Title:
How Tough is Fiber Reinforced Shotcrete? Part 2, Plate Tests
Author(s):
Nemkumar Banthia, Prabhakar Gupta, C. Yan, and Dudley R. Morgan
Publication:
Concrete International
Volume:
21
Issue:
8
Appears on pages(s):
62-66
Keywords:
beams; fiber reinforcement; loading rate; plate tests; shotcrete; toughness
DOI:
Date:
8/1/1999
Abstract:
Characterizing toughness or energy absorption capability of fiber reinforced shotcrete has been a challenge. Both beam and plate specimens have been proposed for this purpose. Since it is becoming clearer that shotcrete in many applications is loaded dynamically, slow rate static tests performed on beams or plates are not sufficient for a comprehensive characterization of in-place performance. Some of these issues were addressed in Part 1. In this article, the same five fiber types were investigated using plate specimens. Plate tests show similar toughness enhancement due to fiber reinforcement, but the relative improvements between fiber types are not necessarily in agreement with those indicated in the beam tests. Plate specimens are also less sensitive to changes in the rate of loading from static to dynamic. Considering these issues, and realizing that in practice shotcrete is often loaded in biaxial bending, the use of plate specimens rather than beam specimens for the characterization of toughness of fiber reinforced shotcrete is recommended.