A Fracture Model for Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Materials

Abstract The present study describes the framework and the major results of a statistical model developed to predict the tensile properties of discontinuous fiber reinforced cementitious materials, with particular emphasis on fiber reinforced concrete. As macroscopically the fracture behavior of these composites varies from ductile to brittle depending mainly on the fiber length, the model is divided into two major parts. The first one, simulating ductile failure, is based on the mechanics and statistics of composite materials. The second, covering brittle failure, incorporates a fracture mechanics criterion in the analysis. Each formulation leads essentially to the assessment of the composite characteristic tensile strength and its distribution functions. The chain weakest link concept of reliability theory is then applied to bound the overall model and provide results as modified by the size of the tensile member.