Accepted Manuscript

A stochastic micromechanical framework for hybrid fiber reinforced concrete

Zhengwu Jiang, Xiaojie Yang, Zhiguo Yan, Qing Chen, Hehua Zhu, Yaqiong Wang, J.
Woody Ju, Zhihong Fan, Haoxin Li

PII: S0958-9465(18)30804-7
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2019.04.003
Reference: CECO 3287

To appear in: Cement and Concrete Composites

Received Date: 3 August 2018

Revised Date: 16 February 2019
Accepted Date: 2 April 2019

Please cite this article as: Z. Jiang, X. Yang, Z. Yan, Q. Chen, H. Zhu, Y. Wang, J.W. Ju, Z. Fan, H. Li,
A stochastic micromechanical framework for hybrid fiber reinforced concrete, Cement and Concrete
Composites (2019), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2019.04.003.

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 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

A stochastic micromechanical framework for hybrid fiber reinforced concrete

Zhengwu Jianga,b, Xiaojie Yang*a, Zhiguo Yan*c,d, Qing Chen*a,b,e, Hehua Zhuc,d, Yaqiong Wange,

J. Woody Jud,f, Zhihong Fang ,Haoxin Lia,b

a
Key Laboratory of Advanced Civil Engineering Materials (Tongji University), Ministry of Education, 1239 Siping

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Road, Shanghai 200092, China
b
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China
c
State Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai

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200092, China
d
Department of Geotechnical Enginering College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road,
Shanghai 200092, China

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e
Shaanxi Provincial Major Laboratory for Highway Bridge and Tunnel, Chang’an University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710064,
China
f
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA

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g
CCCC Fourth Harbor Engineering Institute Co Ltd, Guangzhou 510230, China
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Abstract: A stochastic micromechanical framework is presented to predict the probabilistic behavior of the hybrid
fiber reinforced concrete (HFRC). The proposed framework consists of the stochastic descriptions for the material’s
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microstructures, deterministic micromechanical model for HFRC and maximum entropy based stochastic simulation
program. The HFRC is represented as multiphase composite composed of the aggregate, the interfacial transition zone
(ITZ), the bulk cement paste and different types of fibers. Multi-level homogenization schemes are presented to
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predict the material’s effective properties, where the effects of aggregates, ITZs and multi-types of fibers are
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quantitatively calculated. By modeling the volume fractions and properties of constituents as stochastic, we extend the
deterministic framework to stochastic to incorporate the inherent randomness of effective properties among different
specimens. Maximum entropy based simulation procedures are employed to characterize the material’s probabilistic
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behavior, including different order moments and the probability density function. Numerical examples including
limited experimental validations, comparisons with existing micromechanical models, commonly used probability
density functions and the direct Monte Carlo simulations indicate that the proposed models provide an accurate and
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computationally efficient framework in characterizing the material’s effective properties. Finally, the effects of
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different fibers and ITZs on the materials’ macroscopic probabilistic behaviors are investigated based on our proposed
stochastic micromechanical framework.

Keywords: Hybrid fiber reinforced concrete, Multi-level homogenization, Maximum entropy principle, Effective
properties, Deterministic and stochastic micromechanics

* Corresponding author. Prof. Zhiguo Yan(yanzguo@tongji.edu.cn); Prof. Xiaojie Yang(yangxiaojie@tongji.edu.cn)

Prof. Qing Chen(13585546170@163.com)

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1. Introduction

Due to the difficulties in detailing the exact pre-determined microstructural composites, there is an

inherent randomness of microstructures even under the same manufacturing process [1-2]. Predicting

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the probabilistic behavior of the material properties for a given microstructure and its spatial

distribution plays a significant role in the material design [3]. Meanwhile, the analyses of composite

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structures in the non-deterministic environment are of great importance for performing the system

reliability analysis and response assessment [4]. The stochastic computational mechanics [5-6] and

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stochastic finite element method (SFEM) [7-8] have been proved to be useful to obtain the non-

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deterministic or probabilistic behavior in the modeling of composite structures. Recently, stochastic
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micromechanics based framework is employed to quantify the material’s probabilistic behavior based

on their random microstructures [3,9-13]. For examples, Chen et al. presented the stochastic
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micromechanical framework for multiphase composite containing spherical inhomogenties [11].

