped and treated by chemicals in order to achieve homoge-
neous dispersion of jute fibers into cement matrix. It was found
that the load bearing capacity of jute fiber-reinforced sewage pipes
was significantly increased as compared to the concrete pipes
made without fiber reinforcement, indicating that natural fibers,
such as jute fibers, could be reasonably good reinforcement for
cement-based materials. Kaushik et al. [15] studied the flexural
and impact strength of Jute fiber reinforced epoxy/polyester com-
posites and reported a considerable enhancement as a result of
adding jute fiber.
Jute fibers, which come from annual plants, are available in
plenty and hence, can be considered as a prospective material for
cement-based composites. According to Kundu et al. [16], jute
fibers are about seven times lighter than steel fibers and provide
a suitable tensile strength of 250–300 MPa. The effect of short dis-
crete jute fibers on the failure and impact properties of cementi-
tious composites is also investigated by Zhou et al. [9]. According
513
Pcr critical applied load
r, h polar coordinate components
R, t radius and thickness of the SCB specimen
S location of loading supports
SCB cracked semi-circular bend specimen
YI, YII mode I and II geometry factors
a crack inclination angle
rij (i,j  r,h) crack tip stress components in polar coordinates
qeff relative mixed mode fracture toughness
to them, adding jute fibers improves strength, impact resistance,
and cracking resistance of the concrete. Such studies imply that
jute fibers can be a considered as a proper replacement of the tra-
ditional fibers in concrete materials.
Fracture mechanics is widely used as a requisite tool to prevent
and predict catastrophic failures of man-made structure such as
cement-based materials. Brittle fracture is one of the frequent
modes of failure in engineering materials. Since material defects
such as crack sand flaws have a significant role in the processes
of brittle fracture, fracture mechanics investigates the mechanical
behavior of cracked components from various aspects. Linear elas-
tic fracture mechanics (LEFM) deals with the conditions in which
the amount of plastic deformation around the crack tip is not con-
siderable with respect to the crack length, and as a result, stress
and strain fields can be represented in the form of linear elastic
solutions. This concept has successfully been applied to many brit-
tle and quasi-brittle materials to predict mixed mode fracture
behavior of the materials under combined tensile – shear loading
[17–22]. For example, Mirsayar et al. studied the mixed mode frac-
ture behavior of polycrystalline graphite using a tangential strain
based criterion, developed in LEFM framework. The concept of
LEFM has also been widely applied to cement mortar and concrete
by many researchers [17,23–27]. Carpinteri [25] studied a relation-
ship between tensile strength of concrete and mixed mode crack
propagation by taking into account the size effects. He pointed
out that the influences of heterogeneity and cohesive crack tip
forces disappear by increasing the size-scale, and crack branching
can be explained by the linear elastic stress field in vicinity of
the crack tip. Mirsayar and Park [17], demonstrated that mixed
mode fracture behavior in cement mortar can be addressed by a
criterion, called extended maximum tangential stress criterion
(EMTSN), which states that crack propagates in cement mortar in
direction where the tangential strain reaches its ultimate value.
As an example for fiber-reinforced concretes, Carpinteri and Brigh-
enti [26] investigated effects of different values of the water/
cement on the mixed mode fracture resistance, and other mechan-
ical characteristics. However, the fracture behavior of natural fiber
reinforced concrete has rarely been studied so far. A literature
review reveals that the fracture toughness of natural fiber rein-
forced concrete is only investigated under pure mode I conditions
[9,27,28]. However, a real structure made of concrete is subjected
to combined tensile – shear loading during its service life. There-
fore, the study of the fracture toughness of the natural fiber rein-
forced concretes under mixed mode loading is of great importance.
Several fracture test specimens are employed by the researchers
in the past to evaluate mixed mode fracture toughness of different
materials under mixed mode conditions. Among them, the speci-
mens of circular or semi-circular shape are very suitable for frac-
ture testing, cover all mixed mode conditions from pure mode I
to pure mode II, and can be manufactured easier than other spec-
imen types. The centrally cracked Brazilian disk (BD) specimen and
the semi-circular bend (SCB) specimen are among the well-known
514 A. Razmi, M.M. Mirsayar / Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 512–520

