Construction and Building Materials 125 (2016) 490–500

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Construction and Building Materials

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Influence of steel fiber on dynamic compressive behavior of hybrid fiber

ultra high toughness cementitious composites at different strain rates
Qinghua Li ⇑, Xin Zhao, Shilang Xu, Xiang Gao
Institute of Advanced Engineering Structures and Materials, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China

h i g h l i g h t s g r a p h i c a l a b s t r a c t

The addition of steel fiber (SF)

improves the dynamic behavior of
UHTCC.

Higher SF volume fractions exhibit
lower rate sensitivity in dynamic
strength.

Decreased strength sensitivity to SF
content as the strain rate increases.

Failure patterns of SF change from
pull-out to rupture as the strain rate
increases.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper describes an investigation of the influence of steel fiber (abbreviated as SF) on the dynamic
Received 11 April 2016 compressive behavior of hybrid fiber ultra high toughness cementitious composites (UHTCC) at different
Received in revised form 16 August 2016 strain rates. The volume content of SF was varied from 0.0% to 1.5%, whereas the volume content of
Accepted 18 August 2016
polyvinyl alcohol (abbreviated as PVA) fiber remained constant at 2.0%. The cylindrical specimens were
Available online 24 August 2016
prepared and tested at strain rates ranging from 113.8 to 192.1 s1 by using an 80 mm diameter split
Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB). The dynamic behavior of hybrid fiber UHTCC was evaluated in terms
Keywords:
of failure patterns, dynamic compressive strength, dynamic increase factor (DIF), and energy absorption
Ultra high toughness cementitious
composites
ability. Moreover, the visco-elastic model was employed to describe the viscoelastic behavior of hybrid
Steel fiber fiber UHTCC. The experimental results show that the addition of SF improves the dynamic behavior of
Hybrid fiber UHTCC significantly. In contrast to the previous studies, the rate sensitivity of dynamic strength in hybrid
Split Hopkinson pressure bar fiber UHTCC depends upon the fiber volume fraction. It was found that specimens with higher SF volume
Dynamic compressive behavior fractions exhibit lower rate sensitivity in dynamic strength than specimens with lower fiber volume
Visco-elastic model fractions. In contrast, decreased strength sensitivity to SF content was observed with an increase of
strain rate.
Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

⇑ Corresponding author. Ultra high toughness cementitious composites (UHTCC) are a

E-mail address: liqinghua@zju.edu.cn (Q. Li). special class of fiber reinforced cement-based composite that