Rahman and Chakraborty proposed a stochastic micromechanical model for the elastic properties of
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functionally graded materials [3].

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As a high performance and eco-friendly material, the fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) has been

widely applied in many structures, such as frames, slabs, and tunnels [14-18]. Recently,
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micromechanics based approaches are utilized to model the material’s behavior owing to the well-
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established performance of FRC [19-22]. The current micromechanical models for FRC paid little
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attention to the quantitative influence of ITZ between the aggregate and bulk cement paste and are not

able to predict the properties of the hybrid fiber reinforced concrete (HFRC) [23]. Meanwhile, the

current micromechanical models for FRC are mainly based on the deterministic micromechanical

framework which does not consider the stochastic behavior of composites observed in the actual

specimens [1-2]. Furthermore, the commonly used probability density functions (PDFs) are employed

to represent the real distributions for the material’s properties with certain assumptions which will lead
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to biased estimations [12]. To address these issues, a new stochastic micromechanical framework based

on maximum entropy principle is proposed to obtain the unbiased probabilistic behavior of HFRC by

considering the material’s random microstructures. The influence of aggregate grading, the ITZ and

different fibers are quantitatively reached by a new multilevel homogenization scheme. Multi-

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dimensional stochastic vector is employed to describe the material’s fluctuant microstructure. Efficient

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simulation program based on the maximum entropy principle is presented to obtain the unbiased

probability density function of the HFRC’s properties.

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The rest of this paper is organized as follows. In section 2, a multiphase micromechanical model

for the HFRC is presented based on the material’s microstructures and the volume fractions of the

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different components are analytically calculated. Section 3 proposes the new deterministic multilevel
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homogenization procedures to estimate the effective properties of HFRC. In section 4, a stochastic
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micromechanical framework for HFRC is reached by extending the deterministic one, where the

stochastic descriptions for the microstructures, Monte Carlo simulations and maximum entropy based
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distributions are incorporated. Numerical examples including validations and discussions are presented
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in section 5. And some conclusions are reached in the final section.

2. Micromechanical representations for the HFRC’s microstructures

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2. 1.The material’s microstructures

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There are many different constituents in the HFRC. For example, the HFRC can be seen as the
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multiphase composite composed of the different fibers, concrete and their interfaces. Meanwhile, the

concrete is made of aggregates (rock and sand), cement pastes and the ITZs. Furthermore, the cement

pastes are formed by homogeneous C-S-H with large CH crystals, aluminates, cement clinker and

water [24,25]. In this paper, following the previous works [22,23,26-28], the HFRC is described as

multiphase composite composing of the different fibers, bulk cement phase, the aggregates (sand and

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rock) and the ITZ between them, as shown in Fig.1. The shapes of the aggregate and fiber are

respectively supposed to be spherical and ellipsoidal.

It is noted that there are two kinds of ITZs (aggregate-cement paste and fiber-cement paste) in

HFRC. For different types of fibers, the corresponding ITZ properties are distinct [29]. With the

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increase of fiber volume, there are more ITZs between the fiber and bulk cement paste in the composite.

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The post cracking toughness, which is one of the most important properties for FRC or HFRC, mainly

depends on the interface between fibers and concrete matrix. The quantitative influence of the

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interfacial bonding, the fiber diameter and fiber length on the post cracking behavior are summarized in

the Appendix from the authors’ published papers. Instead of the interfacial influence on the post

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cracking behavior, this paper focus more on a stochastic micromechanics based approach for HFRC
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material design by considering the fluctuations in the microstructures and the macroscopic modulus. By

following the previous works, the ITZs between different fibers and cement paste are ignored and the
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properties of the ITZs between the aggregate and cement paste are supposed to be constant in this paper
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for simplifications [23, 30, 31]. Further research should be conducted by incorporating the effects of
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the interface between the fiber and the bulk cement paste.

