Title: Constitutive Modeling of Fiber Reinforced Concrete

Author(s): D. J. Stevens and D. Liu

Publication: Symposium Paper

Volume: 142

Issue:

Appears on pages(s): 249-268

Keywords: ductility; failure; fiber reinforced concretes; models; finite element method; impact strength; loads (forces); strength; toughness; Design

DOI: 10.14359/3963

Date: 1/1/1994

Abstract:
It is well recognized that fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) exhibits a number of superior properties relative to plain concrete, such as improved strength, ductility, impact resistance, and failure toughness. These advantageous features of FRC can lead to novel structural applications, for which standard design and analysis procedures must be supplemented by numerical modeling (for example, the finite element method). This, in turn, makes necessary the development of satisfactory constitutive models that can predict the behavior of FRC under different load conditions, both monotonic and cyclic. In this paper, a constitutive model for FRC is developed loosely within the theory of mixtures. For plain concrete, an anisotropic, strain-based, continuum damage/plasticity model with kinematic and isotropic damage surfaces is developed. To represent the effect of the fibers, a simplified model that accounts for the tensile resistance of the fibers and the enhanced tensile resistance of the plain concrete is proposed. The predictions of the FRC constitutive model are compared to data from laboratory tests of steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) specimens under uniaxial and biaxial loadings.