disk type fracture test specimens. The SCB specimen has widely
been used by the researchers to explore mixed mode fracture
toughness of different materials [29–34]. For example, Ayatollahi
and co-workers [33,34] have used the SCB specimen to investigate
mixed mode fracture behavior in PMMA and rock materials. Mirsa-
yar et al. [31] have conducted several mixed mode fracture tests to
evaluate bond strength between asphalt concrete and cement con-
crete using bi-material SCB specimens. In this study, the SCB spec-
imen is employed to conduct mixed mode fracture tests on the jute
fiber-reinforced concrete materials. This paper aims to investigate
effect of jute fiber on the fracture toughness of cement concrete
under mixed mode loading conditions. Since the effect of natural
can generally be categorized as stress based [20,36], strain based
[19,37,38], and energy-based criteria [40,41]. However, when
employing any fracture criteria, the mixed mode fracture tough-
ness is given as an input for analysis and therefore is important
to be evaluated. In other words, the critical value of the fracture
toughness (KIC, KIIC) is the one step behind these criteria and always
can be considered as an index representing material’s resistance
against crack propagation.
3. Experimental study
3.1. Materials

fibers on the mixed mode fracture resistance of the cementitious Ordinary Portland cement (ASTM Type II) was used in the present study. Coarse
composite has not been studied well, the findings presented in this aggregates with a maximum size of 19 mm and fine aggregate with a 3.4 fineness
study can be helpful for the researchers to answer some of the pri- modulus were used. The specific gravity and water absorption were obtained for
mary questions on the fracture of natural fiber-reinforced concrete coarse aggregates as 2.59 and 0.56%, and for fine aggregates as 2.47 and 1.75%,
respectively. Carboxylic 110 M (BASF) was used as a superplasticizer to adjust the
under combined loading conditions.
workability of the concrete mixtures. The mixing procedure, designed by trial and
error, was chosen as follows: the binder and fine aggregate was mixed initially
2. Mixed mode brittle fracture for 1 min, and half of the mixing water and superplasticizer were mixed for
2 min. The coarse aggregate and the rest of the water were added and mixed for
5 min. Finally, fiber was added to the mixtures and were mixed for 5 min.
Fig. 1 illustrates the elastic stress components in the vicinity of The mixture proportions of the concrete types are listed in Table 1. Typical jute
the crack tip in polar coordinates. According to Williams [35], the fiber used for this study as well as its characteristics are shown in Fig. 2 and Table 2,
crack tip elastic stress field under mixed mode I/II loading can be respectively. Jute was cut by snips to the favorable length of 20 mm. Various fiber
written as: disentangling and dispersion procedure were tried to obtain foremost dispersion of
  short separate jute fibers in cement matrix and it was eventually casting a wet mix-
K 5 h 1 3h ing method, cause homogeneous dispersion of jute fibers in concrete and mortar.
rrr ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
I
ffi cos  cos
2pr 4
Chopped jute fiber bunches and sand were first mixed with water for 3 min before
2 4 2
  other ingredients were added into mortar or concrete mixtures. It was seen that the
K II 5 h 3 3h jute fiber bunches were separated into discrete fibers and dispersed properly in
þ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi  sin þ sin þ H:O:T ð1Þ
2pr 4 2 4 2 cement matrix [42]. The fresh concrete was cast in 100-mm cubic specimens in
order to obtain the value of compressive strength. Splitting tensile strength tests
    were done on cylindrical specimens with a 100-mm diameter and 200-mm height.
K 3 h 1 3h K 3 h 3 3h
rhh ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
I
ffi cos þ cos
II
