Engineering Structures 235 (2021) 112021

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Engineering Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engstruct

Research on the bonding performance of TRC permanent formwork and

cast-in-place concrete
Shichang Li a, Shiping Yin a, b, *, Congcong Wang a, Yuhou Yang c
a
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Environmental Impact and Structural Safety in Engineering, School of Mechanics & Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and
Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
b
State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics & Deep Underground Engineering, School of Mechanics & Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology,
Xuzhou 221116, China
c
Guangxi Transportation Science and Technology Group Co., Ltd, Nanning 530000, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The performance of the interface bond between the TRC permanent formwork and cast-in-place concrete is a key
TRC permanent formwork factor that determines whether the formwork can exert sufficient mechanical properties to replace traditional
Cast-in-place concrete formwork. Sufficient performance of the TRC permanent formwork can further promote its application in en­
Three-point bending test
gineering practice. This paper presents the results of a three-point bending test performed on a TRC formwork
Interface bonding performance
superimposed plain concrete beam with prefabricated cracks. The influences of various interface treatment
methods, interface agent types, TRC formwork thicknesses, chopped fibre contents, textile distribution rates and
other factors on the bonding performance of the interface between the TRC permanent formwork and cast-in-
place concrete are considered. The study found that regardless of whether the interface is processed, the
interface bonding performance between the TRC permanent formwork and the cast-in-place concrete is better
than that between traditional formwork and cast-in-place concrete. After the interface is processed, the ultimate
bearing capacities of the composite beam specimens are improved to varying degrees, and the crack development
mode is improved. Treating the interface, increasing the thickness of the TRC formwork, increasing the formwork
distribution textile rate, adding chopped fibres and other treatment methods can reduce the strain of the interface
between the TRC formwork and cast-in-place concrete.

1. Introduction new cement-based composite materials.

Concrete is currently one of the most widely used materials in the
world, and the corresponding formwork that enables concrete to be
plastically formed has become an important indicator of the develop­
ment level of a country’s construction technology. In the construction of
different concrete structure projects, the progress, quality and cost of the
project will be restricted by the various types of formwork in formwork
applications. Most of the current projects use traditional formwork,
which has the disadvantages of complicated mould removal procedures
and low turnover. In addition, the smoothness of the appearance and the
accuracy of the specific dimensions of the components after construction
will be directly affected by the quality of the formwork production and
installation. Therefore, to solve the shortcomings of current traditional
formwork, many scholars have proposed permanent formwork made of
Textile-reinforced concrete (TRC) is a composite material in which a
textile is laid in fine-grained concrete [1]. The textile is light in weight
and corrosion resistant. Fine-grained concrete has high fluidity, self-
compaction and anti-segregation [2] and is impermeable with anti-
carbonation and freeze–thaw resistance [3]. Therefore, TRC has a
high-strength structure, crack resistance, good durability, and strong
designability [1–4]. TRC also has broad development and engineering
application prospects as a type of permanent formwork. In addition,
textile-reinforced mortar (TRM) [5] and a fabric-reinforced cementi­
tious matrix (FRCM) [6] are composed of textile and matrix composites
such as TRC materials. In addition, TRC, TRM and FRCM have the same
core concepts and exhibit similar superior performance.
The interface bonding performance between the TRC permanent
formwork and cast-in-place concrete can also be regarded as the bond

