Experimental and numerical analysis on effect of bre aspect ratio

on mechanical properties of SRFC

Z.L. Wang
a,
*
, J. Wu
b
, J.G. Wang
c
a
Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
b
Tongke College, Tongji University, Shanghai 200070, China
c
School of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 19 May 2009
Received in revised form 5 August 2009
Accepted 28 September 2009
Available online 27 October 2009
Keywords:
SFRC
Aspect ratio
Damage softening
Crater
Residual velocity
a b s t r a c t
Based on experimental results, this paper rstly evaluates the effect of bre aspect ratio (length-to-diam-
eter) on mechanical characteristics of steel bre reinforced concrete (SFRC). Analysis reveals that the
aspect ratio has an optimal value for strengths in every concrete batch. Beyond this value, the addition
of steel bres into concrete may have an effect of increasing the ductility rather than the strengths. Sub-
sequently, crater and perforation in two SFRC targets by a steel projectile are numerically simulated
based on erosion algorithm. The effective stress and effective plastic strain are tabulated to model the
softening behavior due to post-yield damage. Numerical results show that the hydrodynamic model is
able to describe the responses of SFRC under impact loading. Besides, higher aspect ratio of bres can
absorb more energy, causing smaller craters in SFRC target and lower residual velocity of the projectile.
2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Concrete is a widely used building material in the world but it is
inclined to exhibit extensive cracking and undergoes brittle failure
under static or dynamic loading [13]. Now, it is well documented
that the bres added to concrete can substantially improve many
of its engineering properties such as tensile strength, exural
strength, fracture toughness, resistance to fatigue, impact and ther-
mal shock. Large ranges of bres may be added into concrete: steel,
glass, carbon, wood, synthetic, natural, and so on [4,5]. Each type of
bres is chosen in function of the property aimed at. The present
study will only consider steel brous concrete.
As well known, debonding and pulling out the bres from con-
crete matrix require more energy, thus substantially increasing
SFRC toughness (area under the stressstrain curve) and resistance
to dynamic loading. Such a property makes SFRC have various
applications in the last couple of decades like mine and tunnel lin-
ings, airport runways, dam constructions, re protection coatings,
civil defense fortications, and even in conventional reinforced
concrete frames [2,3,6].
According to Zollo [7], the effect of the bres lays more in the
nature of energy absorption and crack control than in an increased
load transfer capacity. In addition, the efciency of bres depends
on the bre features such as their volume fraction, aspect ratio,
shape, distribution and so on [1,3], among which the volume frac-
tion is basic for all SFRC related topics. So far, various bres such as
long-straight shape, hooked end shape and the crimped shape have
been investigated by experimental and numerical methods [3,8
10]. Lataste et al. [11] characterized the inuence of bre spatial
distribution by using electrical resistivity measurements. Although
quite an amount of work has been done on the behaviors of steel
brous concrete, the effect of bre aspect ratio and the effect of
post-yield damage softening behavior on the mechanical features
of SFRC have not been well addressed under impact loading [4,9].
In general, the effectiveness of bres added to concrete can be
investigated by experimental and numerical methods. For exam-
ple, the routine laboratory testing methods are impact test (drop
weight type), compressive test (MTS and SHPB), tensile test (split-
ting tension and uniaxial tension) as well as exural test (3-point
beam loading), and so on. As well known, the eld full-scale tests
(see, for example, blast and penetration) to evaluate the perfor-
mance of SFRC structures are often beyond affordability. With
the rapid development of computer technology and the advance-
ment of software techniques, numerical simulation of structural
responses to static or dynamic loading has become feasible
[4,12,13]. However, a valid constitutive equation to fundamentally
express the characteristics of SFRC material behavior is crucial and
expected.
The main objectives of this paper are, rstly, to evaluate the re-
lated test results about the effect of bre aspect ratio on SFRC, and
secondly, to numerically simulates the crater and perforation in
0950-0618/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2009.09.009
* Corresponding author. Fax: +86 2165985210.
E-mail address: cvewzL@tongji.edu.cn (Z.L. Wang).
Construction and Building Materials 24 (2010) 559565