 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi sin þ sin Flexural tests were performed on prismatic beams with dimensions of
2pr 4 2 4 2 2p r 4 2 4 2 80  100  400 mm. The experiments were carried out at 7 and 28 days of curing
age.
þ H:O:T ð2Þ
    3.2. Test specimen
K 1 h 1 3h K 1 h 3 3h
srh ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
I
ffi sin þ sin
II
þ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi cos þ cos
2pr 4 2 4 2 2pr 4 2 4 2 The cracked semi-circular bend (SCB) specimen is chosen for conducting the
mixed mode fracture tests. The SCB specimen is a semi-disk of radius R and thick-
þ H:O:T ð3Þ ness t containing an inclined edge crack of length a subjected to three-point bend-
ing. As shown in Fig. 3, the combination of mode I and mode II loading can be easily
where r and h are polar coordinates with origin at the crack tip. controlled by changing the crack inclinations angle a By increasing angle a from
The first two terms in Eqs. (1–3) are singular and depend on the zero, the loading conditions varies from pure mode I to pure mode II conditions.
modes I and II stress intensity factors (KI and KII). The stress filed Pure mode I loading is achieved by setting the crack angle a to zero. At a specific
can be extended in terms of infinite nonsingular higher order angle, the mode I stress intensity factor KI becomes zero and the SCB specimen is
loaded under pure mode II. For a given specimen geometry, the angle a associated
terms. However, the first two terms corresponding to the stress with pure mode II conditions can be determined from finite element analysis.
intensity factors are more important in vicinity of the crack tip Among the main reasons for selecting the SCB sample are its simplicity in manufac-
(r ! 0 ) p1ffir ! 1; Oðr n Þ ! 0). turing, covering full range of mixed mode loading from pure mode I to pure mode II,
and simple loading fixture.
There are several fracture criteria in the literature for evaluation
For the SCB specimen, the stress intensity factors can be represented in normal-
of the mixed mode fracture behavior in brittle and quasi-brittle ized forms by the following general equation:
materials [19,20,36–41]. Broadly speaking, these criteria which  
a S K i 2Rt
are developed based on linear elastic fracture mechanics concepts, Y i a; ; ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffi ð4Þ
R R pa P
where i denotes the mode type (i  I, II), P is the applied load, and Yi are dimen-
sionless geometry factors which depend on the geometry and loading conditions of
specimen and are usually calculated using finite element analysis. The values of Yi
for the SCB specimen with a/R = 0.3 and S/R = 0.43 are found by the finite element
simulation, as illustrated in Fig. 4. Excellent correlations have been found between
the numerical data illustrated in Fig. 4 and those of available in the literature [44].
Fig. 5 illustrates the typical mesh pattern used for the finite element analysis of SCB
specimens. In order to provide more accurate results, a very fine mesh is used in the
region near the crack tip due high stress/ strain gradients.
In the test program, five different crack inclination angles of a = 0°, 15°, 30°, 40o,
45° and 49° degrees were considered to provide pure mode I, mixed mode I/II, and
pure mode II loading conditions. The geometrical parameters a, R, and t were kept
constant as 15 mm, 50 mm, and 30 mm, respectively. The specimens were cured for
7 and 28 days under standard curing conditions with temperature of 20 ± 2 °C and
relative humidity of 95%. For meeting the requirements, the initial center notches
are sawed using a saw blade, and the crack tip is sharpened by a thin wire saw
Fig. 1. Crack tip stress components in polar coordinates. to guarantee that the length of the crack is 15 mm (the width of crack tip is
 A. Razmi, M.M. Mirsayar / Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 512–520 515

Table 1
Mixture proportion of the concrete types.