* Corresponding author at: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Environmental Impact and Structural Safety in Engineering, School of Mechanics & Civil Engineering, China
University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China.
E-mail address: yinshiping2821@163.com (S. Yin).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2021.112021
Received 13 October 2020; Received in revised form 12 January 2021; Accepted 1 February 2021
Available online 26 February 2021
0141-0296/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. Li et al.
between new and old concrete. The interface between the two is
considered the weak area of the structure [7–8]. The interfacial bonding
performance is a key factor that determines whether the formwork can
exert sufficient mechanical properties to replace traditional formwork to
exert. The main factors that currently affect new and old concrete are the
selection of interface agent, interface bond form, interface roughness,
type of reinforced concrete material, interface permeability, etc [9–11].
Therefore, it is necessary to carry out corresponding research on the
interfacial bonding performance between the TRC permanent formwork
and cast-in-place concrete.
In the current research, many scholars have carried out research on
the interface bonding of TRC to strengthen the existing concrete, laying
the foundation for the permanent formwork of TRC and cast-in-place
concrete to form a component and cooperate with forces. The study
found that the main factors that affect the bonding performance of the
interface between the two include the TRC bond length [12,13], textile
distribution rate, interface treatment methods (application of interface
agent, roughening of concrete, planting of reinforcement, and setting of
grooves) [14], existing concrete strength level [15], etc. Furthermore,
the bond between the FRCM and substrate strongly depends on the
strength and roughness of the substrate and the mechanical properties of
the matrix and textile, resulting in different failure modes: debonding
with cohesive failure in the substrate (A), debonding at the
reinforcement-to-substrate interface (B), debonding at the textile-to-
matrix interface (C), sliding of the textile within the reinforcement
thickness (D), tensile rupture of the textile in the unbonded portion (E),
and failure within the mortar matrix (F) [6,16–18].
Furthermore, Brückner et al. [19] and D’Ambrisi et al. [20] analysed
the bonding performance between the TRC reinforcement layer and
concrete and proposed calculation formulas for the effective bond length
and effective reinforcement rate of TRC. When the bond length reaches
the limit bond length, the reinforcement performance of the TRC board
is fully utilized, and the bond-slip model of the interface between the
TRC and existing concrete is summarized. In addition, Li et al. [21] also
analysed the failure mechanism of the interface between TRC and
existing concrete from a microscopic point of view and proposed that the
bonding force between TRC and existing concrete generally consists of
three types of forces: mechanical forces, van der Waals forces, and
chemical forces.
The above summary shows that the current research mainly focuses
on TRC strengthening of the interface bonding performance between
existing concrete, but the mechanism of the interface bonding perfor­
mance between TRC permanent formwork and cast-in-place concrete is
not clear. For this reason, this article presents corresponding research on
the interface performance between TRC permanent formwork and cast-
in-place concrete. The current common test methods include the bond
surface shear test [22–24], pull-out test, split test, flexural resistance test
and modified beam test [25,26]. Because TRC is inevitably affected by
bending stress during the stress process when used as formwork for a
beam, to promote consistency between the interface test and actual
stress situation, it is better to evaluate the interface bonding perfor­
mance between the TRC formwork and the concrete. In this text, a
modified beam test is used to conduct a three-point bending test on
concrete beams superimposed with TRC permanent formwork. Through
the analysis of the test phenomena, load–deflection curves and interface
strain distributions, the influence of different interface treatment
methods (nailing, rib reinforcement, and roughening), interface agent
types (cement paste, epoxy resin, and structural adhesive), chopped
fibre (PVA) contents in the matrix, formwork thicknesses and rates of the
distribution textile on the interface performance of the formwork and
cast-in-place concrete are analysed.
2
Engineering Structures 235 (2021) 112021
2. Experimental program
2.1. Experiment material
2.1.1. Concrete
In this experiment, the plain concrete beam was cast with C40 con­
crete, and the mix ratio is shown in Table 1. In addition, the compressive
strength of the concrete standard cube specimens is 45 MPa after curing
for 28 days.
2.1.2. Fine-grained concrete
The mixing ratio of the fine-grained concrete used in this test is
shown in Table 2. Fine-grained concrete has good fluidity, self-
compaction and segregation resistance and has small creep and
shrinkage, which is convenient for working with cast-in-place concrete.
In addition, fine-grained concrete has no coarse aggregates, can pass
through the mesh between the textile without hindrance and can
maintain good bonding properties. After curing for 28 days, the average
compressive strength of the fine-grained concrete cube specimen with a
size of 70.7 × 70.7 × 70.7 mm is 48 MPa.
2.1.3. Textile
The textile is woven from carbon fibres in the direction of the force
and glass fibres perpendicular to the direction of the force. The carbon
fibre bundle is a fibre used for load bearing, and the glass fibre bundle is
a fixed fibre used to fix the direction of the carbon fibre bundle, as shown
in Fig. 1. The mechanical properties of the textile provided by the
manufacturer are shown in Table 3. In addition, through experimental
research, it is found that due to various damages in production and
transportation, the ultimate tensile strength of carbon fiber bundle in
textile is about 0.75 times of that of single fiber filaments [2,27]. And the
textile used is commercially available on the market.
2.1.4. Chopped fibres
The chopped fibres are K-II polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibres produced
by Japan Kuraray Company, as shown in Fig. 2, and their geometric
parameters and mechanical properties provided by the manufacturer are
shown in Table 4.
2.2. Specimen design and production
2.2.1. Specimen design
Specimens with different interface treatment methods (sticking nails,
ribbing, and roughing), interface agent types (cement paste, epoxy resin,
structural adhesive), chopped fibre contents, formwork thicknesses, and
textile distribution rates are grouped based on the control variable
method [9–11]. In addition, to reduce the discrete data type and ensure
the reliability of the test data, five specimens with the same research
parameters were made. All the sample numbers and corresponding
research factors are shown in Table 5 below.
2.2.2. Specimen production
To reduce the discreteness of the test results and the convenience of
casting the specimens, the large monolithic formwork was first cast, and
after curing, the TRC formwork was cut using a concrete cutter, forming
a single board with a size of 400 × 100 × 20 mm. After cutting, the TRC
formwork was used as the bottom TRC formwork of the bonded spec­
imen. For the production of TRC permanent formwork, the specific steps
Table 1
Mix proportion of the C40 concrete (kg/m3).
Material Cement Medium Gravel Water Water reducing
(42.5R) sand agent
Mix 415 643 1181 161 2.85
proportion
S. Li et al. Engineering Structures 235 (2021) 112021

Table 2
Mix proportion of the fine-grained concrete (kg/m3).
Material Cement (52.5R) Coarse sand Fine sand Fly ash Silica fume Water Water reducing agent

Mix ratio 475 920 460 168 35 262 9.1

displacement control, and the loading rate is 0.1 mm/min. Other main
test equipment includes a load sensor, displacement meter and DH-3816
data acquisition instrument. The loading device during the test is shown
in Fig. 8.
The measuring point layout and test content are as follows [28,29]:
(1) The load value P is measured by the load sensor. (2) The vertical
deformation of the composite member is measured by three displace­
ment meters: one is used to measure the mid-span deflection of the
composite member, and the other two are used to measure the settle­
ment of the support. The actual mid-span deflection is the measured
mid-span deflection minus the average deflection values of the left and
right supports. (3) The strain values of the TRC formwork cast-in-place
concrete near the interface between the formwork and concrete are
Fig. 1. Textile.
measured. The layout of the specific test points is shown in Fig. 9.