http://www.paper.edu.cn

SFRC targets by steel projectile based on erosion algorithm. Partic-
ularly, the constitutive model and high pressure equation of state
(EOS) for SFRC are also focused.
2. Evaluation of experimental results
For the evaluation of the impact resistance of SFRC, Mohammadi et al. [9] con-
ducted a drop weight type test (Fig. 1a), in which the specimens were broken by
known weight (5.54 kg) hammer dropped from a known height of 457 mm. The
hammer was dropped repeatedly and the numbers of blows required to produce
the rst visible crack in the specimen and for the ultimate failure were recorded.
The ultimate failure was assumed to have reached when the crack, which initiated
from bottom, propagated up to the top surface of the test specimen. The numbers of
blows were obtained for SFRC containing 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0% volume fractions of
bres, respectively. They are plotted in Fig. 1b and c. Clearly, the specimen with
higher aspect ratio of bres (
L
d
40) has stronger energy-absorption capacity,
resulting in a larger number of blows whether for initial crack or for the ultimate
failure. Besides, an increase is observed in the number of blows (i.e. strengths) as
the volume fraction of bres increases.
Bayramov et al. [10] performed a compression and splitting tensile test for SFRC
specimens. The results are shown in Fig. 2. Both the compressive and tensile
strengths increase as the bre aspect ratio increases from55 to 65. However, they de-
clines instead when
L
d
rises from 65 to 80. It turns out that when the aspect ratio ex-
ceeds a certain value, the addition of steel bres into concrete may have an effect of
increasing the ductility rather than the strengths. A careful examination of the post-
test specimens indicates that, along the fracture plane, the opening and propagation
of the crack are well controlled by the added steel bres. During the crack propaga-
tion, some bres were broken and some of them were drawn out from the concrete
matrix. In most cases, the bres with the aspect ratio of 55 and 65 did not break but
were pulled out. However, the bres with the aspect ratio of 80 were broken into two
parts. Besides, it is found fromthe result plots that on increasing the volume fraction
of bres, both the compressive and tensile strengths of SFRC increase.
Yan et al. [14] conducted an experimental study of SFRC specimens on split
Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB). As schematically shown in Fig. 3a, this device
works on the principle of one-dimensional wave propagation. The deformation his-
(a) Schematic of drop weight type impact test.
0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
V
f
(%)
N
u
m
b
e
r

o
f
b
l
o
w
s
l/d=40
l/d=20
(b) First crack impact resistance of SFRC.
0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
V
f
(%)
N
u
m
b
e
r

o
f

b
l
o
w
s
l/d=40
l/d=20
(c) Failure impact resistance of SFRC.
Cushion block
Fig. 1. Drop weight test and experimental results Mohammadi et al. [9].
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
V
f
(%)

c

(
M
P
a
)
l/d=55
l/d=65
l/d=80
(a) Relationship of compressive strength and volume fraction.
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
5.5
6
6.5
7
7.5
8
V
f
(%)

f
(
M
P
a
)
l/d=55
l/d=65
l/d=80
(b) Relationship of splitting tensile strength and volume fraction.
Fig. 2. Results of compressive and splitting tests Bayramov et al. [10].
560 Z.L. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 24 (2010) 559565
http://www.paper.edu.cn
tory of the specimen is extracted from the signals in the strain gauges mounted on
the incident and transmission bars. Analysis is accomplished by referencing the
three signals (two, the incident and reected waves, in the incident bar; and one,
the transmitted wave, in the transmission bar) to the same instant of time. From
Fig. 3b, it is easy to see that when the volume fraction is xed, the bre aspect ratio
exerts signicant inuence on the stressstrain plots and material properties. Com-
pared to smaller aspect ratio (
L
d
20), the peak strain and toughness increase mark-
edly but the compressive strength and elastic modulus (slope of initial straight line)
decrease for the larger aspect ratio (
L
d
60) case.
As a summary, the effect of aspect ratio on mechanical properties of SFRC is sig-
nicant and there exists an optimal value for strength indexes in each concrete
batch.
3. Constitutive model and EOS for materials
The common hydrocode such as LS-DYNA [12,15]and ABAQUS
[13] treats stresses and strains separately in volumetric and devia-
toric portions. The deviatoric portion is governed by a strength
model. The volumetric portion is always described by an equation
of state (EOS) which determines the relationship between the
hydrostatic pressure, the local density and the local energy.
3.1. Constitutive model
As well known, LS-DYNA has several built-in concrete models
designed for special purposes such as Concrete Damage Model,
JohnsonHolmquist-Concrete Model and Brittle Damage Model,
etc. [15]. These models are benecial to explore the mechanical
characteristics of concrete, but the damage softening behavior in
post-yield stage cannot be well handled. Besides, those models in-
volve too many parameters to be determined by simple material
tests. Remarkably, the elasticplastic hydrodynamic model (mate-
rial Type 10 in LS-DYNA) is applicable to a wide range of materials,
including those with pressure dependent yield behaviors [12]. This
model can be simplied as a bilinear elastoplastic stressstrain
relationship for most of the engineering materials. The yield
strength, r
y
, is a function of the effective plastic strain, e
p
, and
the plastic hardening modulus, E
h
, which is expressed as:
r
y
r
0
E
h

