Comparison Of Flexural Toughness Parameters for Fibre Reinforced Concrete From Notched And Unnotched Beam Tests

Abstract

This paper discusses the comparison of the flexural toughness parameters of fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) obtained from unnotched and notched beam tests. Results obtained from tests on a 40 MPa strength concrete reinforced with different dosages of hooked-ended steel, polypropylene and glass fibres have been used to correlate toughness parameters obtained from the two test methods. It was observed that for steel and polymer fibre reinforced concrete, good correlation existed between the unnotched beam test parameters (f._ 150 and f •. J«I and notched beam test parameters (fR1 and fR). This enables the use of the fib Model Code 2010 for the design of FRC structura l elements at both serviceability and ultimate limit states, even when only unnotched beam test data is available.