are as follows: (1) Apply engine oil to the homemade mould to facilitate 3. Test results and analysis
later demoulding; (2) Nail 10 mm thick wooden strips around the
formwork (in this study, 1/2 of the design thickness produces a TRC According to the test results for the modified TRC permanent form­
formwork with a design thickness of 20 mm), cast fine-grained concrete work composite plain concrete beam, the ultimate bearing capacity,
and compact it; (3) Cut the textile according to the size, immerse the maximum deflection deformation and failure mode under different
textile in a stretched state on the fine-grained concrete after impreg­ research factors are summarized in Table 6.
nating it with cement paste, and finally cast the remaining 1/2-thickness
of the fine-grained concrete and compact it; (4) Cure the specimens in
the standard curing room for 28 days. The casting process is shown in
Fig. 3 below.
After the maintenance of the TRC permanent formwork is completed,
the corresponding interface treatment is carried out on the inner surface
of the TRC permanent formwork according to the research factors in the
experimental design. As shown in Fig. 4, the ribbing, roughening and
nailing treatments are processed before casting. In order to avoid the
influence of early curing of epoxy resin and structural adhesive on the
bonding effect, the interfacial agent needs to be applied during casting.
The smearing thickness is approximately 2 mm. The TRC formwork is
installed into a custom mould, acting as a bottom mould (see Fig. 5 for
details). To avoid shear damage to the composite components, water­
proof tape was employed with the same width as the formwork and a
length of 50 mm between the TRC formwork and the cast-in-place
concrete. A nonbonded area of 50 mm is reserved, and ordinary C40
concrete is cast. After curing for 28 days, a composite beam specimen
with T-shaped precast cracks is obtained. The casting process is shown in
Fig. 6. Fig. 7 presents a schematic diagram of the finished composite
beam. The height of the precast crack is 40 mm, and the width is
approximately 3 mm. A 50 mm long nonbonded area is reserved on the
bonding surface between the bottom of the precast crack and the TRC Fig. 2. Chopped fibres.
formwork.

Table 4
2.3. Test loading plan and measuring point layout Geometric and mechanical parameters of chopped fibres.
Fibre Length Diameter Tensile Elastic Density
The three-point bending test adopts a computer-controlled hydraulic Type (mm) (μm) Strength Modulus (kg/m3)
servo universal testing machine to study the interface between the TRC (MPa) (GPa)

permanent formwork and the concrete. The testing machine has a PVA 12 40 1600 42 1.3
measuring range of 2 tons, the loading program is constant velocity

Table 3
Mechanical property parameters of the textile.
Fibre Number of fibres Tensile strength of Elastic modulus of Elongation at break of Liner density of fibre Density of fibre
type per bundle monofilament fibres/MPa monofilament fibres/GPa monofilament fibres/% bundles/Tex bundles/(g/cm3)

T700S 12 k 4660 231 2 801 1.78

E-lass 4k 3200 65 4.5 600 2.58

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S. Li et al. Engineering Structures 235 (2021) 112021

Table 5
Specimen information.
Specimen number Interface processing method Formwork thickness Distribution network layers PVA content Number of Specimen

Comparison specimen S0 Natural face 20 mm 1 – 5

Interface processing method S1 Stick nails 20 mm 1 – 5
S2 Ribbed 20 mm 1 – 5
S3 Rough 20 mm 1 – 5
Interface agent type S4 Cement paste 20 mm 1 – 5
S5 Epoxy resin 20 mm 1 – 5
S6 Structural glue 20 mm 1 – 5
Chopped fibre content S7 20 mm 1 0.2% 5
S8 20 mm 1 0.5% 5
S9 20 mm 1 0.8% 5
Formwork thickness S10 10 mm 1 – 5
S11 15 mm 1 – 5
S12 25 mm 1 – 5
Distribution network rate S13 20 mm 2 – 5

(b) Laying textile on matrix (c) Applying matrix to the textile

Fig. 3. Preparation process of TRC Permanent formwork.

Fig. 4. Interface processing of TRC permanent formwork.

3.1. Failure process of the test and force analysis
The entire failure process of the specimen is shown in Fig. 10. At the
early stage of loading, the specimen exhibited no obvious change. With
increasing test load, a visible crack appeared on the top of the longitu­
dinal prefabricated crack. When the load continued, the crack gradually
extended upward, and its width gradually increased. With further
loading, fracture occurred at the end or middle of the prefabricated
transverse nonbonded area between the TRC formwork and the cast-in
situ concrete, and the fracture crack gradually widened until it ran
through the thickness of the formwork. Then, the macrocrack at the top
of the prefabricated longitudinal crack extended to the top of the com­
posite beam, and the specimen was considered to be damaged. Among
them, damage due to fracture of the TRC formwork includes three forms:
the first type is that the TRC formwork breaks near the middle of the
beam span (specimens S0 and S4); the second type is that the TRC
formwork breaks at the end of the lateral nonbonded area (specimens
S1, S2, S3, S5, S6, S7, S8, S10, S11 and S12); and the third type is that the
TRC formwork fractures on both sides of the end point of the transverse
nonbonded zone (specimens S9, and S13). A picture of the failure of the
bond specimen is shown below in Fig. 11. The main failure position of
the specimen is at one side of the end of the nonbonded zone, while the
proportion of fracture at the middle of the span and on both sides of the
transverse nonbonded zone is very small.
The specific stress process of the specimen is analysed as follows:
during the loading process of the plain concrete beam, there are three

