Fracture of the interfacial zone between a fiber and the cementitious matrix plays a significant role in the mechanical behavior of fiber reinforced cementitious composites. For better understanding of debonding characteristics of a fiber in the composites, the behavior of the extension of cracks along the interface was examined under the fluorescence microscope. The correspondence between the features of fracture zones obtained by the microscopic study and the fracture toughness for the interfacial zone is discussed in this paper. Examinations under the microscope revealed that the debonding and the extension of interfacial cracks were not caused by a simple shear failure at the actual interface, but were accompanied by local failures over relatively wide regions surrounding the steel fibers. The incorporation of silica fume resulted in the reduction in areas containing local failures along the interface. Fewer local failures in the interfacial zone in the steel fiber-silica fume-bearing cement composite were reflected by the decrease in the fracture toughness for the interfacial zone.

This study of the concrete/rock interface addresses primarily the interface of limestone and mortar (since no coarse aggregate was used in the mix) and, to a lesser extent, mortar and rock salt. Uniaxial tensile tests with closed-loop-control were used to determine the stress-crack opening displacement relationship in the softening regime. This relationship is proposed as the constitutive property in an interface cohesive zone model developed for interface fracture. The validity of such a model was investigated through testing and finite element analysis of compact tension specimens. A theoretical investigation of the effect of the complex singularity attributed to an interface crack was performed within the framework of the interface cohesive zone model. Although the theoretical analyses included only a semi-infinite geometry and was, therefore, limited in scope, it was found capable of addressing many of the characteristics of quasi-brittle fracture. Experimental tools used involved a scanning electron microscope to observe microscopic features of the interface that are responsible for strength and toughness. The electronic speckle pattern interferometry technique was used to evaluate pre-peak crack growth. Results indicate that the mechanisms responsible for strength and toughness at the interface are different and that the characteristics of the fracture at the interface is qualitatively similar to that of any other quasi-brittle material.

The bond between reinforcing bars and concrete under impact loading was studied both experimentally and by the finite element method. The experiments consisted of pullout tests and push-in tests, under three different types of loading: static, medium rate, and impact. Different concrete strengths (normal and high), types of fibers (polypropylene and steel), and fiber contents were considered. The study focused on the bond-slip relationships and the fracture energy in bond failure. The experimental results were compared with those obtained by the finite element method, in which a special "bond-link element" that was able to transmit both shear and normal forces was adopted to model the connection between the reinforcing bar and the concrete. It was found that higher loading rates, higher concrete compressive strengths, and the addition of steel fibers had significant effects on the bond resistance, the fracture energy, and the bond stress-slip relationship, especially for the push-in case. Reasonably good correspondence in the results between the two methods was also found, and a bond-stress-slip relationship under high rate loading could be established analytically.

The fracture process of high-strength concrete (HSC) submitted to uniaxial compression was analyzed by means of loading tests on cylinders under special closed loop control. Conclusions were drawn from axial and circumferential strain curves, cross sections of specimens impregnated with a fluorescent dye, and visual observations. The evolution of the internal crack extension was revealed and it was shown that under stable progressive fracture, predominantly aggregate bond failure and crack branching occur with the cracks passing around the coarse aggregates. the onset of damage is explained in terms of elementary force transfer concepts. The influence of maximum aggregate size and fiber addition are also discussed in this paper.

In many practical engineering applications of fiber reinforced concretes (FRC), fibers are subjected to significant lateral loading. The lateral stress may have a significant effect on fiber debonding and pullout, thus affecting the performance of FRC. In this investigation, a novel experimental set-up was developed to carry out fiber pullout tests under various levels of lateral compression. Interfacial properties for steel fiber in mortar were derived from the measured fiber load versus displacement curves, based on a unified fiber debonding theory. As expected, the interfacial friction at the onset of sliding increases with applied compressive stress. Surprisingly, the pre-sliding interfacial resistance (which can be either the interfacial strength or the interfacial fracture energy, depending on whether interfacial debonding is strength or fracture governed) is also found to increase with lateral compressive stress. Also, with higher compression, there is a more rapid decay of interfacial friction when the fiber is sliding out of its groove. As a result, while lateral compression can significantly increase the peak pullout load, the increase in total energy absorbed during the pullout process is much less drastic.