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J Materials and Structures 38 (May 2005) 495-503

Strain compatibility between HPFRCC and steel

reinforcement

A. P. Fantilli l, H. Mihashi 2 and P. Vallini 1

(1) Department of Structural and Geotechnical Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129
Torino, Italy
(2) Department o f Architecture and Building Science, School o f Engineering, Tohoku University, Aramaki Aoba 06,
Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8579, Japan
Received." 19 May 2004; accepted: 13 October 2004

ABSTRACT
To build reinforced concrete structures able to mitigate steel corrosion produced by environmental attack, a reduced crack width should
appear in tensile concrete. At least in the serviceability stage, fibers added to ordinary concrete could be a way to satisfy this requirement.
Depending on the type, on the volume content and on the aspect ratio of fibers, FRC (fiber reinforced concrete) can show a higher ductility
and sometimes a higher tensile strength than ordinary concrete. However, with or without fibers, concrete cannot produce tensile strains
totally compatible with those of the steel rebars. To overcome this problem, new FRCs, called High Performance Fiber-Reinforced
Cementitious Composites (HPFRCC), have been recently tailored to develop an ultra-high ductility. In these composites, since the strain at
maximum stress is higher than the steel strain at yielding, strain incompatibility vanishes. In the present paper, in order to prove the
existence of compatible strains between steel and HPFRCC, numerical results and experimental measurements are compared. This is
possible by introducing a mechanical model of tension-stiffening, and by referring to tests on reinforced HPFRCC elements in tension. The
good agreement between theoretical and experimental results is also found for reinforced HPFRCC beams in bending.
1359-5997 9 2004 RILEM. All rights reserved.

RI~SUME
Pour ~difier des constructions en b~ton arm$ capable de prdvenir la corrosion de l'armature d'acier due aux agents agressifs des diff~rents
environnements, il est indispensable de rOduire l 'amplitude des fissures qui se ddveloppent clans le b~ton soumis g7la traction. L 'addition de fibres
au ciment peut ~tre une solution pour ces exigences, au moins pour ce qui concerne les Otats limites de tenue en service. Selon le type des fibres
utilis~es, leur quantit~ et leur aspect, le BRF, boron renforc~ de fibres, peut montrer une ductilit~ plus haute et quelquefois une r~sistance ~ la
traction bien plus ~lev~e que le bdton ordinaire. De toute fagon, avec ou sans fibres, le b~ton ne peut pas produire des efforts de traction totalement
compatibles avec ceux des banes d'acier. Pour r~soudre ce problkme, on a rOcemment d~velopp~ de nouveaux BRFs, 3 savoir les mat~riaux
composites ~ hautes performances, ~labor~s dt base de ciment renforc~s de fibres (HPFRCC), qui se caract~risent par une ductilit~ extr~mement
~lev~e. Dans ces m~langes, la d~formation sous effort maximal est plus haute que la d~formation h ~puisement de l'acier, et l 'incompatibilit~ de
d~formation peut ~tre dvitde. Darts le prdsent document, nous allons prdsenter des rOsultats num~riques et des mesures exp~rimentales pour
montrer l'existence d'efforts compatibles entre acier et HPFRCC. Ces rdsultats ont ~td respectivement obtenus par un module m~canique de
raidissement en traction et par un essai de traction sur des dl~ments de HPFRCC. La concordance entre les r~sultats thOoriques et expdrimentaux
est aussi observde dans le cas de poutres en HPFRCC soumises ~un moment fldchissant.

1. INTRODUCTION concrete cannot be used alone in the zones with significant

Concrete is one of the main materials involved in buildings
and infrastructures. Despite the good performances in
compression, it shows a low tensile strengthf~t, which is about
one tenth of its compressive strength fc. For this reason,
tensile stresses, where steel rebars are usually placed. Under
tensile actions, mechanical response o f steel reveals both a
higher strength and a greater strain capability than concrete.
As is well known, fi'om uniaxial tensile tests on concrete
prisms a nearly linear stress-strain (o-e) relationship can be

Editorial Note
Prof. Hirozo Mihashi is a R I L E M Senior Member. He participates in R I L E M TCs 187-SOC 'Experimental determination of the stress-
crack opening curve for concrete in tension" 193-RLS 'Bonded cement-based material overlays for the repair, the lining or the
strengthening o f slabs or pavements" and H F C 'High Performance Fibre Reinforced Cementitious Composites '.

