Constitutive modeling of fiber-reinforced cement composites

The role of fibers in the enhancement of the inherently low tensile stress and strain capacities of fiber reinforced cementitious composites (FRC) has been addressed through both the phenomenological, using concepts of continuum damage mechanics, and micro-mechanical approaches leading to the development of a closing pressure that could be used in a cohesive crack analysis. The observed enhancements in the matrix behavior is assumed to be related to the ability of the material to transfer stress across cracks.;In the micromechanics approach, this is modeled by the introduction of a nonlinear closing pressure at the crack lips. Due to the different nature of cracking in the pre-peak and post peak regimes, two different micro-mechanical models of the cohesive pressure have been proposed, one for the strain hardening stage and another for the strain softening regime. This cohesive pressure is subsequently incorporated into a finite element code so that a nonlinear fracture analysis can be carried out. On top of the fact that a direct fracture analysis has been performed to predict the response of some FRC structural elements, a numerical procedure for the homogenization of FRC materials has been proposed. In this latter approach, a link is established between the cracking taking place at the meso-scale and its mechanical characteristics as represented by the Young's modulus. A parametric study has been carried out to investigate the effect of crack patterning and fiber volume fractions on the overall Young's modulus and the thermodynamic force associated with the tensorial damage variable.;After showing the usefulness and power of phenomenological continuum damage mechanics (PCDM) in the prediction of ERC materials' response to a stimuli (loading), a combined PCDM-NLFM...