Tensile Strain Capacity Prediction of Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) Using Soft Computing Techniques

Plain concrete is strong in compression but brittle in tension,having a low tensile strain capacity that can significantly degrade the long-term performance of concrete structures,even when steel reinforcing is present.In order to address these challenges,short polymer fibers are randomly dispersed in a cement-based matrix to forma highly ductile engineered cementitious composite(ECC).Thismaterial exhibits high ductility under tensile forces,with its tensile strain being several hundred times greater than conventional concrete.Since concrete is inherently weak in tension,the tensile strain capacity(TSC)has become one of the most extensively researched properties.As a result,developing a model to predict the TSC of the ECC and to optimize the mixture proportions becomes challenging.Meanwhile,the effort required for laboratory trial batches to determine the TSC is reduced.To achieve the research objectives,five distinct models,artificial neural network(ANN),nonlinear model(NLR),linear relationship model(LR),multi-logistic model(MLR),and M5P-tree model(M5P),are investigated and employed to predict the TSCof ECCmixtures containing fly ash.Data from115 mixtures are gathered and analyzed to develop a new model.The input variables include mixture proportions,fiber length and diameter,and the time required for curing the various mixtures.The model’s effectiveness is evaluated and verified based on statistical parameters such as R2,mean absolute error(MAE),scatter index(SI),root mean squared error(RMSE),and objective function(OBJ)value.Consequently,the ANN model outperforms the others in predicting the TSC of the ECC,with RMSE,MAE,OBJ,SI,and R2 values of 0.42%,0.3%,0.33%,0.135%,and 0.98,respectively.

Impact Properties of Engineered Cementitious Composites with High Volume Fly Ash Using SHPB Test

The split Hopkinson pressure bar （SHPB） testing with diameter 40 mm was used to investigate the dynamic mechanical properties of engineered cementitious composites （ECCs） with different fly ash content. The basic properties including deformation, energy absorption capacity, strain-stress relationship and failure patterns were discussed. The ECCs showed strain-rate dependency and kept better plastic flow during impact process compared with reactive powder concrete （RPC） and concrete, but the critical compressive strength was lower than that of RPC and concrete. The bridging effect of PVA fiber and addition of fly ash can significantly improve the deformation and energy absorption capacities of ECCs. With the increase of fly ash content in ECCs, the static and dynamic compressive strength lowered and the dynamic increase factor enhanced. Therefore, to meet different engineering needs, the content of fly ash can be an important index to control the static and dynamic mechanical properties of ECCs.

Effects of Water/Binder Ratio on the Properties of Engineered Cementitious Composites

The effects of water/binder ratio （w/b） on the toughness behavior, compressive strength and flexural strength of engineered cementitious composites （ECC） were investigated. The w/b ratios of 0.25, 0.31, 0.33 and 0.37 were selected and the specimens were tested at the ages of 7 d and 28 d. The experimental results showed that there was a corresponding increase in first cracking strength, modulus of rupture, compressive strength and flexural strength with the decrease of w/b. Within the w/b range of 0.25-0.37, higher w/b was found to have improved effects on deflection, strain hardening index and toughness index of ECC. In the permission of meeting the requirement of compressive strength grade, selecting higher w/b in mix design will help to obtain robust ECC.

High Temperature Flexural Deformation Properties of Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) with Hybrid Fiber Reinforcement

Engineered Cementitious Composites(ECC)is a class of high-performance fiber reinforced composites with ultra-ductility designed based on micromechanics,and it has been developed for increasing application in the construction industry during recent decades.The properties of ECC at room temperature have been tested and studied in depth,however,few studies focus on its performance after high temperature that is one of the worst conditions to ECC.To investigate the change tendency and mechanism for the high temperature flexural properties of hybrid fiber reinforced ECC and the feasibility of calcium carbonate whisker to reduce the cost of ECC materials,polyvinyl alcohol fiber(PVA)reinforced strain hardening cementitious composites(PVA-ECC),steel fiber+PVA fiber reinforced ECC(defined as HyFRECC-A)and steel fiber+PVA fiber+CaCO3 whisker reinforced ECC(defined as HyFRECC-B)subject to room temperature and 200℃,400℃,600℃,800℃elevated temperature exposure were experimentally compared.The results indicate that equally replacing PVA fibers by steel fibers degraded the flexural hardening ability of PVA-ECC at room temperature,while the addition of appropriate amount of CaCO3 whisker improved the flexural strength,toughness and flexural hardening behavior.The elevated temperature posed a significant effect on the flexural strength and toughness of the three types of ECCs.Flexural deflection hardening behavior of the three types of ECCs was eliminated after high temperature exposure.Flexural strength and toughness of PVA-ECC presented an exponential decay along with the increase of temperature.The addition of steel fiber slowed down the decay rate.Although the use of CaCO3 whisker increased the post-temperature flexural strength and toughness of HyFRECC-B,the decay rate was not further decreased.