2. 2 The volume fractions of the different components

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The components of HFRC include the different fibers, aggregate, bulk cement paste and the ITZs
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based on our proposed model. The volume fraction of the aggregate and different fibers can be
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obtained according to the material mix proportions. The volume fractions of bulk cement phase and

ITZ are calculated by modifying the ‘void exclusion probability’ as follows [32-34]:

(
cbk = (1 − cag ) exp −πρ (α t + β t 2 + γ t 3 ) ) (1)

4R2
α= (2)
1 − cag

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4R 12ε 2 R 2
β= + (3)
1 − cag (1 − c )2
ag

4 8ε 2 R
γ= + (4)
3 (1 − cag ) (1 − cag )
2

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2πρ R 2
ε2 = (5)

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3

Nu 9cag ci  ri +1 
ρ =∑

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ln   (6)
i =1 4π ( ri3+1 − ri3 )  ri 

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Nu 9cag ci
R=∑ ( ri +1 − ri ) (7)
i =1 4πρ ( ri3+1 − ri3 )
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( ri +1 − ri 2 )
Nu 9cag ci 1 2
R2 = ∑ (8)
4πρ ( r − ri ) 2
3 3
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i =1 i +1

Where cag is the volume fraction of the aggregate; cbk is the volume fraction of the bulk cement paste.
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t is the thickness of the ITZ; ρ is the total number of aggregate per unit volume, and α , β and γ are
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functions of the mean aggregate radius R and the mean square aggregate radius R 2 according to the
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aggregate size distribution, ci is the volume fraction of aggregates with radius ranging from ri to ri +1 ,

Nu is total number of zones (with radius ranging from ri to ri +1 ) used to characterize the aggregate size
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distribution. The volume fraction of the ITZ is finally obtained by simple subtraction:
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citz = 1 − cag − cbk − chf (9)

Where chf is the volume fraction of hybrid fibers (the sum of the volume fractions of different fibers).

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3. Deterministic micromechanical framework for HFRC

3.1 Multilevel homogenization scheme for the effective properties of HFRC

Micromechanics based framework is proved to be effective to obtain the material effective

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properties [35-39]. Recently the micromechanics based multilevel homogenization scheme was

employed to obtain the effective properties of multi-inclusion composites, such as the repaired

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saturated concrete [40-46], the repaired unsaturated concrete [47-49] and the rock material [50-51]. A

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new micromechanical multilevel homogenization procedure is similarly employed herein to obtain the

HFRC effective properties. First, the three phase sphere model presented by Christensen and Lo is

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modified to homogenize the three-phase composite composed of the aggregate, ITZ and bulk cement
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paste into the equivalent matrix (i.e. concrete material), as shown in Fig. 2(a) [52]. Second, the

properties of HFRC are obtained by incorporating the effects of the different fibers with the work of
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Berryman, as exhibited in Fig. 2(b) [53].

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3.2. The effective properties of concrete made up of the aggregate, ITZ and bulk cement paste
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The properties of concrete can be obtained by modifying the inner layer material as the equivalent

inclusion(consisting of the aggregate and ITZ ) and outer layer material as the bulk cement paste with
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the generalized self-consistent model, which can be expressed as follows [52]:

φei ( K ei − Kbk )( 3Kbk + 4µbk ) (10)

K co = Kbk +
3Kbk + 4µbk + 3 (1 − φei )( K ei − Kbk )
C
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2
µ  µ 
A  co  + B  co  + C = 0 (11)
 µbk   µbk 

with

 µei   µ  
A = 8 − 1 ( 4 − 5ν bk ) η1φei10/3 − 2  63  ei − 1η 2 + 2η1η3  φei7/3 +
 µbk    µbk   (12)
µ  5/3 µ 
252  ei − 1 η 2φei − 50  ei − 1 ( 7 − 12ν bk + 8ν bk )η 2φei +4 ( 7-10ν bk )η 2η3
2