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2016.08.066
0950-0618/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Q. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 125 (2016) 490–500
exhibits pseudo strain hardening and multiple cracking phenom-
ena, and is often referred to as engineered cement-based compos-
ites (ECC) or strain-hardening cementitious composites (SHCC)
[1–3]. With comparison of steel fiber (abbreviated as SF, E  200
GPa, tensile strength  2700 MPa), the relatively low modulus
fibers, such as polyvinyl alcohol (abbreviated as PVA, E  40 GPa,
tensile strength  1600 MPa), polyethylene (abbreviated as PE,
E  66 GPa, tensile strength  2700 MPa) increase the ductility
and energy absorption of UHTCC as well as minimizing fragmenta-
tion and reducing the velocities of the fragments. Although the
ultimate strength of PVA is in the upper range of medium strength
fibers, it is much lower than that of SF and does not allow for resis-
tance to penetration [4–7]. A hybrid fiber UHTCC has recently been
developed by adding a proper volume ratio of SF to traditional
UHTCC reinforced with PVA. In fact, the modulus of PVA and SF
are all exceed that of the cement-based matrix. Herein, ‘‘the
high/low modulus fiber” is a relative term because the modulus
of SF is five times higher than that of PVA. UHTCC with low
modulus fibers exhibits high strain capacity, low crack width but
low ultimate strength, while those containing high modulus fibers
exhibit high ultimate strength but low strain capacity. Hybrid fiber
UHTCC, with proper volume ratio of high and low modulus fibers,
is expected to achieve a target balance between ultimate strength,
strain capacity and crack width [7–10]. Compared to both conven-
tional steel-reinforced concrete and fiber-reinforced concrete
counterparts, it has been found that hybrid fiber UHTCC can reduce
scabbing, spalling, and damage with improved ductility and energy
absorption capacity under impact load, and it has been regarded as
a very promising material for defensive structures [8–11].
The appropriate volume ratio of SF incorporating PVA has been
investigated by several studies at static and low strain rate loading.
Ahmed et al. [12–14] studied the tensile behavior and flexural
response of hybrid fiber ECC with different hybrid combinations.
Results showed that tensile strength and fracture toughness
increased with increased content of SF, and that beyond a certain
fiber content, strain capacity and toughness decreased. Based on
a 2% total volume fiber fraction, Li et al. [15] recommended a
hybrid fiber ECC reinforced with 1.5% PVA and 0.5% SF as the best
mixture to resist impacts. In another experimental study, ECC rein-
forced with 1.75% PVA and 0.58% SF exhibited improved strength
and strain capability in comparison to the mixture recommended
by Li et al. [16]. The dynamic tensile characteristics of hybrid fiber
ECC with increasing strain rate from 1  105 to 0.1 s1 was also
investigated by Soe et al. 2013 [16]. The results showed that the
tensile strength at the first crack appearance and the ultimate ten-
sile strength increased with the increase of strain rate, whereas the
strain capacity decreased with the increase of strain rate. On the
contrary, studies by Maalej et al. [7] and Douglas et al. [17] showed
that the strain capacity of ECC was not sensitive to the strain rate.
However, most of previous studies are limited to the static or low
strain rates loadings. Studies have rarely been performed to inves-
tigate the high strain rates behavior of UHTCC, especially compres-
sive behavior, which may differ from that at static loading or low
strain rates loading. Mechtcherine et al. 2011 [18] tested the
dynamic tensile behavior of SHCC for higher strain rates from 10
Table 1
The mix proportions and fluidity of UHTCC.
No. Cementitious Nano-SiO2(kg/m3) W/B
binders (kg/m3)
UT 1266 39.2 0.31
UT-0.5 1266 39.2 0.31
UT-1.0 1266 39.2 0.31
UT-1.5 1266 39.2 0.31
W/B represents water/binder ratio.
491
to 50 s1. The observation is in contrast to that of quasi-static tests
that a considerable increase in strain capacity was measured
because of the longer fiber pull-out length.
Several studies have revealed that the strain rate sensitivity of
cementitious composites is dependent on the failure patterns of
fibers [5,19]. The studies of Lok et al. [20] and Wang et al. [21]
showed that the failure pattern of SF changes from pull-out to rup-
ture, and fractures occur without the benefits of SF being fully
exploited at higher strain rate, which may decrease the strain rate
sensitivity of materials. At the same time, the fiber volume fraction
also influenced the failure pattern of SF in cementitious composites
and thus influenced the rate sensitivity of materials. The drop
weight impact tests carried out by Mindess et al. [22] showed that
fiber rupture was the primary failure mechanism below 0.5% and
fiber pull-out was the primary mechanism above 0.75%. Kim
et al. [23] observed that cementitious composites with 2% SF vol-
ume fraction showed little rate sensitivity unlike those with 1%
volume fraction, which implies that mechanisms other than pull
out are likely controlling the response of the composite at higher
volume fractions. However, the knowledge of fiber effects on the
cementitious composites at high strain rates is rather limited and
the available results are insufficient for quantifying their dynamic
behavior. Further study of the effects of SF content on the dynamic
behavior of hybrid fiber UHTCC under different strain rates is
needed to more efficiently improve the mechanical properties of
hybrid fiber UHTCC.
In this research, 2.0% PVA, which is a common PVA fraction vol-
ume for UHTCC, and various volume fractions of SF (0%, 0.5%, 1.0%,
and 1.5%) were used in hybrid fiber UHTCC. The dynamic stress
strain relationships of hybrid fiber UHTCC at three strain rates
were investigated using a split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB),
with steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) taken as reference spec-
imens. The influence of SF content on the dynamic stress, dynamic
increase factor (DIF), and energy absorption ability of hybrid fiber
UHTCC at different strain rates was investigated in this study. In
addition, a scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to
observe the fracture surface of the UHTCC, and the visco-elastic
model was used to simulate its dynamic behavior.
2. Experimental program
2.1. Materials and specimen preparation
The following materials were used to prepare hybrid fiber
UHTCC specimens: P.O. 52.5 cement, ultra-fine sand, fly ash,
nano-SiO2, PVA fiber, SF, and superplasticizer (SP). The mix propor-
tions of hybrid fiber UHTCC are shown in Table 1. Polycarboxylic
acid with a water-reducing rate of larger than 35% was used as
SP in the UHTCC mixes. The physical properties of KURALON K-Ⅱ
PVA, SF and nano-SiO2 are presented in Tables 2 and 3. Nano-
SiO2 was added to the mixture to accelerate the hydration process
to achieve a higher compressive strength [24]. Simultaneously, SF
was mixed with 2.0% PVA at volume fractions of 0%, 0.5%, 1.0%,
and 1.5% in hybrid fiber UHTCC. In addition, SFRC was prepared
Sand (kg/m3) Fiber volume fraction/% SP (kg/m3) Fluidity (mm)
SF PVA
354.5 0.0 2.0 4.18 220
354.5 0.5 2.0 4.18 210
354.5 1.0 2.0 4.18 195
354.5 1.5 2.0 4.18 195
492 Q. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 125 (2016) 490–500