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S. Li et al. Engineering Structures 235 (2021) 112021

of the precast crack reaches the ultimate tensile strength of the concrete,
macroscopic cracks visible to the naked eye appear, and the tensile stress
of the TRC formwork also increases. (3) Macrocracks develop at the tips
of prefabricated cracks, and the TRC formwork breaks. At this stage, as
the mid-span load continues to increase, the crack at the tip of the
prefabricated crack slowly develops. At the same time, the tensile stress
of the TRC formwork reaches its tensile strength, and fracture occurs at

Cast-in-place concrete

Load

TRC ermanent formwork

Data acquisition instrument

Fig. 5. Homemade mould.
(a) Overall overview diagram (b) Partial detail diagram
stress concentrations in the specimen: one occurs at the top of the lon­
Fig. 8. Diagram of actual loading device.
gitudinal precast crack, and the other two are located at the ends of both
sides of the nonbonded zone in the middle of the span. Therefore, under
the same load, these three locations will be destroyed first. The stress
process of the composite beam can be roughly divided into three stages:
(1) The first stage is the development of internal microcracks near the tip
of the precast crack in the mid-span concrete. At this stage, the load on
the mid-span of the composite beam specimen is relatively small, the
force on the concrete at the tip of the prefabricated crack is relatively
small, and the tensile strength of the concrete is not reached. The tensile
stress of the TRC formwork is also relatively small. The microcracks
develop slowly, but no visible cracks appear. (2) During the second
stage, macroscopic cracks are visible to the naked eye and appear at the
tip of the prefabricated crack. At this stage, the load on the mid-span of
the composite beam increases, the tensile stress of the concrete at the tip Fig. 9. Layout of test points.

(a) Placing TRC permanent (b) Casting concrete

Fig. 6. Casting process of precast cracked composite beam.

(a) Front view of precast cracked composite beam (b) Cross-sectional view of precast cracked composite
beams

Fig. 7. Schematic diagram of composite beam.

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S. Li et al. Engineering Structures 235 (2021) 112021

Table 6 shear stress of the interface will reach the ultimate bond strength during
Test results. the loading process before the tensile stress of the TRC formwork reaches
Numbering Maximum Ultimate Incremental Destruction its tensile strength. At this time, the interface is the weak part of the
deflection bearing capacity (%) mode entire specimen. The TRC formwork will peel off due to the shear stress
deformation capacity between the TRC formwork and the cast-in-place concrete, which will
/mm /KN
cause the composite beam to fail. When the bond strength between the
S0 2.619 8.839 – TRC formwork interfaces is sufficiently large, the shear stress of the will reach the ul­
middle timate bond strength interface during the loading process later than the
fracture
S1 2.029 10.182 15.2 TRC formwork
tensile stress of the TRC formwork reaches its tensile strength. At this
unilateral time, the TRC formwork is the weak part of the entire specimen, and the
fracture TRC formwork will break first, which will cause the composite beam to
S2 1.895 11.334 28.2 TRC formwork fail. The experimental study in this paper found that regardless of
unilateral
whether the interface is treated or what kind of treatment is used, the
fracture
S3 2.454 9.057 2.5 TRC formwork failure mode of TRC formwork and cast-in-place concrete peeling is not
unilateral observed. The specimens all exhibit failure of the composite beam
fracture caused by the fracture of the TRC formwork. Therefore, the experi­
S4 1.969 11.328 28.2 TRC formwork mental research shows that the interface bonding performance between
middle
fracture
the TRC formwork and cast-in-place concrete is better.
S5 2.355 8.9274 1.0 TRC formwork
unilateral 3.2. Load-deflection curve
fracture
S6 2.008 10.351 17.1 TRC formwork
unilateral By analysing the test results of different specimens, the
fracture load–deflection curves of the specimens with different interface treat­
S7 1.789 9.194 4.0 TRC formwork ment methods (sticky nails, ribbed, and roughened), interface agent
unilateral types (cement paste, epoxy resin, and structural adhesive), PVA volume
fracture
S8 1.780 9.774 10.6 TRC formwork
contents, formwork thicknesses, and distribution rates of the textile are
unilateral plotted as shown in Fig. 12(a)–(e). The analyses of the load–deflection
fracture curves of all the specimens show that the first stress stage of the com­
S9 1.790 12.369 39.9 TRC formwork posite beams occurs from the origin of the load–deflection curve to the
bilateral
first step. At this time, as the load increases, there are microcracks in the
fracture
S10 1.820 7.686 − 13.0 TRC formwork concrete at the tip of the prefabricated crack, without visible cracks, and
unilateral the load–deflection curve is close to linear. The second stress stage oc­
fracture curs from the first step to the last step. At this time, macroscopic cracks
S11 1.869 8.338 − 5.7 TRC formwork appear at the tip of the prefabricated crack and gradually develop. Steps
unilateral
fracture
appear on the load–deflection curve. The third stage occurs from the last
S12 2.235 9.471 7.2 TRC formwork step to the end of the curve. At this time, the load–deflection curve
unilateral “zigzags” down, and the force of the textile gradually decreases. For the
fracture specimen without a step, the second stage is not obvious because the
S13 2.539 13.060 47.8 TRC formwork
TRC formwork can restrain the development of precast cracks. The
bilateral
fracture cracks at the tip of prefabricated cracks have a larger load when mac­
rocracks appear, which are close to the ultimate load, and the cracks
develop more slowly. Therefore, after reaching the ultimate load, the
the transition between the bonded area and the nonbonded area. After TRC formwork begins to crack and gradually fractures.
the formwork breaks, the crack at the tip of the prefabricated crack
develops quickly and gradually extends to the loading point, and the 3.2.1. Different interface processing methods
composite beam fails. The load–deflection curve of the composite beam under different
During the test loading process, the tensile stress on the TRC form­ interface treatment methods is shown in Fig. 12 (a). After the interface is
work gradually increased as the load gradually increased, and the shear nailed, ribbed, and roughened, the curves shows that the ultimate load
stress between the TRC formwork and the cast-in-place concrete inter­ of the specimen increases by 15.2%, 28.2%, and 2.5%, respectively,
face also gradually increased. When the bond strength between the TRC compared with that of specimen S0. The treated interface of the super­
formwork and the cast-in-place concrete is not sufficiently strong, the imposed beam is superior to the untreated interface in terms of the