 µbk   µbk 
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 µei   µ  
B = −4  − 1 (1 − 5ν bk )η1φei10/3 + 4  63  ei − 1 η 2 + 2η1η 3  φei7/3 −
 µbk    µbk   (13)
µ  5/3 µ 
504  ei − 1 η 2φei + 150  ei − 1 ( 3 − ν bk )ν bkη 2φei +3 (15ν bk − 7 ) η 2η3
 µbk   µbk 

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 µei   µ  
C = 4 − 1 ( 5ν bk − 7 ) η1φei10/3 − 2 63  ei − 1η 2 + 2η1η3  φei7/3 +
 µbk    µbk   (14)
µ  5/3 µ  2

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252  ei − 1 η 2φei + 25  ei − 1 (ν bk − 7 )η 2φei − 3 ( 7+5ν bk )η 2η3
 µbk   µbk 

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 µ ei  µ 
η1 =  − 1  ( 49 − 50ν eiν bk ) + 35  ei  (ν ei − 2ν bk ) +35 ( 2ν ei − ν bk ) (15)
 µ bk   µ bk 

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 µ ei  µ 
η 2 = 5ν ei  − 8  + 7  ei + 4  (16)
 µ bk  µbk
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 

µei
η3 = (8 − 10ν bk ) + ( 7 − 5ν bk ) (17)
µbk
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cag + citz
φei = (18)
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cag + citz + cbk

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Where K co and µco signify the bulk modulus and shear modulus of the concrete made up of the

φei is the volume fraction of equivalent inclusion in the concrete.

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aggregate, ITZ and bulk cement paste;

K bk , µbk and ν bk are the bulk modulus, shear modulus and Poisson’s ratio for the bulk cement paste.
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Kei and µei are the effective bulk modulus and shear modulus of the equivalent inclusions, which can
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be similarly obtained by employing the three-phase sphere model [52]. Specifically, let K ag , µ ag and

ν ag ( K itz , µitz and ν itz )signify the bulk modulus, shear modulus and Poisson’s ratio of the aggregate

(ITZ). The effective properties of the equivalent inclusion can be reached by following alterations to

Eqs.(10)-(18): Firstly, K bk , µbk and ν bk ( K ei , µ ei and ν ei ; K co and µ co ) in Eqs.(10)-(18) should be

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replaced with K itz , µitz and ν itz ( K ag , µag and ν ag ; K ei and µ ei ), respectively. Secondly, φei should be

replaced by φag = cag / (cag + citz ) .

3.3 The effective properties of HFRC

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For the HFRC, there are usually more than one type fibers in the concrete. The work of Berryman

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is modified to incorporate the influence of different fibers [53]. By replacing the matrix phase and

inclusion phases with concrete and different fibers, respectively, the effective properties of HFRC can

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be reached using following iteration equations [53]:

(K ) = K co + ∑ cifi ( P*i ) ( K ifi − K co )

N
* n +1 n
(19)

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i =1
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(µ ) = µco + ∑ c ifi ( Q*i ) ( µ ifi − µco )
N
* n +1 n
(20)
i =1

Where K ifi and µ ifi represent the bulk modulus and shear modulus of the ith type fiber, respectively,
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and cifi is the volume fraction of the ith type fiber. ( P*i ) (Q )
n *i n
and are related to the shape of the
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ith type fiber and the current matrix properties as below:

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(F ) i n
(F ) (F ) +(F ) (F ) −(F ) (F )
i n i n i n i n i n i n

(P ) =
*i n 1
, (Q )=
*i n
+
2
+
1 4 5 6 7 8 9 (21)
(F )2
i n
(F ) (F )
3
i n
4
i n
(F ) (F ) 2
i n
4
i n
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3 3 4 
(F )1
i n

2
5
= 1 + Ain  ( f i + θ i ) − Rin  f i + θ i −  
3 
(22)
2 2
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 3 Rn 
(F )
2
i n
= 1 + Ain 1 + ( fi + θi ) − i ( 3 fi + 5θi )  + Bin ( 3 − 4 Rin )
(23)
 2 2 
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Ain n
+
2
( Ai + 3Bi )( 3 − 4 Ri )  fi + θi − Rin ( fi − θi + 2θi2 )
n n

