Biaxial behavior of high-performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composite plates

A total of 127 plate specimens were fabricated and tested, of various mixture proportions, fiber types, and casting methods, in order to investigate the behavior of both plain concrete and high-performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composite (HPFRCC) specimens under multi-axial loading. The majority of the test specimens were initially fabricated as larger loaf specimens, to achieve proper fiber directionality in the out-of-plane direction, and then cut and trimmed, with steel brush platens used for loading to minimize friction between the testing machine and the plate specimens. The test results indicate that HPFRCC materials can exhibit enhanced biaxial compression performance, compared to plain concrete specimens, due to passive confinement provided by fibers in the out-of-plane direction. The multi-axial behavior of HPFRCC materials obtained from the tests was further used to construct biaxial failure curves, and several modeling parameters have then been derived for nonlinear finite element analysis of HPFRCC planar members subjected to biaxial stresses.