Damage Evolution of Steel-Polypropylene Hybrid Fiber Reinforced Concrete: Experimental and Numerical Investigation

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental investigation on the stress-strain behavior and damage evolution of steel-polypropylene hybrid fiber reinforced concrete (HFRC) with different fiber types, volume fractions, and aspect ratios. The damage evolution laws of HFRC were obtained using uniaxial cyclic compression and tension tests. The results show that the addition of hybrid fiber has a significant synergetic effect on the mechanical behavior of concrete. The peak strength, peak strain, toughness, and postpeak ductility of HFRC under both tension and compression are improved, and the damage accumulation and stiffness degradation are alleviated by increasing volume fractions of SF and PF, as well as aspect ratios of SF. Moreover, the steel fiber volume fraction shows a more pronounced effect than that of other considered factors on the enhancement of cyclic mechanical parameters of HFRC. Based on the unloading stiffness degradation process, analytical equations were, respectively, proposed to generalize the damage progression of HFRC under compression and tension, with the effects of hybrid fiber taken into consideration. Finally, the proposed uniaxial damage evolution equations combined with the calibrated concrete damaged plasticity (CDP) model in ABAQUS were used to predict the responses of HFRC materials and structural members subjected to shear and seismic loads. The comparisons between the numerical predictions and experimental results show a good agreement.