e
p
1
If the tabulated data curve, as shown in Fig. 4 is given to estab-
lish the relationship between the effective stress r and the effec-
tive plastic strain e
p
, the value for f e
p
is found by interpolation
from the data curve as [12,15]:
r
y
f

e
p
2
In this case, the parameter E
h
in Eq. (1) is no longer required for
input during calculations.
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
0
20
40
60
80
100
120

(
M
P
a
)
l/d=20
l/d=60
(b) ~ curve of SFRC.
(a) Configuration of the Split Hopkinson pressur bar
Fig. 3. SHPB test and experimental results Yan et al. [14].
Z.L. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 24 (2010) 559565 561
http://www.paper.edu.cn
It can be seen from Fig. 4 that yield stress r
y
is a nonzero when
the plastic strain is zero. Effective stress is dened in terms of the
deviatoric stress tensor s
ij
as:
r
3
2
s
ij
s
ij
1
2
3
and effective plastic strain by:

e
p

Z
t
0
2
3
_
e
p
ij
_
e
p
ij
1
2
dt 4
where t denotes time,
_
e
p
ij
is the plastic strain rate.
The damage softening behavior of SFRC is modelled by the tab-
ulated stressstrain curve as shown in Fig. 4 [4,15].
3.2. High pressure EOS
In this study, the Gruneisen EOS [12,16,17] with cubic shock
velocity-particle velocity (Du
p
) denes pressure for compressed
materials as:
P
q
0
C
2
0
l 1 1
c
0
2

l
b
2
l
2

1 S
1
1l S
2
l
2
l1
S
3
l
3
l1
2
h i
2
c
0
blE 5
and for expanded materials by:
P q
0
C
2
0
l c
0
blE 6
where the standard volumetric strain is l
q
q
0
1 for current den-
sity q and initial density q
0
; C
0
is the intercept of the Du
p
curve; S
1
,
S
2
and S
3
are the coefcients of the slope of the Du
p
curve; c
0
is the
Gruneisen gamma; b is the rst-order volume correction to c
0
.
It is well recognized that for most materials, shock velocity U
s
varies linearly with respect to the particle velocity u
p
[17] as:
U
s
C
0
S
1
u
p
7
If the second-order and higher terms are negligible, the parameters
S
2
and S
3
in Eq. (5) are taken as zeros.
4. Numerical tool and erosion algorithm
Numerical investigations in the present study are performed by
using LS-DYNA, which is especially developed for nonlinear dy-
namic simulations. In recent years, many efforts have been devoted
to developing reliable algorithms for a more realistic analysis of
structures subjected to high strain-rate loading. For example, an
erosion algorithm can be adopted to solve the excessive element
distortion problem and to model the fracture and failure of engi-
neering material [15]. An element is immediately deleted when
the material response in the element exceeds certain critical value.
The deletion process is irreversible, and the deleted material will
not be able to offer further resistance [18,19].
A variety of criteria can be used to govern the erosion of the
material. In the present work, following two erosion criteria, ten-
sile cut-off and shear strain, have been incorporated into the calcu-
lation code [12,15,19]:
r
t
Pf
t
8
c Pc
max
9
where r
t
denotes tensile stress, c is shear strain, f
t
and c
max
are the
critical values for tensile cut-off and the shear strain at failure,
respectively.
These two erosion criteria correspond to material tensile frac-
ture and compressionshear failure, respectively. Their critical val-
ues can be determined by the calibration against experimental
data for a specied situation [19].
5. Simulation of penetration of SFRC target
The normal impact of a cylindrical steel projectile at velocity of
1500 m/s on SFRC targets is considered herein. This demonstrates
the performance of the proposed model and explores the effect
of bre aspect ratio on the failure process of SFRC.
The dimensions of the SFRC targets are 400 mm
400 mm 60 mm, and the geometry of the cylindrical projectile
features a length of 43.0 mm and a diameter of 15.0 mm. Two SFRC
y