Table 2 70.7 mm cubes (100 mm cubes for SRFC) were used to test the
Physical and mechanical properties of PVA and SF. ultimate quasi-static compressive strength of UHTCC according to
Fiber Diameter Length Tensile Young’s Ultimate Density GB/T 17671–1999 [25]. Cylinders of 70 mm diameter and 140 mm
type (lm) (mm) strength modulus strain (%) (g/cm3) long were cast to prepare the specimens for SHPB test. The samples
(MPa) (GPa) were cured under standard conditions for more than 28 days. After
PVA 40 12 1600 40 6 1.3 curing, the hardened cylindrical specimens were cut into speci-
SF 220 13.2 2700 200 – 7.8 mens with thickness of 35 mm for SHPB testing, giving the length
to diameter ratios of 0.5:1 [4,20,21,26,27]. The two ends of the
Table 3 cylinders specimens were flatted to less than 0.02 mm.
Physical properties of Nano-SiO2.

Diameter Specific surface Packing density Diameter
(nm) area (m2/g) (g/cm3) (nm)
20 640 <0.1 20
for comparison purposes consisted of 430 kg/m3 sand, 1193 kg/m3
gravel, 430 kg/m3 cement, a dosages of SF of 0.5% and a w/c ratio of
0.48.
Fly ash is a tiny sphere with high ball-type rate, and its morpho-
logical effect can reduce the water demand and improve the flowa-
bility of mixes. In order to improve the dispersion of fibers in the
stirring process, two methods were mainly employed: At first,
the dosage of water reducing agent increased with the increase
of fibers content, as shown in Table 1; Secondly, an optimized mix-
ing method was used in this experiment and the mixing proce-
dures are explained in further detail below. The mixing process
was as follows:
(1) The ultra-fine sand, cement, and fly ash were mixed in a
mortar mixer for 5 min.
(2) Nano-SiO2 were added into water firstly, then mixed with
part of SP under the high speed stirring for 2 min to disperse
particles uniformly. After that, the Nano-SiO2 suspension
was poured into the mortar mixer with the rest water and
SP mixing until the good workability was achieved.
(3) PVA fibers were firstly added and mixed for about 2 min
until the fibers were dispersed well without balling. Then
the SF were added and mixed for additional 2 min. Based
on the above method, PVA fibers and SF can be uniformly
distributed in UHTCC matrix during mixing.
After mixing, NLD–3 jump table was used to test the workabil-
ity of these composites according to the national standards of P.R.C
GB/T2419–2005. Fresh mixes was filled with truncated conical
model then removed the mold, and the diameter of mixes expan-
sion was measured when the vibration was completed. The flow
table test results of the fresh mixes are shown in Table 1. The
Table 4
Static compressive strength of specimen.
Specimen SFRC UT UT-0.5 UT-1
Compressive strength (MPa) 50.35 58.1 56.9 57.8
Purity 2.2. Quasi-static compressive test
(%)
P99.7 Cubes specimens were utilized to conduct compressive testing
to obtain the quasi-static compressive strength of each mixture,
respectively. The tests were carried out by using a 1000 kN Instron
testing machine with a constant speed of 0.1 mm/min for the cube
specimens. The load was recorded by a load cell. The quasi-static
and dynamic compressive strengths were compared to study the
influence of high strain rate on the material. The static compressive
strengths of the SFRC and hybrid fiber UHTCC are illustrated in
Table 4. From the table, it can be observed that the static strength
of the hybrid fiber UHTCC ranged from 55.9 MPa to 58.1 MPa and
did not increase significantly with SF content increasing. The static
strength of the SFRC was roughly 10–13% lower compressive
strength than the UHTCC mixes.
2.3. SHPB test
An 80-mm-diameter SHPB bar (shown in Fig. 1) was used to
assess the dynamic behavior of the specimens. The specimens were
grease-lubricated on both surfaces to minimize the effect of end
friction confinement and were then located between the incident