Fig. 10. Failure process of specimen.

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S. Li et al. Engineering Structures 235 (2021) 112021

(g) S6 destruction diagram (h) S7 destruction diagram (i) S8 destruction diagram

(j) S9 destruction diagram (k) S10 destruction diagram

Fig. 11. Failure mode of specimens.

bearing capacity and ductility. The load–deflection curve of all the
specimens showed a “zigzag” drop after the ultimate load. This is mainly
because the TRC formwork has already cracked and broken, and the
textile is not simultaneously pulled off but it is gradually broken off. The
load–deflection curves of specimens S0 and S3 have a “Z”-shaped step
before the ultimate load. This is mainly because during the loading
process, when the load is applied to a certain level, macrocracks will
appear at the tip of the concrete precast crack. As a result, the load will
be slightly reduced, and the load–deflection curve appears as an obvious
step. Every time a macroscopic crack appears at the tip of the pre­
fabricated crack, the steps on the load–deflection curve increase
accordingly. Although there are steps on the load–deflection curve of the
roughing treatment sample, when the load is approximately 1.8 kN,
specimen S0 has a first step. While the first step of processed specimen
S3 appears when the load is approximately 6 kN, which indicates that
the TRC formwork with a roughened interface has a better suppression
effect on the development of prefabricated cracks. This is mainly
because the interface bond strength of the roughened specimen is

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S. Li et al. Engineering Structures 235 (2021) 112021

12 12
S0 S0
S1 S4
10 10
S2 S5
S3 S6
Load(kN) 8 8

Load(kN)
6 6

4 4

2 2

0 0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5
Deflection(mm) Deflection(mm)

14 10 S0
S0 S10
12
S7 8 S11
10 S8
S12
S9
6
Load(kN)

Load(kN)
8
6 4
4
2
2
0 0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5
Deflection(mm) Deflection(mm)

14 S0
12 S13
10
Load(kN)

8
6
4
2
0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5
Deflection(mm)

Fig. 12. Load-deflection curve of specimens.

greater than that of the untreated specimen. Specimens S1 and S2 have
no steps, and the load–deflection curve drops suddenly after reaching
the peak load. This is because the precast cracks did not expand into
macrocracks in the early stage of loading. Only the first macroscopic
crack appeared at the limit load. The interface bond strength between
nail-treated specimen S1 and rib-treated specimen S3 is higher than that
between the other specimens, so the TRC formwork has a better inhib­
itory effect on the expansion of concrete precast cracks than traditional
formwork. In addition, the ultimate load of ribbed specimen S2 exhibits
a substantial sudden drop. This may be because the fracture part of the
TRC formwork is just in the part without ribs. The thickness of this part
is smaller than the overall thickness of the formwork, and the tensile
strength of the formwork is correspondingly reduced. Fracture is more
likely to occur, resulting in a greater load drop. Among all the speci­
mens, the ultimate bearing capacity of the ribbed specimen is the
highest, and the roughened specimen has the best ductility.
3.2.2. Interface agent type
The load–deflection curves of the composite beams under different
interface agents are shown below in Fig. 12 (b). The curve shows that the
ultimate load of the composite beam treated with cement paste, epoxy
resin, and structural glue increased by 28.2%, 1.0%, and 17.1%,