Influence of Thickeners on Cement Paste Structure and Performance of Engineered Cementitious Composites

Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose （HPMC） and amphoteric polyacrylamide （ACPAM） were respectively used to prepare engineered cementitious composite （ECC） which exhibits strain-hardening behavior under uniaxial tension. The connections between cement paste structure and the performance of the composite in fresh and hardened state were investigated, aiming at achieving the desirable workability at a given solids concentration. The experimental results of viscosity and miCrostructure of cement pastes show that the intimate connections between flocculation groups lead to the growing increase in viscosity. The results of deformability and fiber dispersion demonstrate that fiber dispersion coefficient is a comprehensive index which can reflect the performance of deformability as well as uniformity. And the desirable fresh mixture can be achieved by optimizing the viscosity of cement paste. At last, the ductile strain-hardening performance of the ECC prepared with HPMC or ACPAM was investigated through uniaxial tensile test.

Effect of natural pozzolan content on the properties o engineered cementitious composites as repair material

In order to determine the effect of Natural Pozzolan （NP） content on the mechanical properties and durability characteristics on Engineered Cementitious Composites （ECC） as repair material. This study focused on the evaluation of the most factors influencing compatibility between the repair material and the base concrete including mechanicals properties such as, compressive and flexural strengths, elastic modulus, capillary absorption and drying shrinkage. The experimental results showed that natural pozzolan reduces the compressive strength and the flexuraI strength of ECC at all ages. The elastic modulus of ECC was remarkably lower than that of normal-strength concrete. This lower ~oung＇s modulus is desirable for repair concrete, because it prevents the stresses induced by restrained shrinkage. In addition, the incorporation of high-volume natural pozzolan decreases significantly the coefficient of capillary absorption at long term and increases the drying shrinkage. Generally, based on the results obtained in the present experimental investigation, ECC can be used effectively as an overlay material over existing parent concrete.

Shrinkage Reducing Measures for Engineering Cementitious Composites

Inhibition measurement of shrinkage of engineering cementitious composites （ECC） was investigated due to typical ECC with higher free drying shrinkage.The effects of expanded admixture （EA）,shrinkage reducing admixture （SRA）,coarse sand＋stone powder （CS＋SP） and superabsorbent polymer （SAP） on drying shrinkage and mechanical properties were studied.The experimental results show that ECC incorporating EA,SRA and coarse sand can retain around 60% of the typical ECC＇s free drying shrinkage.Superabsorbent polymerl（SAP） can delay the development of free drying shrinkage of ECC at different ages,and the effect of SAP is not distinct like the actions of EA,superabsorbent polymer（SRA） and coarse sand.Significantly,SAP may act as artificial flaw to form a more homogeneous defect system that increases the potential of saturated multiple cracking,hence the ductility of ECC will be improved greatly.

高应变率荷载作用下钢筋与ECC的黏结滑移关系研究

采用水泥基复合材料(engineering cementitious composite,ECC)替代混凝土可以提高结构在偶然荷载作用下的抗连续倒塌性能,但在悬链线大变形阶段钢筋与ECC间可能会出现黏结滑移破坏。基于分离式霍普金森压杆(SHPB)试验装置,进行了钢筋与ECC的动态黏结滑移性能试验,分析了ECC强度等级、应变率、钢筋直径对极限黏结强度、刚度和滑移量的影响规律,获得了高应变率下钢筋与ECC的平均黏结滑移曲线,得到其黏结滑移破坏模式。并与静态黏结滑移试验进行对比,得到了动态黏结强度增强因子。进一步,通过钢筋开槽内贴应变片法,获得不同锚固位置的黏结应力及相对滑移的分布规律,提出黏结位置函数。最后,根据试验结果得到钢筋与ECC平均黏结滑移本构,进而乘以黏结位置函数得到考虑锚固位置影响的动态黏结滑移本构,为ECC结构构件设计及有限元分析提供试验依据和理论参考。