bar and the transmission bar. An H62 brass disk with 1 mm thick
was placed on the impact surface of the incident bar as the pulse
shaper, and the bullet velocity and pulse shaper diameter were
adjusted to achieve the best performance [28,29]. A brass disk
diameter of 25 mm was found to be suitable for a strain rate of
approximately 118.0 s1, and a diameter of 30 mm was found to
be suitable for strain rates of approximately 160.0 s1 and
188.0 s1. During testing, the projectile was driven by air pressure
values of 0.6 MPa for strain rates of specimens approximately
118.0 s1, 0.8 MPa for that approximately 160.0 s1 and 1.1 MPa
for that approximately 188.0 s1, respectively. Under the same
air pressure values, the speeds of projectile are similar. The impact
of the projectile on the incident bar generated an elastic compres-
sive wave, and the wave propagated to the incident bar/specimen
interface where it was reflected and transmitted. This process
occurred multiple times, causing the compressive loads to increase
until failure of the sample occurred. Two strain gauges were
UT-1.5
attached to the incident bar and transmission bar to measure the
55.9 incident pulse (ei ), reflected pulse (er ), and transmitted pulse (et ).
The two-wave method was applied in the SHPB data processing,

Fig. 1. SHPB setup.

 Q. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 125 (2016) 490–500 493

and the following equations were used to calculate the stress, were explored using a Quanta FEI 650 instrument. After impact
strain and strain rate: testing, the broken fragments were picked up by forceps and
processed to create 1 cm3 samples that were stored in ethanol to
r ¼ AA0 Eet prevent hydration. Before being examined by SEM scanning, the
R
e ¼ 2CL 0 0t er dt ð1Þ samples were dried in an oven at 50 °C for 24 h and covered with
a conductive coating.
e_ ¼ 2CL 0 er
where E, A, and C0 are the Young’s modulus, cross section area and 3. Experimental results
elastic wave speed of bar, respectively, and A0 and L are the cross
section area and length of the specimen, respectively. 3.1. Dynamic failure patterns

2.4. SEM techniques The failure patterns of hybrid fiber UHTCC at three different
strain rates are shown in Fig. 2. The degree of destruction
To investigate the hybrid fiber effect of PVA and SF on the increased with strain rate growth. At the lowest strain rate,
dynamic behavior of UHTCC, the microstructures of the composites several cracks propagated from the edges to the centers at the

Fig. 2. Comparison of failure patterns of hybrid fiber UHTCC at different strain rates (a) UT, (b) UT-0.5, (c) UT-1.0, (d) UT-1.5.
494 Q. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 125 (2016) 490–500

surfaces of the specimens, and the specimens broke into frag-
ments. At the higher strain rates, the crushed fragments were
smaller and the damage to the specimens was more severe. The
degree of damage decreased with increasing SF content, indicat-
ing the considerable contribution of SF to reducing crack develop-
ment. More parts of specimen were connected by SF to resist
impact loading. However, at higher strain rates, the failure modes
of the specimens with various SF contents were similar, which
demonstrates that the effect of SF on the failure pattern decreases
with increasing strain rate.
3.2. Dynamic stress–strain relationship
Fig. 3 shows the average stress–strain curves of all types of
specimens with strain rate around 118.0 s1, 160.0 s1, 188.0 s1.
The strain rates of specimens under the same air pressure are sim-
ilar and the difference between them is less than 10%. The shapes
of the curves are similar, consisting of upward and downward
sections. In the upward section, the stress–strain relationship is
initially in the elastic stage and then progresses to the strain-
hardening stage in which some micro-cracks begin to develop as