Concrete code Fiber Content (%) Cement (kg/m3) W/C ratio Coarse aggregate (kg/m3) Fine aggregate (kg/m3) Super plasticizer (kg/m3)
1 0 350 0.46 862 972 1.5

3
YI YII

Geometry factores YI and YII

2

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
α (Degrees)
Fig. 4. Geometry factors Y I and Y II for various crack inclination angles in the SCB
specimen (a/R = 0.3, S/R = 0.43).
Fig. 2. Typical jute fibers used in this study.

iments were conducted on SCB specimens under three point bending by means of a
universal servo hydraulic tension/ comparison/bending test machine with a capac-
Table 2 ity of 15 kN. This machine is also capable of recording test results (including loads,
Jute fiber properties used in this study [43]. displacements) using a data logger. The loading rate of the test machine was set to
Breaking strength Elongation at break Oil Moisture regain 0.5 mm/min, and the specimens were loaded monotonically until fracture load. As
(g/tex*) (%) content (%) an example, the obtained load–displacement curve for a typical 0.5% Jute fiber sam-
ple is shown in Fig. 6 (at pure mode II, a = 49°). Neglecting the initial part of the
18.32 2.18 1.46 14.3 curve which is due to effect of loading supports, a linear behavior is seen in the
* load-displacement curve confirming that the crack propagates in a brittle manner.
Tex is a unit of measure for the linear mass density of fibers.
The direction of the crack propagation for the same specimen is also displayed in
Fig. 7. As shown in this figure, under mode II loading, the crack extension was ini-
tiated with an angle relative to the pre-crack line and then propagated along a path
towards the upper support. The preparation process for the cracked SCB specimens,
made of jute fiber-reinforced concrete, is illustrated in Fig. 8.

3.3. Fracture test data

Table 3 lists fracture test data for cracked SCB specimens under different mixed
mode conditions: pure mode I, mixed mode conditions, and pure mode II. The frac-
ture test data are given for four different jute fiber percentage: 0% (plain concrete),
0.1%, 0.3%, and 0.5% (with respect to the total weight of the concrete mixture). The
parameter Pcr represents the ultimate fracture load reported for each test configu-
ration (see Fig. 1). In table 3, the parameter Me, called mode mixity, is a conven-
tional dimensionless parameter which represent the contribution of each fracture
mode under mixed mode conditions. This parameter varies from 1 (at pure mode
I) to 0 (at pure mode II), and is given as Eq. (5).

 
2 KI
Me ¼ tan1 ð5Þ
p K II

The corresponding stress intensity factors can be obtained by substituting the

Fig. 3. General configuration of the SCB specimen.
fracture loads and the geometry factors given in Tables 3 and 4 into the Eq. (4).
Table 4 lists the critical stress intensity factors (KIf and KIIf) obtained for different
mode mixities and jute fiber contents. In this table, the parameter Keff, called effec-
tive stress intensity factor, represents the effective value of the mixed mode I/II
fracture toughness and is defined as:

1.9 mm). Although it has been tried to make a sharp crack, a ‘‘real sharp crack” can- qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
not be achieved and one may need to use notch fracture mechanics concepts to Keff ¼ K2If þ K2IIf ð6Þ
‘‘precisely” address this issue. Details on the effect of notch tip geometry on the
mixed mode fracture toughness can be found in the literature [45–49]. By setting For pure mode I and pure mode II conditions, Keff reduces to KIC and KIIC,
the different crack inclination angles ranging from 0° to 49°, mixed mode I/II exper- respectively.
516 A. Razmi, M.M. Mirsayar / Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 512–520

Fig. 5. Typical finite element mesh pattern used for simulating SCB specimen, as well as a closed up view of the crack tip elements (a = 45°).