Study on time-varying seismic vulnerability and analysis of ECC-RC composite piers using high strength reinforcement bars in offshore environment

As the main seismic component of a bridge,seismic damage to the bridge pier has a greater effect on its subsequent service.In the offshore chloride environment,the issues(e.g.,reinforcement bar corrosion and attenuation of concrete strength)of piers caused by chloride ion seriously curtail the normal service life and deteriorate the anti-seismic property of bridge structures.The engineered cementitious composite(ECC)-reinforced concrete(RC)composite pier with high strength reinforcement bars(HSRB)is expected to solve the above problems.This study aims to clarify the time-varying seismic vulnerability(SV)of the HSRBECC-RC composite pier during its full life cycle(FLC).Based on OpenSees,the refined finite element analysis models of RC pier,ECC-RC composite pier,and HSRBECC-RC composite pier have been established.Moreover,using the nonlinear time-path dynamic analysis method,the influence of chloride ion erosion on the time-dependent seismic vulnerability(SV)of these different piers in different service life and different peak ground acceleration(PGA)were analyzed from a dynamic point of view.The research shows that the exceeding probability(EP)of the same damage level increases with the enhancement of service time and PGA and with the increase of destruction,the exceeding probability(EP)of slight damage(DL-1),moderate damage(DL-2),serious damage(DL-3),and complete collapse(DL-4)decreases in turn;the corrosion degree of chloride ion to piers is small during the early service period,the time-varying vulnerability curve of the bridge piers is almost the same as that of a new bridge,and during later service,as the extent of chloride ion corrosion deepens,exceeding probability(EP)under severe damage(DL-3)and complete collapse(DL-4)is increased,and the seismic performance is significantly enhanced.

Strengthening of the concrete face slabs of dams using sprayable strain-hardening fiber-reinforced cementitious composites

In this study,sprayable strain-hardening fiber-reinforced cementitious composites(FRCC)were applied to strengthen the concrete slabs in a concrete-face rockfill dam(CFRD)for the first time.Experimental,numerical,and analytical investigations were carried out to understand the flexural properties of FRCC-layered concrete slabs.It was found that the FRCC layer improved the flexural performance of concrete slabs significantly.The cracking and ultimate loads of a concrete slab with an 80 mm FRCC layer were 132%and 69%higher than those of the unstrengthened concrete slab,respectively.At the maximum crack width of 0.2 mm,the deflection of the 80-mm FRCC strengthened concrete slab was 144%higher than that of the unstrengthened concrete slab.In addition,a FE model and a simplified analytical method were developed for the design and analysis of FRCC-layered concrete slabs.Finally,the test result of FRCC leaching solution indicated that the quality of the water surrounding FRCC satisfied the standard for drinking water.The findings of this study indicate that the sprayable strain-hardening FRCC has a good potential for strengthening hydraulic structures such as CFRDs.

Performance of soft-hard-soft （SHS） cement based composite subjected to blast loading with consideration of interface properties

This paper presents a combined experimental and numerical study on the damage and performance of a soft-hard-soft （SHS） multi-layer cement based composite subjected to blast loading which can be used for protective structures and infrastructures to resist extreme loadings, and the composite consists of three layers of construction materials including asphalt concrete （AC） on the top, high strength concrete （HSC） in the middle, and engineered cementitious composites （ECC） at the bottom. To better characterize the material properties under dynamic loading, interface properties of the composite were investigated through direct shear test and also used to validate the interface model. Strain rate effects of the asphalt concrete were also studied and both compressive and tensile dynamic increase factor （DIF） curves were improved based on split Hopkinson pressure bar （SHPB） test. A full-scale field blast test investigated the blast behavior of the composite materials. The numerical model was established by taking into account the strain rate effect of all concrete materials. Furthermore, the interface properties were also considered into the model. The numerical simulation using nonlinear finite element Both the numerical and field blast test indicated that the software LS-DYNA agrees closely with the experimental data SHS composite exhibited high resistance against blast loading