Fig. 3. Average stress–strain curves of specimens under three different strain rates (a) SFRC, (b) UT, (c) UT-0.5, (d) UT-1.0, (e) UT-1.5.
 Q. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 125 (2016) 490–500
Fig. 4. Peak dynamic strength of specimens at three different strain rates.
the strain increases. After the stress reaches its peak value, the
specimen enters into the damage-softening stage, with continuous
inner crack propagation and expansion. Fig. 4 shows the dynamic
peak strength of UHTCC at various strain rates. The results show
that the dynamic peak strength is sensitive to the strain rates
and can be improved by adding SF. Furthermore, the dynamic
strength of UHTCC is higher than that of SFRC.
3.3. Dynamic increase factor (DIF)
In engineering practice, it is necessary to calculate the strain
rate sensitivity of materials in the design and analysis of structures
under dynamic impact loading [30]. The dynamic increase factor
(DIF), which is defined as the ratio of the dynamic compressive
stress to the quasi-static stress, has been used widely to describe
the degree of strength increase of a material. It is well accepted
that there exists a transition stain rate for the relationship between
DIF and the logarithm of the strain rate within which the material
changes from low strain rate sensitivity to high sensitivity. The
relationships between the logarithm of the average strain rate
and the DIF for all of the tested materials are presented in Fig. 5.
Because of the limited experimental results in this study, the tran-
sition strain rates of the tested materials could not be determined
accurately. However, the tendency of the DIF could be obtained
from the results. Beyond the transition strain rates, the DIF values
of hybrid-fiber UHTCC increase with the increase of SF content.
Fig. 5. Dynamic increase factor for compressive strength.
495
The CEB-FIP model code is a widely accepted model to describe
the strain rate sensitivity of concrete, as shown in Eq. (2) [31]. The
calculated DIF values from Eq. (2) are plotted in Fig. 5 for compar-
ison. The DIF curves given by Eq. (2) is on the left of the DIF values
of hybrid-fiber UHTCC obtained from the tests, indicating that the
CEB-FIP equation overestimated the DIF values of UHTCC. Chen
et al. [4] investigated the dynamic properties of ECC without SF
content and suggested that Eq. (3) could be used to describe the
DIF values of the strain rate of ECC. The transition strain rate of
Eq. (3) is 84.8 s1, which is much higher than that of the CEB-FIP
model. This equation is utilized in this study to simulate the DIF
values of UHTCC for comparison, and the results are also plotted
in Fig. 5. The simulation values from Eq. (3) agree well with the
DIF values of UT but underestimate the DIF values of UHTCC with
SF. The proposed equation of hybrid-fiber UHTCC needs further
investigation.
1:026as
DIF ¼ ðe_ =e_ s Þ for e_ 6 30 s1
ð2Þ
DIF ¼ cs ðe_ =e_ s Þ for e_ > 30 s1
1=3
where e_ s ¼ 30  106 s1 , as ¼ 1=ð5 þ 9f c =f cs Þ with f c as the static
compressive strength and f cs as a reference strength of 10 MPa,
lg cs ¼ 6:156as  2
DIF ¼ 0:01452log e_ þ 1:07258 for 105 s1 6 e_ 6 84:8 s1
DIF ¼ 1:37412log e_ þ 1:63229 for 84:8 s1 6 e_ 6 184:6 s1
ð3Þ
3.4. Energy absorption ability
The energy absorption ability of a material, which is always
expressed as specific energy absorption (SEA), is an important mea-
surement of toughness. It can be determined by the intensity of the
material and the deformation degree when it is damaged [32]. The
equation used to calculate SEA is as follows [33]:
Z th i
AEC 0
SEA ¼ ei ðtÞ2  er ðtÞ2  et ðtÞ2 dt ð4Þ
A0 L 0
Fig. 6 presents a comparison of SEA values between UHTCC
specimens with various SF content and SFRC. In Fig. 6, EUP refers
to the amount of energy absorbed in the upward section per unit
of material, and ED refers to energy absorption in downward sec-
tion. The results show that the EUP and ED values of all of the mate-
rials increase with increasing strain rate. Compared with SFRC, the
EUP values of UHTCC are slightly higher, and the ED values are
Fig. 6. Comparison of energy absorption capacity of specimens in upward section
and downward section under different strain rates.
496 Q. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 125 (2016) 490–500