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S. Li et al.
respectively, compared with specimen S0. In addition, compared with
specimen S0, the load–deflection curve of the sample using cement
paste, epoxy resin, and structural glue as the interface agent had no step
before the peak load, and the TRC formwork inhibited the development
of prefabricated cracks. Regardless of which interface agent is used, the
interface bonding performance between the formwork and the cast-in-
place concrete can be improved. According to research and analysis,
the ultimate bearing capacity of specimen S4 with cement paste as the
interface agent was the largest, followed by that of specimen S6 with
structural adhesive as the interface agent, while that of specimen S5
with epoxy resin as the interface agent is the smallest. This is mainly
because the cement paste used in the test is the fine-grained concrete
paste of the TRC formwork matrix, its composition is the same as that of
the TRC formwork, and both the concrete and the TRC formwork are
cement-based materials. During the hardening and curing process of the
laminated beam, there is no difference between the materials, and the
integrity of the specimen is good. The structural adhesive layer has good
shear resistance and can bear the shear stress at the interface between
the formwork and the cast-in-place concrete. The ultimate load of the
epoxy-treated specimen and that of the comparative specimen are not
much different, but the ductility is substantially improved.
3.2.3. Chopped fibre content
The load–deflection curves of composite beams with different
chopped fibre contents are shown below in Fig. 12 (c). By observing the
curve, it can be found that the ultimate loads of the composite beam
increase by 4.0%, 10.6%, and 39.9% when the chopped fibre contents
are 0.2%, 0.5%, and 0.8%, respectively, compared with those of spec­
imen S0. When the chopped fibre content is 0.8%, the ultimate bearing
capacity of the composite beam specimen is the largest, but the ductility
is reduced. In addition, it is found that for the test piece with a chopped
fibre volume content of 0.2%, when the load is 5.5 kN, there is a step on
the load–deflection curve of the test piece, and when the chopped fibre
volume content is greater than 0.2%, there is no step before the peak
load. When the chopped fibre content is low, the inhibitory effect of the
TRC formwork on the prefabricated cracks is not very obvious. Within
the content range of the experimental study in this chapter, as the
chopped fibre content increases, the ultimate bearing capacity of the
composite beam specimen increases. On the one hand, this is mainly
because the chopped fibres can participate in tension, and on the other
hand, the chopped fibres have a bridging effect, which can optimize the
stress transfer between the textile and the fine-grained concrete. In
addition, the chopped fibres can increase the friction and mechanical
occlusal force between the textile and the fine-grained concrete,
improving the bonding performance between the textile and the fine-
grained concrete. Therefore, the overall tensile strength of the TRC
formwork is improved, the fracture of the TRC formwork is delayed, and
the ultimate load of the composite beam is increased.
3.2.4. TRC formwork thickness
The load–deflection curves of composite beams with different TRC
formwork thicknesses are shown below in Fig. 12 (d). The curve shows
that the ultimate load of the composite beam is reduced by 13.0% and
5.7% compared to that of specimen S0 when the thickness of the TRC
formwork is 10 and 15 mm, respectively, and when the thickness of the
TRC formwork is 25 mm, the ultimate load is increased by 7.2%
compared with specimen S0. Steps appear on the load–deflection curves
of specimens S0, S10, and S11, and the load with obvious steps is ar­
ranged in the following order from small to large: specimen S10 with a
formwork thickness of 10 mm, specimen S11 with a plate thickness of
15 mm, and specimen S0 with a formwork thickness of 20 mm. When the
formwork thickness is 25 mm, the load–deflection curve does not show a
step before the ultimate load. Within the thickness of the formwork in
this test, the greater the thickness of the TRC formwork is, the higher the
ultimate bearing capacity of the specimen, and the greater the load
when a step appears; this is mainly because the greater the thickness of
9
Engineering Structures 235 (2021) 112021
the TRC formwork is, the higher its tensile bearing capacity, which de­
lays the fracture of the TRC formwork and improves the ultimate bearing
capacity of the specimen.
3.2.5. Textile distribution rate
The load–deflection curves of TRC formwork composite beams with
different distribution rates are shown below in Fig. 12 (e). By observing
the curve, it can be found that the ultimate load of the composite beam
with two layers of textile is 47.8% higher than that of a beam with a
single layer. The double-layer net also has a step on the load–deflection
curve before the ultimate load, and the corresponding load is approxi­
mately 11 kN, which is greater than the load value of 1.8 kN when the
single-layer net specimen, specimen S0, appears in the first step. Within
the range of the textile distribution rate studied in this experiment, as
the number of textile layers in the TRC formwork increases, the ultimate
load and deflection of the composite beam at the ultimate load also
increase. This is because after the TRC formwork begins to crack, the
tensile force is carried by the fine-grained concrete and the textile. The
fine-grained concrete will gradually withdraw from the stress, and the
stress will be carried by the textile. After the number of textile layers
increases, the tensile force that the formwork can bear increases. In
addition, it is found that the ultimate bearing capacity of the double-
layer textile specimen is not twice that of the single-layer textile. This
is because the textile cannot be fully utilized during the stress process
and there will be a discount. The specimen with double-layer textile
exhibits the most improved ultimate bearing capacity among the spec­
imens, and the ductility of the specimens is also substantially improved.
In summary, compared with specimen S0, the specimens with nail­
ing, ribbing, roughening or using interface agents have a better effect of
inhibiting the development of cracks. This is because the above­
mentioned treatment method increases the interface bonding perfor­
mance and suppresses the development of cracks. The addition of