4. Results and discussion

4.1. Mixed mode fracture toughness

Fig. 9 shows the variation of the effective fracture toughness

(Keff) of jute fiber-reinforced concrete versus loading mode (Me),
for different fiber contents. As seen from this Figure, for all cases,
the Keff has a minimum at pure mode II, and decreases as the Me
approaches zero meaning that shear deformation negatively influ-
ences on the mixed mode fracture resistance.
According to Fig. 9, adding jute fiber to the mixture enhances
the mixed mode fracture toughness of the concrete. A comparative
analysis of this argument is illustrated in Fig. 10 where the relative
mixed mode fracture toughness, qeff, is plotted versus Me. The
parameter qeff is defined as Eq. (7).
Fig. 6. Typical load-displacement curve for a SCB specimen of jute fiber – reinforced
concrete. K eff ðfiber  reinforced concreteÞ
qeff ¼ ð7Þ
K eff ðplain concreteÞ
As seen from Fig. 10 an average mixed mode fracture toughness
enhancement of about 45% can be achieved by adding the jute fiber
to the mixture (qeff = 1 represents the 0% fiber content). According
to this figure, the effect of adding jute fiber is more considerable for
the mixed mode I/II conditions (0.4 < Me < 0.8) rather than pure
mode I and pure mode II. It also can be found that adding jute
fibers more than 0.3% does not improve the mixed mode fracture
toughness of the concrete significantly, pointing this out that the
optimum content of jute fibers is around 0.3% by weight of the
total concrete mixture. Concrete mixing with higher fiber contents
are also blamed to discontinuous distribution of materials which
resulting in lower strength. Balaguru and Shah [50] reported that
fibers that are long and at higher volume fractions were casting
to ball up during the mixing process which results in a reduction
in workability. Fig. 11 shows fracture locus for mixed mode frac-
ture toughness of cement concrete at different fiber contents. The
Fig. 7. SCB specimens after fracture tests under pure modes II of loading.
area surrounded by the vertical and horizontal axes, and each

Fig. 8. Preparation process for the cracked SCB specimens: a) mixture, b) crack induction, c) three point loading fixture.
 A. Razmi, M.M. Mirsayar / Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 512–520 517

Table 3
Mixed mode fracture loads for cracked SCB specimens made of cement concrete with different jute fiber percentage.

Crack angle, a Me, Mixity Parameter Average fracture Average fracture Average fracture Average fracture
Load P cr (KN) Load P cr (KN) Load P cr (KN) Load P cr (KN)
0% Fiber 0.1% Fiber 0.3%Fiber 0.5% Fiber
0° 1 3.45 4.62 5.09 5.35
15° 0.81 3.75 5.32 6.19 6.29
30° 0.57 4.12 5.96 6.98 7.18
40° 0.35 4.34 6.33 7.32 7.40
45° 0.18 4.87 6.66 7.88 7.95
49° 0 5.35 7.03 8.14 8.19

Table 4
Mixed mode fracture resistance of cement concrete with different jute fiber contents.

Crack angle, a 0° (Pure mode I) 15° 30° 40° 45° 49° (Pure mode II)
Me 1 0.81 0.57 0.35 0.18 0
pffiffiffiffiffi
0% KIf ðMPa  mÞ 0.576 0.532 0.344 0.181 0.081 0
pffiffiffiffiffi
Fiber KIIf ðMPa  mÞ 0 0.159 0.271 0.289 0.284 0.272
pffiffiffiffiffi
Keff ðMPa  mÞ 0.576 0.555 0.437 0.341 0.295 0.272
pffiffiffiffiffi
0.1% KIf ðMPa  mÞ 0.771 0.755 0.497 0.264 0.111 0
pffiffiffiffiffi
Fiber KIIf ðMPa  mÞ 0 0.226 0.393 0.422 0.389 0.358
pffiffiffiffiffi
Keff ðMPa  mÞ 0.771 0.788 0.633 0.497 0.404 0.358
pffiffiffiffiffi
0.3% KIf ðMPa  mÞ 0.850 0.878 0.583 0.305 0.131 0
pffiffiffiffiffi
Fiber KIIf ðMPa  mÞ 0 0.263 0.460 0.489 0.460 0.407
pffiffiffiffiffi
Keff ðMPa  mÞ 0.850 0.916 0.707 0.570 0.478 0.407
pffiffiffiffiffi
0.5% KIf ðMPa  mÞ 0.893 0.892 0.599 0.308 0.133 0
pffiffiffiffiffi
Fiber KIIf ðMPa  mÞ 0 0.268 0.473 0.494 0.464 0.417
pffiffiffiffiffi
Keff ðMPa  mÞ 0.893 0.931 0.763 0.582 0.484 0.417

