Fracture Energy of Engineered Cementitious Composites

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present preliminary results regarding Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) and their behavior when experimentally assessing their fracture energy, by measuring the flexural tensile strength (limit of proportionality, residual). As a characteristic of a ductile material, fracture energy is an important parameter when assessing ECC post-cracking residual stresses. With 2% fibers addition in the mixtures, the crack width can be controlled and the material’s ability to bear a tensile strain-hardening capacity has been assessed. Ninety days flexural tensile strength tests were performed in order to obtain preliminary results on ECC prismatic specimens.

Keywords

• fracture energy
• engineered cementitious composites
• limit of proportionality
• residual strength
• fly ash