1359-5997 9 2004 RILEM. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1617/14228
496 A . P . F a n t i l l i et al. / M a t e r i a l s a n d S t r u c t u r e s 3 8 ( 2 0 0 5 ) 4 9 5 - 5 0 3

obtained up to the peak stress fit. At this point, due to the
presence of a single crack, failure occurs and a softening
regime appears in the cy-e diagram. In other words, there is a
gradual reduction of stresses with the increase of strains, which
are localized in the process zone around the crack. This
behaviour can be effectively modelled by means of a fictitious
crack model [1], or by means of a crack band model [2].
However, more than one crack appears in the tensile zones
of reinforced concrete (PC) structures, if the reinforcement
ratio p (9 = steel area/concrete area ratio) is sufficiently higher
than the minimum reinforcement ratio [3min , For example, in
the beams tested in four-point bending by Clark [3], several
cracks, and consequently various zones of strain localization,
were detected in the tensile concrete of the constant moment
zone. In order to investigate this part of RC beams, tests were
performed on reinforced concrete elements in tension [4-5].
From these experiments, it is possible to observe a complex
crack pattern, in which both primary cracks and secondary
internal cracks take place in the concrete surrounding the rebar.
The evolution of crack pattern is usually ascribed to the bond-
slip mechanism between steel and concrete, which permits to
transfer tensile stresses also in the concrete between two
primary cracks (see [6] for a review on bond of reinforcement
in concrete).
Due to the aforementioned phenomenon, usually called
tension-stiffening, the load N-versus average steel strain em
diagram (era is the ratio between the elongation AL of the
rebar and its initial length L ), of a reinforced concrete
element in tension, appears stiffer than the response of bare
reinforcement (Fig. la). In the diagram of Fig. la is also
reported the Stage I curve, obtained by neglecting the slip
between materials, and by assuming the post peak behaviour
of concrete to be perfectly plastic, without any limitation of
strains. In such a hypothetical situation, no localized
deformations (i.e. wide cracks) are present in tensile
concrete, whose strains are perfectly compatible with steel
strains e=. In RC members in tension, due to a small strain
capability of concrete with respect to steel, there is strain
incompatibility between the materials, and Stage I response
appears remarkably stiffer than the N-era curves experimentally
evaluated. Therefore, with respect to Stage I behaviour and
bare bar response, N-e.m curves of reinforced concrete elements
in tension are located in between. In particular, for a given
value of external load N, the difference between the average
steel strain e.mand ~;m2of the bare bar is usually considered the
measure of tension-stiffening (Fig. l a). For the same N, the
difference between em and eml of Stage I can be considered as
a measure of the strain incompatibility between steel and
concrete (ie. the effect of cracking).
In recent tests [7], where a High Performance Fiber-
Reinforced Cementitious Composite (HPFRCC) has replaced
ordinary concrete, the strain incompatibility between steel
rebars and cementitious composite seems drastically reduced.
Thus, the mechanical response N-e.m of a reinforced HPFRCC
(R/HPFRCC) element in tension should be coincident with the
Stage I behaviour. The aim of this paper is to point out when
the strain compatibility between HPFRCC and steel
reinforcement can be reproduced in tensile members. To this
end, the results of a theoretical model are compared with the
measurements reported by different tests.
2. MODELLING OF STEEL REINFORCED
CEMENTITIOUS COMPOSITES
ELEMENTS IN TENSION
Like in a classical structural problem, the mechanical
response of a steel reinforced cementitious tie (Fig. 1a) can
be obtained by solving a system of equilibrium and
compatibility equations. More precisely, in a generic cross-
section of the element, the following equilibrium equation
must be satisfied (Fig. lb):
crc . A c +or s . A s = N (1)
where, cyc= tensile stress in cementitious composite,
c~==tensile stress in steel rebar, Ac= concrete or cementitious
composite area in a cross-section, As = steel area in a cross-
section, and N = applied normal force. Static conditions at
interface between the two materials are also needed. In

.a. nm.

Expe~mental a) N
i
] / ~ ~- - __~ _ _ - - - - bare bar' _ / ~ ~ ~ H -

NJ ''~7:sionstiffening ~ lyLc ) ';dzd

=+. Iol r J I/" -2-.J--.-> - d<,
/f
II
~nincompatibility
jl,'
As = . --1,2~
, , ~
I-- I I
"y[ y
% "''"
] dz ,
m+ ~
--7-~s
" az dz d) "c
I AL ' ~ I
|i i ~m . . . . . . . . N B z s
l' I L !, .!
~'ml gm ~m2

Fig. 1 - Reinforced cementitious composite structure in tension: a) experimental and numerical N - • m c u r v e s of the element;
b) equilibrium in a cross-section; c) equilibrium in a portion of steel reinforcement; d) compatibility condition in a cross-section.