0.8
Keff (MPa.m0. 5)

0.6

0.4

0.2 0% Fiber 0.1% Fiber

0.3% Fiber 0.5% Fiber

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Me
Fig. 10. Relative mixed mode fracture toughness, eff, versus Me.
Fig. 9. Keff versus Me for different jute fiber contents.

curve represents the safe zone. As an example, the line correspond-
ing to Me = 0.57 is plotted to explain what these curves represent.
Under a specific combined loading configuration (e.g. Me = 0.57),
the critical stress intensity factors (KIf, and KIIf) increase as the
applied load (P) increases until reaching the fracture curve. The
effect of adding jute fiber on the mixed mode fracture toughness
is also shown in a different form in this figure. It can be seen that
the safe zone (the area surrounded by the axes and the fracture
curve) increases as the fiber content increases.
4.2. Concrete strength
In addition to the mixed mode fracture toughness, the effect of
jute fiber on the concrete strength is also investigated. In the
following, the effect of jute fiber on the compressive strength, split-
ting tensile strength, and flexural strength is explored. Table 5 lists
the data obtained from compressive strength, splitting tensile
strength, and flexural strength tests for different fiber contents at
both 7 days and 28 days curing conditions.
The results of the compressive strength tests are shown in
Fig. 12, for the concrete specimens with jute fiber percentages of
0.1%, 0.3%, and 0.5% by weight. Comparing to the plain concrete,
it is shown from this figure that the use of fibers, in any percent-
ages, leads to an increase in the compressive strength. Results also
indicate that an increase in the fiber percentage causes an increase
of the compressive strength. Such improvement can be explained
by the ability of fibers in restraining of crack extension, which
leads to reduction of the stress concentration caused by the cracks
518 A. Razmi, M.M. Mirsayar / Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 512–520

0% Fiber 0.1% Fiber

0.3% Fiber 0.5% Fiber
0.6

0.5
KIIC (MPa.m0.5)

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
KIC (MPa.m0.5) Fig. 12. Compressive strengths of the mixtures for different jute fiber contents.

Fig. 11. Fracture diagram for jute fiber – reinforced concrete at different fiber
contents.
5

(crack tightening), and finally to delay the growth rate of cracks.

7 days 28 days
For instance, it can be seen that for 28 days curing, the compressive
Splitting Tensile Strength (MPa)

strength of concrete increases from 10% to 37% as a result of adding

jute fibers to the mix.
The variation of the splitting tensile and flexural strengths of 4
different jute fiber-reinforced concrete types, and at the ages of 7
and 28 days, are shown in Figs. 13 and 14, respectively. The results
show that incorporation of jute fibers had a significant influence on
the splitting tensile strength of the concrete. As expected, an
increase in the fiber percentages resulted in an increase in the 3
splitting tensile strengths. For example, after 28 days of curing,
the splitting tensile strength of the mixtures containing 0.1%,
0.30%, and 0.5% jute fibers were increased by 5%, 10%, and 17%,
respectively, with respect to the plain concrete. It also can be found
that a higher improvement can be obtained as the curing age
increases. Similarly, it was observed that the use of jute fibers in 2
0.0% 0.1% 0.3% 0.5%
the concrete mix resulted in an improvement of the flexural
strength. As can be seen from Fig. 14, the increase of the flexural Fiber percantages (%)
strength of jute fiber-reinforced concrete types varies from 5% to Fig. 13. Splitting Tensile strengths of the mixtures.
10%, depending on the fiber percentages and the test age.
A direct representation of the effect of adding jute fiber on the
mode I fracture toughness of the concrete material is illustrated weaker under pure tensile (pull-out) and pure shear than com-
in Figs. 15, and 16. In these figures, the variation of the mode I frac- bined tensile/ shear load. The mechanical behavior of fiber–cement
ture toughness of the concrete, which represents crack resistance composite is mostly depended upon the bond between fiber and
against opening, versus tensile strength (splitting tensile and flex- cement matrix which itself depends on many aspects including:
ural strength). According to these figures, the crack opening resis- physical characteristics of the fibers (geometry, type, and surface
tance increases significantly together with tensile strength of the characteristics, fiber orientation, fiber volume ratio and fiber distri-
concrete, as the jute fiber content increases. bution), chemical composition of the fiber, and the treatment of
In micromechanical point of view, it can be concluded from the the fiber and additives in the cement mixture. Insufficient bonding
results presented in this paper that jute fiber/ concrete bond is between natural fibers and cement matrix is often conclusion of

