The failure of concrete infrastructures subject to repeated loading, such as bridge deck, road surface, and railway sleepers, is a result of fatigue-induced material degradation. For these infrastructures, the progressive crack propagation of concrete under fatigue loading defines the service…
The failure of concrete infrastructures subject to repeated loading, such as bridge deck, road surface, and railway sleepers, is a result of fatigue-induced material degradation. For these infrastructures, the progressive crack propagation of concrete under fatigue loading defines the service life. The self-healing of cracks has been engaged in engineered cementitious composites (ECC), a unique group of fiber-reinforced cement-based composites that emerges to replace conventional concrete. Current study investigated the feasibility of decelerating the fatigue-induced crack propagation and extending the fatigue life of ECC by taking the advantage of self-healing. ECC prism specimens made of locally available ingredients were pre-cracked by flexural fatigue loading of different load cycles; the specimens were conditioned under wet-dry cycles for self- healing; the self-healing efficiency was evaluated by the crack width reduction and fatigue life extension, compared to the control group without self-healing. The results indicate that self-healing can extend ECC fatigue life. The degree of crack width reduction and fatigue life extension decreased with the increasing material damage level, or the number of fatigue load cycles experienced before healing.