0
p

Nonlinear softening
Fig. 4. Effective stress and effective plastic strain.
Fig. 5. Finite element mesh for SFRC target and projectile.
Table 1
Material parameters used in calculations.
l
d
20
l
d
60
Density
q
0
(g/cm
3
) 2.55 2.55
Elastic constants
E (GPa) 45.67 28.40
v 0.25 0.22
Strength constants
r
y
(MPa) 94.5 82.01
r
c
(MPa) 105.00 95.00
f
t
(MPa) 15.75 14.30
c
max
0.4 0.4
Pressure constants
C
0
(m/s) 3455.6 2575.1
S
1
1.50 1.50
c
0
2.0 2.0
562 Z.L. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 24 (2010) 559565
http://www.paper.edu.cn
targets containing different aspect ratios (20 and 60) of steel bres
were used for a comparative study. Because of symmetry, one
quarter of the target and projectile was modelled using 109,080
quadrilateral elements (108,000 for the target and 1080 for the
projectile) and 116,868 nodes, thus two symmetry planes were de-
ned and the other two boundaries were xed (see Fig. 5). The FE-
model was generated with the pre-processor ANSYS [20].
The stressstrain curves for the two SFRC targets are illustrated
in Fig. 3b, and the material parameters are listed in Table 1 [14].
Due to lack of data, the tensile strengths of both targets were taken
as 15% of their compressive ones [1]. Table 2 gives sixteen pairs
data of effective stress r and effective plastic strain