significantly higher. In addition, the ED value grows obviously with

increasing SF volume content of UHTCC, whereas there is insignif-
icant change in EUP. This means that the SF primarily influences the
descent stage in which macro-cracks begin to appear.
Fig. 7 shows a comparison of the total energy absorption capac-
ity of specimens at different strain rates. These results indicate that
SEA has a sensitive dependence on and increases with strain rate.
The SEA of the UT is roughly 29.3–34.5% higher than that of
the SFRC mixes. At a similar strain rate, the energy absorbed
by UHTCC is further improved by the addition of SF. Among the
types of materials considered in this study, UHTCC with an SF
content of 1.5% exhibits the best energy absorption capacity, up
to 3.94 MJ/m3 at 184.8 s1 strain rate.

4. Discussion of test results

4.1. Hybrid fiber effect of steel and PVA fiber

Fig. 7. Comparison of total energy absorption capacity of specimens at different

Fig. 8 shows the fiber surfaces and matrix of hybrid fiber
strain rate.
UHTCCs after impact. In Fig. 8(a), the matrix around the SF is

Fig. 8. SEM micrographs (a) fracture surface, (b) steel fiber, (c) PVA.
 Q. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 125 (2016) 490–500
broken and loose, and the surfaces of the SF are smooth as shown
in Fig. 8(b). There is small quantity of hydration products in the
surfaces of the SF which implies the weak interfacial bond strength
between matrix and SF. The weak interfacial bond strength com-
bined with high tensile strength of fiber make SF more susceptible
to pull-out than to rupture. In contrast, the matrix that surrounds
PVA fibers is much more intact. As Fig. 8(c) shows, a considerable
quantity of hydration products can be observed on the surface of
PVA fibers, and these hydration products ensure better bonding
between the PVA and the matrix.
Steel and PVA fibers have a synergy effect on the cementitious
matrix because of their respective characteristics. During testing,
micro-cracks are connected by small-sized and low modulus fibers
at first. PVA bridges the micro-cracks to delay their growth and
coalescence, and encourage the growth of multiple micro-cracks.
The deformation capacity of a specimen is improved through PVA
fiber pull-out and rupture. The pre-peak mechanical performance
of specimens is improved by the PVA fibers. Because of the addition
of the same volume of PVA to the UHTCC, energy absorption of the
upward section is similar, as shown in Fig. 6. With increasing
deformation of specimens, micro-cracks begin to coalesce into
macro-cracks. SF is most effective at bridging macro-cracks and
imparting ductility to the composite due to their geometry and
greater length. SF begins to arrest the propagation of macro-
cracks until most of the fibers in cracked cross sections have been
pulled out from the matrix [24,34–36].
4.2. Effect of strain rate – SF content relationship on dynamic behavior
Many previous studies have examined the effects of the strain
rate and SF content on the dynamic properties of concrete materi-
als. These studies have shown that increasing the fiber content and
the strain rate can improve the impact resistance of concrete sig-
nificantly [37,38]. However, there has been little research on how
the relationship between these two factors affects dynamic behav-
ior. The variations of compressive strength and energy absorption
with fiber fraction and strain rate were examined in this study.
When the SF content increases, the dynamic compressive strength
of UHTCCs increases, as demonstrated by the results reported in
Section 3.3. However, it is interesting to note that, with SF volume
content of 1.5%, the dynamic peak stress of UHTCC varies slightly at
high strain rate over 113.8–184.8 s1. Fig. 9 illustrates the effect of
SF content on the dynamic compressive strength of UHTCC under
different impact loading. Specimens with higher SF volume frac-
Fig. 9. Effect of SF content on compressive strength of UHTCC under different
impact loading.
497
tions exhibit lower strength sensitivity than specimens with lower
fiber volume fractions. The peak stress of UHTCC without SF
increases by approximately 33.6% from 0.6 MPa to 1.1 MPa, while
that decreases by 4.8% when the SF volume fraction increases to
1.5%. Such a phenomenon was also observed by Kim et al. in the
results of dynamic tensile tests [23]. On the other hand, the
increasing rate of dynamic strength with SF content is also influ-
enced by strain rate. The lines in Fig. 9 denote the best-fit relations
between the dynamic peak stress and SF volume content of UHTCC
under different impact loadings, which can be described by Eq. (5).
The slope of the lines decreases as the strain rate increases, which
reflects the fact that the influence of SF content on the compressive
strength of UHTCC is weakened as the strain rate increases.
r0:6 ¼ 69:21 þ 22:92V f R2 ¼ 0:955 for 113:8 s1 6 e_ 6 122:4 s1
r0:8 ¼ 80:53 þ 18:26V f R2 ¼ 0:993 for 155:8 s1 6 e_ 6 163:6 s1
r1:1 ¼ 92:46 þ 12:62V f R2 ¼ 0:936 for 184:8 s1 6 e_ 6 192:1 s1
ð5Þ
The different fracture patterns of the matrix and the fibers at
different strain rates may be the reason. It is considered that a
greater number of cracks and a higher crack development speed
occur with increasing impact speed. Thus, more SF between the
cracks acts to resist crack propagation through bonding and pull-
out effects, and the tensile strength is transferred from the matrix
to the fibers. The higher the SF content, the more active fibers
become with increasing strain rate, increasing the dynamic stress
significantly. When the impact velocity is further improved beyond
the critical strain rate, the specimen is fractured into small frag-
ments in a short period and the failure mode of SF changes from
pull-out to rupture. In this case, fracture of UHTCC occurs resulting
in a reduced effect of SF content on dynamic compressive strength.
Similar experimental results were reported by Lok et al. and Wang
et al. [20,21]. In contrast, with higher fiber content, lower strain
rate sensitivity of UHTCC is observed. Since the dynamic compres-
sive strength of UHTCC with higher SF content is much higher than
that of UHTCC with lower SF content, it is possible for the former
that tensile strength of the fibers between cracks is insufficient
to resist the tensile force transferred from the matrix. Conse-
quently, the SF has a tendency to be ruptured instead of being
pulled out. Such a phenomenon was also discussed by Kim et al.
[23]. In general, the decrease of strength sensitivity of UHTCC
maybe due to the rupture of SF with the increase of strain rate
and SF content. These conclusions can be used in the design of
defensive structures where, if the velocity of design dynamic
Fig. 10. Effect of SF content on SEA of UHTCC under different impact loading.
498 Q. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 125 (2016) 490–500