chopped fibres to the matrix of the TRC formwork, increases in the
thickness of the formwork and increases in the textile distribution rate of
the formwork are mainly used to increase the tensile strength of the
formwork to improve the inhibition of crack development. The above
two types of methods have different mechanisms for the function of the
specimen.
3.3. Interface strain distribution
To explore the change in strain on the interface between the TRC
formwork and cast-in-place concrete with increasing load, the distri­
bution of the formwork strain from the middle of the span to the support
under different loads (10%, 20%, and 30% of the ultimate load are
selected). Fig. 13 below shows the strain distribution of typical TRC
formwork from the middle of the span to the support. Since the force of
the specimen is symmetrical, the centre of the span is taken as the axis,
and one side of the composite beam is selected for analysis. It can be seen
from the figure that from the end of the unbonded area of the TRC
formwork to the support end, the overall strain of the TRC formwork
shows a gradual decreasing trend. This trend becomes more obvious as
the load increases. When the load level is low, less than 60% of the ul­
timate load, the strain of the TRC formwork does not change much from
the end of the nonbonded area of the TRC formwork to the support, and
the strain near the end of the nonbonded area of the formwork is slightly
larger. The stress transfer occurs only in a short range, mainly near the
end of the nonbonded zone. The strain gradient changes little with
increasing load. The TRC formwork is coordinated with the deformation
of the cast-in-place concrete. As the load increases, when it is greater
than 70% of the ultimate load, the tensile stress on the TRC formwork
gradually increases, and the strain distribution changes. The strain dis­
tribution gradually expands from the end of the nonbonded area to the
end of the support, the gradient of strain growth gradually becomes
larger, and the range of shear stress transmission becomes larger. Fig. 13
shows that when the applied load increases to the ultimate load, the
S. Li et al.
Fig. 13. Strain map of TRC formwork.
maximum strain in the horizontal direction of the interface is at the end
of the unbonded zone. Therefore, the end of the nonbonding zone be­
tween the TRC formwork and cast-in-place concrete easily fractures,
which is consistent with the failure mode of most specimens in the test.
The local slip of the interface can evaluate the performance of the
interface bonding. The local slip of the interface is the difference be­
tween the slip of the TRC formwork and the slip of the cast-in-place
concrete. The calculation formula is as follows:
∫ ∫ ∫
( )
S = Sp − Sc = εp dx − εc dx = εp − εc dx (1)
Among them, εp is the TRC formwork strain, and εc is the cast-in-
place concrete strain. It can be seen from the above formula that the
greater the strain difference of the interface is, the greater the amount of
local slip near the interface. The strain difference measured by the test
can intuitively reflect the degree of shear slip between the TRC form­
work and the cast-in-place concrete. The interface strain difference be­
tween the TRC formwork and the cast-in-place concrete at the peak load
of different specimens is shown below in Fig. 14(a)–(e) (the values of the
strain difference in the figure are all positive).
The strain difference between the interface of the TRC formwork and
cast-in-place concrete of all the specimens from the middle of the span to
the support is shown in Fig. 14. The figure shows that under the action of
concentrated loads in the middle of the span, the closer the distance is to
the middle of the span, the greater the strain difference, that is, the
maximum local slip of the interface. The closer the distance is to the end
of the support, the smaller the interface strain difference. At a distance
75 mm from the mid-span to the section near the support, the interface
strain difference is very small, almost approaching zero, which indicates
that the TRC formwork and the cast-in-place concrete in this section are
deformed in coordination, the local slip is approaching zero, and the
interface is well bonded. In the section 50 mm from the mid-span, the
interface strain difference increases accordingly, and the local slippage
in this section is relatively large, which is the position where the inter­
face is prone to slippage. At the end of the nonbonded area, that is, at a
distance of 25 mm from the middle of the span, the difference in the
interface strain of the specimens with different treatment methods is the
largest, which is the most prone to interface slippage.
The interface strain differences of the specimens with different
interface treatment methods are as follows: untreated, roughened,
nailed, and ribbed; different interface treatment methods reduce the
interface strain difference of the specimens, which reduces the local
shear slip of the interface and improves the interface coordination of the
specimen. However, regardless of whether the interface is processed, the
magnitude of the interface strain difference is not large, and it is not
enough to cause the interface to break. Both the ribs of the interface
ribbed treatment specimens and the interface treated with nailing can
improve the shear resistance of the specimens. However, the interface
10
Engineering Structures 235 (2021) 112021
contact area of the ribbed treatment is much larger than that of the
nailing treatment, so the bonding strength is much larger, and it is less
prone to damage. The local slippage of the interface is also the smallest.
Compared with specimen S0, the roughness of the rough specimen can
increase the mechanical bite force of the interface, so the bond strength
of the comparison beam is also increased, the interface strain difference
is small, and the local slip is small.
The interface strain difference of the specimens with different
interface agent types in descending order is the contrast specimen,
specimen with epoxy resin, specimen with structural adhesive, and
specimen with cement paste. The difference in the interfacial strain
between the specimens treated with different interfacial agents is not
substantial, and the strain is slightly lower in treated specimens than
that of untreated specimens. The local shear slippage of the specimen
interface with cement paste as the interface agent is the smallest. The
interface bonding performance of the specimens with cement paste as
the interface agent is better. In this test, the interface strain difference