e
p
to character-
ize the post-yield damage softening behavior. The projectile was
assumed to be elastic-perfectly plastic with the following proper-
ties: mass density = 7.83 g/cm
3
, Youngs modulus = 207.0 GPa,
Poissons ratio = 0.3 and yield stress = 500.0 MPa.
Fig. 6 presents the three-dimensional deformed mesh plots of
the steel projectile into the concrete targets at t = 30 ls. This plot
was actually formed by mirroring the FEM domain along its sym-
metry axis to the left side of the domain. Since its strength is higher
in compression than in tension, SFRC target experiences brittle ten-
sile fracture rstly, followed by compression/shear failure. With
the movement of the projectile, both tensile and compressive dam-
ages begin to evolve. The compressive stress is reected at exit sur-
face, generating a tensile stress wave. The element is eroded
(deleted) once the tensile stress or the shear strain reaches the pre-
set critical values. Thus, spalling grows and expands continually
until the penetration course stops. The crater and tunnel expansion
phases can be accordingly identied in the two targets.
From Table 1 and Fig. 3a, compared with the
L
d
60 case, SFRC
with
L
d
20 has higher compressive strength and larger elastic
modulus as well as a marginal increase in the peak stress. How-
ever, for the SFRC with
L
d
60, an appreciable increase in peak
strain and substantially higher toughness can be noticed. As well
known, toughness is a measure standard of the capacity of energy
Table 2
r e
p
data for describing damage softening.
l
d
20
l
d
60
e
p
r (MPa) e
p
r (MPa)
1 0.0000 94.50 0.0000 82.01
2 0.0001 101.98 0.0008 91.38
3 0.0003 105.00 0.0017 94.97
4 0.0006 101.96 0.0028 89.89
5 0.0014 85.87 0.0043 77.75
6 0.0023 67.99 0.0057 65.09
7 0.0031 53.68 0.0071 54.35
8 0.0039 43.16 0.0084 45.82
9 0.0045 35.48 0.0096 39.15
10 0.0051 29.80 0.0108 33.92
11 0.0063 22.18 0.0120 29.76
12 0.0080 15.70 0.0142 23.68
13 0.0101 11.11 0.0163 19.51
14 0.0150 6.90 0.0184 16.52
15 0.0200 4.63 0.0205 14.28
16 0.0240 3.66 0.0240 12.56
Fig. 6. Comparison of penetration craters at t = 30 ls.
Z.L. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 24 (2010) 559565 563
http://www.paper.edu.cn
absorption and crack control, and importantly affects the impact
resistance. The SFRC target containing
L
d
20 bres has a larger
crater, on either the front or the exit surface, than the target with
L
d
60 (see Figs. 6 and 7). This shows that a larger aspect ratio of
bres can effectively arrest the propagation of cracks and has bet-
ter resistance to dynamic loading.
The kinetic energy of projectile is partly dissipated in impact
and perforation. After completely penetrating the target, the pro-
jectile leaves the target at a constant velocity, called the residual
velocity [19]. Fig. 8 compares the typical history of velocities for
the two penetration cases. It can be seen that for the bre aspect
ratio of 20, the velocity of projectile becomes stabilized quickly
whereas for the
L
d
60 case, the velocity of the projectile slowly de-
clines until the target is perforated and tends towards stability at
0.04 ms. Their residual velocities are 1454 and 1441, respectively.
The higher residual velocity for the case of
L
d
20 can be explained
from Figs. 6a and 7a. It is noticed that although the material prop-
erties (compressive strength and elastic modulus) of SFRC with
smaller bre aspect ratio are higher, a larger crater can be found
on the exit surface of target due to lower toughness. When the
shock front traveling ahead of the projectile meets the exit surface,
many cracks are initiated and the projectile easily pushes away the
scabbing part with the less resistance, resulting in a larger residual
velocity. It further illustrates that SFRC containing lower aspect
ratio possesses smaller energy-absorption and crack-arrest
capacities.
These results indicate that the numerical tool presented is con-
ducive to the impact analysis of SFRC, especially for designers of ci-
vil defense structures and airport runways as well as the weapon
manufacturer.
Fig. 7. Comparison of penetration craters at t = 60 ls.
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
1420
1430
1440
1450
1460
1470
1480
1490
1500
Time (ms)
B
u
l
l
e
t

v
e
l
o
c
i
t
y

(
m
/
s
)
l/d=20
l/d=60
Fig. 8. Comparison of projectile velocities for two SFRC targets.
564 Z.L. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 24 (2010) 559565
http://www.paper.edu.cn
6. Conclusions
SFRC is a new material allowing innovative projects for concrete
structures. Fibres added to concrete can signicantly improve the
toughness, ductility and resistance of concrete to impact and pen-
etration. Based on the evaluation of the experimental data and
numerical analyses, the following conclusions may be drawn:
(1) Aspect ratio of bres exerts an important inuence on the
mechanical properties of SFRC. It is found that an optimal
aspect ratio of bres exists for the SFRC strengths. Beyond
the value, the addition of steel bres into concrete may
cause a increase in the toughness rather than the strengths.
(2) The elasticplastic hydrodynamic model is effective for
characterizing principal features of SFRC, whereby the
post-yield damage softening behavior can be considered rea-
sonably well. The simulations of SFRC targets penetrated by
projectile indicate that the adoption of two erosion criteria is
feasible and has superior performance in terms of capturing
the shear and tension failures.
(3) Although the higher bre aspect ratio may induce lower
compressive strength and elastic modulus, the toughness
and peak strain of SFRC increase, which lead to more energy
absorption and better crack control. A lower residual veloc-
ity of projectile and smaller penetration craters in SFRC with
higher aspect ratio of bres are observed in our calculations.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by NSFC_the Civil Aeronautics Joint
Research Foundation (Grant No. 60776821), the Program for New
Century Excellent Talents in University (Grant No. NCET-08-
0525), the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of
Higher Education (Grant No. 20070358073) and the Talent Intro-
duction Foundation of Tongji University.
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