loading is low, increased SF content could improve the dynamic the dynamic peak stress of UHTCC, the additional SEA may be
strength of structures significantly while high strain rates are not caused by the improvement of the deformation ability of materials.
typically involved. In other words, higher SF content and strain rate may improve the
However, the above observations cannot explain the variation deformation capacity of UHTCC under dynamic loading.
in the energy absorption ability of UHTCC with fiber content and
strain rate shown in Fig. 10. The results show that an increase in 4.3. Numerical simulation using the visco-elastic model
SF content and strain rate could improve the energy absorption
of cementitious materials significantly. In addition, the increase Previous researches have reported that the nonlinear visco-
in the SEA caused by an increase in the strain rate remains largely elastic model proposed by Zhu, Wang and Tang can be used to sim-
the same with increasing SF content. Considering the variation in ulate the visco-elastic behavior of concrete under dynamic loading
[39–42]. The ZWT model, as shown in Fig. 11, is the sum of three
components: a nonlinear elastic spring (represented by the poly-
nomial terms), a low frequency Maxwell element and a high fre-
quency Maxwell element (represented by the integral terms),
which can be described by Eq. (6).
Z  
t
ts
r ¼ E0 e þ ae2 þ be3 þ E1 e_ exp  ds þ E2
0 h1
Z  
t
ts
Fig. 11. Visco-elastic model [42].  e_ exp  ds ð6Þ
0 h2
where r denotes dynamic stress; e denotes the strain and e_ denotes
Table 5 strain rate; t denotes the loading time and s denotes the integral
Different material parameters and viscous damper coefficient of UHTCC with different
variable; E0 , a, and b are elastic constants of the nonlinear elastic
steel fiber volume content.
spring; E1 and h1 are the elastic modulus and relation time of the
Specimen UT UT-0.5 UT-1 UT-1.5 low frequency Maxwell element, while E2 and h2 are those of the
E(e9) 3.4 6.5 8.4 11.0 high frequency element.
E2(e10) 3.2 2.7 3.4 2.8 At a low loading rate, the effect of the viscous damper in high
h2(e5) 1.1 1.2 1.1 1.2
frequency Maxwell element can be neglected, and the model