Table 5
Compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and flexural strength test results.

Mixture ID Compressive strength (MPa) Splitting tensile strength (MPa) Flexural strength (MPa)
7 days 28 days 7 days 28 days 7 days 28 days
0% Fiber 35.3 40.9 3.17 4.01 5.72 6.69
0.1% Fiber 39.65 45.11 3.26 4.19 6.01 7.06
0.3% Fiber 43.32 51.03 3.57 4.38 6.20 7.29
0.5% Fiber 49.15 56 3.70 4.69 6.48 7.38
 A. Razmi, M.M. Mirsayar / Construction and Building Materials 148 (2017) 512–520
8 5. Conclusions
7 days 28 days
Flexural Strength (MPa)
6 be helpful to address some primary concerns on the fracture
4 better enhancements in mechanical properties of the concrete.
2 under pure mode II loading conditions, showing that both plain
0.0% 0.1% 0.3%
Fiber percentages (%)
Fig. 14. Flexural strengths of the mixtures.
Fig. 15. Variation of the mode I fracture toughness versus splitting tensile strength
of concrete, at different jute fiber contents and curing days.
Fig. 16. Variation of the mode I fracture toughness versus flexural strength of
concrete, at different jute fiber contents and curing days.
swelling of the fibers in the wet mix and consequent shrinkage
upon drying. As pointed out by Zhou et al. [42] the bond between
natural fibers and cement matrix, as well as concrete strength, can
be enhanced by implementing a casting pressure. This casting
pressure leads to lower voids and densifying the cementitious
composite. Using vibrating table to compact concrete mixture
can be very beneficial in order to achieve higher interfacial bond
between jute fibers and cement matrixes.
519

This paper aimed to fill a gap on the effect of jute fiber on the
mixed mode fracture toughness of cement concrete which has
not been well investigated so far. The results of this paper can
of natural fiber-reinforced concrete under combined loading
conditions. Some of the outcomes of the current study can be
summarized as the followings;

The higher percentage of jute fiber in concrete types results in
This is due to the ability of fibers to restrain the extension of
cracks, reduce the extent of stress concentration at the tip of
cracks, and delay the growth rate of cracks.

The minimum fracture toughness of concrete mixture occurs
0.5% concrete and jute fiber-reinforced concrete represent less resis-
tance against fracture under pure II conditions. This is a very
important finding since almost all previous works judge the
fracture resistance of natural fiber-reinforced concrete based
on the data obtained only from pure mode I test results. How-
ever, as obtained in this paper, such assumption overestimates
the fracture resistance of natural fiber-reinforced concrete
under mixed mode I/II and pure mode II conditions. In other
words, the risk of cracking in pure mode II is higher than the
pure mode I or combined loading conditions.

The mixed mode fracture resistance of jute fiber-reinforced con-
crete enhances as the fiber content increases. However, adding
jute fibers more than 0.3% by weight of the mixture does not
lead to a significant improvement of the fracture resistance.

Reinforcement of concrete with fiber percentages of 0.1%, 0.3%,
and 0.5% by weight, led to an increase in the compressive
strength, tensile and the flexural strength. The improvement
of the concrete strength becomes more considerable as the cur-
ing age increases.
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