The tensile stress-strain response of Ultra-High Performance Fibre Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC) is a basic constitutive property, and reliable knowledge of this response is necessary for appropriate application of the tensile-carrying capacity of such advanced cement materials. Reference tests methods like…
The tensile stress-strain response of Ultra-High Performance Fibre Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC) is a basic constitutive property, and reliable knowledge of this response is necessary for appropriate application of the tensile-carrying capacity of such advanced cement materials. Reference tests methods like direct tensile tests which aim at assessing this property, have found limited application due to their complexity and their impracticality when considered in terms of a commercial testing environment. Thus, flexural tests, whose implementation is easier, represent an interesting alternative. Nevertheless these methods provide indirect information and need to be complemented by inverse analysis in order to obtain the tensile behaviour of tested materials. A joint research effort recently completed by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration and the French IFSTTAR (formerly LCPC) has succeeded in further investigating the field of flexure testing and subsequent analysis. Bending tests have been carried out on multiple UHPC-class materials with different instrumentations. New proposed analytical inverse analysis have been tested and discussed. This paper will detail these recent advances.