Fig. 12. Comparation of fitting and experimental results of UT-0.5 under different impact loading (a) strain rate = 115 s1, (b) strain rate = 157.5 s1, (c) strain rate = 187.4 s1.
 Q. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 125 (2016) 490–500
Fig. 13. Comparation of fitting and experimental results of UT-1.5 under different impact loading (a) strain rate = 113.8 s1, (b) strain rate = 155.8 s1, (c) strain
rate = 184.8 s1.
reduces to that of a nonlinear spring in parallel with a low fre-
quency Maxwell element. As the strain rate increases, the viscous
damper plays an increasingly important role in the behavior of
the UHTCC [43,44]. When the loading rate is high, the low fre-
quency Maxwell element has insufficient time to relax and the
ZWT model becomes:
Z  
t
ts
r ¼ Ee þ E2 e_ exp  ds
0 h2
where E ¼ E0 þ E1 .
The values of the parameters of the visco-elastic model, based
on the dynamic experimental data, are summarized in Table 5. E0
is the elastic constants of the nonlinear elastic spring which
denotes the elasticity modulus of specimens under the quasi-
static loading. E1, E2, h2 are the parameters of Maxwell element
to describe viscous behavior of the concrete. When the loading rate
is high, E2, h2 are the parameters of Maxwell element to describe
viscous behavior of the concrete. The values of E2, h2 are used to
describe the increment of compressive stress of UHTCC under
dynamic loading which is not closely related to SF content. There
is a trend whereby the value of E increases with increasing SF con-
tent. The similar rules of parameters of concrete with increased
fiber content using ZWT model could also be obtained in pervious
researches [42,45]. Typical simulation results of UHTCC reinforced
with different SF content at three impact load levels are shown in
Figs. 12 and 13. The simulation results agree well with the exper-
imental results, which mean that the visco-elastic model can be
used to describe the dynamic behavior of UHTCC.
499
5. Conclusions
This study was conducted to examine the effect of SF on the
dynamic compressive properties of hybrid fiber UHTCC at different
strain rates. Based on the experimental results and discussion, the
following main conclusions can be drawn:
ð7Þ (1) The dynamic properties of hybrid fiber UHTCC are strongly
sensitive to strain rate. With increasing strain rate, the
dynamic strength, DIF, and SEA all increase significantly.
The SEA of the UT is roughly 29.3–34.5% higher than that
of the SFRC mixes.
(2) Application of SF in UHTCC results in obvious increases in
dynamic strength, DIF sensitivity, and SEA. Among the mix-
tures studied, hybrid fiber UHTCC with 1.5 vf.% SF and 2.0 vf.
% PVA exhibits the best dynamic behavior.
(3) The specimens with higher SF volume fractions exhibit
lower strength sensitivity than specimens with lower fiber
volume fractions. In contrast, the effect of SF content on
strength sensitivity is weakened with increasing strain rate.
However, these observations are not sufficient to describe
the variation in SEA, which increases significantly with
increasing SF content and strain rate.
(4) The different sizes of PVA and SF contribute to arresting
the propagation of micro-cracks and macro-cracks, respec-
tively. SEM micrographs of the hybrid fiber UHTCC shows
there is small quantity of hydration products in the sur-
faces of SF, whereas, a considerable quantity of hydration
500 Q. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 125 (2016) 490–500
products in the surfaces of PVA. The weak interfacial
bond strength makes SF difficult to rupture but easy to
pull out.
(5) The simulation results of a visco-elastic model shows good
agreement with experimental results.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by National Natural Science Founda-
tion of China under Grant No. 51622811 & No. 51678522.
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