Postcrack Scaling Relations for Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Composites

Abstract

The prepeak and postpeak stress‐displacement relations are derived for the bridging mechanism associated with randomly oriented discontinuous flexible fibers in cement‐based composites. The postcrack strength and fracture energy are examined in light of the scaling micromechanical parameters, including fiber snubbing coefficient, diameter, aspect ratio, volume fraction, and interface bond strength. Comparisons of theoretically derived postcracking stress‐displacement relation and pullout fracture energy with experimental data of both steel‐fiber and synthetic‐fiber reinforced cementitious composites of widely varying micromechanical parametric values suggest that the simple model approximates the bridging behavior in this type of composite.