The mechanical behavior of RPC under combined shear and compressive loads

Le Shen, Miao Ding, Kang Chen*, Chen Feng, Bo Yang*, Mohamed Elchalakani

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this study, the shear behavior of reactive powder concrete (RPC) in terms of shear strength and shear slip was studied by direct shear tests on cubic specimens and the influences of water-binder ratio, steel fiber volume ratio and normal compressive stress ratio were investigated. The test results indicated that using a low water-binder ratio and a reasonable fiber content could enhance the shear strength of RPC specimens. The RPC specimen containing steel fiber will not be severed into two individual parts due to the connection of steel fiber. Moreover, the normal stress was the key contribution to the shear strength, and the residual shear capacity was mainly provided by the friction of the shear surface. The cracking of the specimens became more severe but the shear strength in the cyclic horizontal test did not decrease obviously compared with that in the monotonic horizontal test. Applying the twin-shear unified strength theory to the test data, it was indicated that the elliptic curve showed a good agreement. Therefore, the unified twin shear strength theory could predict the proper RPC strength envelope curve under combined compressive-shear stress states.

Original languageEnglish
Article number104071
JournalCement and Concrete Composites
Volume121
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2021
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Direct shear test
  • Reactive powder concrete
  • Steel fiber content
  • Strength analysis
  • Water-binder ratio

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