between specimens treated with epoxy resin and structural adhesive is
reduced to varying degrees compared with specimen S0, but its effect is
not as good as when cement paste is used as the interface agent.
Adding chopped fibres can reduce the strain difference, mainly
because the toughness of the matrix after adding chopped fibres in­
creases, and the tensile strength is improved. Under the same tensile
stress, the deformation of the formwork is reduced. The degree of
reduction in the interface strain difference is not large, mainly because
the content of chopped fibres is very small, ranging from 0.2% to 0.8%,
which is evident from the strain difference at the position of 25 mm from
the middle of the span. Within the volume fraction range, as the volume
fraction of the chopped fibre increases, the interface strain difference
gradually decreases. The larger the volume fraction of chopped fibres is,
the smaller the interface shear slip. However, further experiments are
needed to determine whether shear slip increases after a certain value is
and whether there is an optimal volume fraction.
The thickness of the TRC formwork also affects the difference in
strain. With the increase in the thickness of the TRC formwork, the strain
difference at the end of the TRC nonbonded area gradually decreases,
but the decrease is not large. The tensile strength of the TRC formwork is
related to the thickness of the formwork. Under the same conditions, the
greater the thickness of the TRC formwork is, the greater the tensile
strength, and the smaller the interface strain difference under the same
load.
When the number of textile layers of the specimen increases, the
strain difference at a certain location of the interface is relatively small.
This is mainly because the increased textile can bear part of the tensile
stress of the TRC formwork. With the increase in the number of layers of
textile, the TRC formwork’s ability to bear tensile stress increases.
Therefore, under the same load, the deformation of the TRC formwork is
relatively small, resulting in a decrease in the strain difference between
S. Li et al.
Fig. 14. The strain difference of specimen interface.
the TRC formwork and the cast-in-place concrete.
Through research and analysis, it is found that the reason why the
interface is nailed, ribbed, roughened, or why the use of interface agents
can reduce the interface strain difference is mainly because the above
treatment methods increase the interface bond strength, making the
formwork and cast-in-place concrete have better integrity and more
coordinated deformation. However, the strain of the TRC formwork
under the same load can be reduced by increasing the tensile strength of
the formwork by adding chopped fibres to the formwork matrix,
11
Engineering Structures 235 (2021) 112021
increasing the thickness of the formwork and increasing the distribution
ratio of the formwork. The two reasons for reducing the interface strain
difference are different. In addition, through the analysis of the test
process of different specimens, it is found that there is a strain difference
between the TRC formwork and cast-in-place concrete regardless of the
type of treatment of the interface and formwork. However, the strain
difference between them is very small, so there is no slip between the
TRC formwork and cast-in-place concrete during the whole test.
S. Li et al.
4. Conclusion
To promote the further use of TRC permanent formwork in practical
engineering applications, this paper adopts a combination of experi­
ments and theoretical analysis to analyse different interface treatment
methods, interface agent types, TRC formwork thicknesses, chopped
fibre contents, textile distribution rates and other factors on the bonding
properties of TRC permanent formwork and cast-in-place concrete. The
main conclusions are summarized as follows:
1. The experimental study found that regardless of the interface treat­
ment, the failure process of the precast cracked composite beam
specimen can be divided into two obvious stages, namely, the
development stage of the concrete precast crack and the fracture
failure stage of the TRC formwork; the interface bonding properties
between the TRC permanent formwork and the cast-in-place con­
crete are both good.
2. The ultimate bearing capacity of the prefabricated cracked com­
posite beam specimens with the treated interface has been improved
to varying degrees, and crack development has also been suppressed.
Nail adhesion, ribbing, roughening, and the use of interface agents
mainly improve the bending performance of the prefabricated TRC
formwork laminated beam by enhancing the interface bonding per­
formance, increasing the thickness of the TRC formwork, increasing
the distribution rate of the formwork, and adding chopped fibres to
the matrix to improve the performance of the composite beam by
increasing the strength of the TRC formwork itself.
3. The strain distribution of the TRC formwork near the interface shows
a gradually decreasing trend from the end of the nonbonded area to
the end of the support. When the load level is low, the strain is mainly
distributed near the end of the nonbonded area; when the load level
is high, the strain distribution gradually extends from the end of the
nonbonded zone to the vicinity of the support, and the range of the
strain distribution becomes larger.
4. Treatments such as sticking nails, stiffening, roughening, using
interface agents, increasing the thickness of the TRC formwork,
increasing the formwork distribution rate, and adding chopped fibres
to the matrix can all reduce the strain at the interface between the
formwork and cast-in-place concrete.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Shichang Li: Data curation, Writing - original draft. Shiping Yin:
Conceptualization, Supervision, Funding acquisition. Congcong Wang:
Data curation, Writing - original draft. Yuhou Yang: Resources,
Visualization.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the
Jiangsu Provincial Key Research and Development Program
(BE2019642) and Guangxi Key Research and Development Project
(AB17292062). The experimental work described in this paper was
conducted at the Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Environmental Impact and
Structural Safety in Civil Engineering in the China University of Mining
and Technology. Helps during the testing from staffs and students at
12
Engineering Structures 235 (2021) 112021
laboratory are greatly acknowledged.
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