  3  
(F )3
i n
= 1 + Ain 1 −  f i + θi  + Rin ( f i + θi )  (24)
  2  

Ain
(F ) 4
i n
= 1+
4 
( f i + 3θ i ) − Rin ( f i − θi )  (25)

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  4 
(F )
5
i n
= Ain  − f i + Rin  f i + θ i −  + Binθ i ( 3 − 4 Rin ) 
 
(26)
 3 

(F ) 6
i n
= 1 + Ain 1 + f i − Rin ( f i + θ i ) + Bin (1 − θ i ) ( 3 − 4 Rin )  (27)

Ain
(F ) i n
= 2+ 3 f i + 9θ i − Rin ( 3 f i + 5θ i ) + Binθi ( 3 − 4 Rin )  (28)

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4  
7

 θ 
(F )
i n
= Ain 1 − 2 Rin + i ( Rin − 1) + i ( 5 Rin − 3 )  + Bin (1 − θi ) ( 3 − 4 Rin )
f (29)

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8
 2 2 

(F ) 9
i n
= Ain ( Rin − 1) f i − Rinθ i  + Binθ i ( 3 − 4 Rin ) (30)

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  3( µ* )
n
µ ifi 1 K fi
i
µ ifi
A =
n
− 1, B = 
n
−  , Rn = (31)
( µ* ) 3  ( K * ) ( µ * )n  3( K * ) + 4 ( µ* )
n n n n

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 AN 

( i )  i ( i )
 γ −2/3 − γ 4/3 −3/2  arccos γ − γ 1 − γ 2 1/2  γ < 1
i i
 i
2
 (32)
θi =  γi =1
3
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( i )  i ( i )
 γ 4/3 − γ −2/3 −3/2 γ γ 2 − 1 1/ 2 − arccos hγ  γ > 1
i
i
 i
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 3θ i − 2
 γ −2 − 1 γ i < 1
 i
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 2 (33)
fi = − γi =1
 5
 2 − 3θ i
 1 − γ −2 γ i > 1
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 i

Where γ i is the aspect ratio of the ith type fiber. ( K * ) n +1 , ( µ * ) n +1 and ( K * ) n , ( µ * ) n are the (n+1)th
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and nth approximations of K * and µ* , respectively. Let K hfc , µhfc be the effective bulk modulus and
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shear modulus of the HFRC. To get the values of K hfc and µhfc , the numerical iterations are employed.

Firstly, with the first approximations ( K * )1 = K co , ( µ * )1 = µ co , the coefficients ( P*i )1 , (Q*i )1 can be

calculated by Equations (21)-(33); then the second approximations to K * and µ * , i.e. ( K * ) 2 and ( µ * ) 2 ,

can be calculated by Equations (19)-(20). With the current approximation to K * and µ * , the current

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coefficients can be reached, which will lead to the next approximation to K * and µ * . Through this

iteration scheme, the (n+1)th and nth approximations to K * and µ * can be reached. When the

difference of the value between these two successive approximations is small enough, the effective

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properties of the HFRC can be expressed as follows:

K hfc = ( K * ) n (34)

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µhfc = ( µ * ) n (35)

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Furthermore, the Young’s modulus of HFRC can be obtained based on the theorem of elastic

mechanics, provided that the bulk modulus and shear modulus are known:

U Ehfc =
9 K hfc µhfc
(36)
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3K hfc + µhfc

Where Ehfc is the Young’s modulus of the HFRC.

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4. Stochastic micromechanical framework for HFRC

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4.1 Stochastic descriptions for microstructures of concrete material

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Based on our proposed micromechanical model for HFRC, the uncertainties for the material’s
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effective properties depend on the fluctuations of its constituents’ properties, volume fractions and

shapes, etc. Let ( Ω, ξ, P ) be a probability space, where Ω is the sample space, ξ is the σ -algebra of
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subsets of Ω , and P is the probability measure, and R N be an N -dimensional real vector space.
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Further, we define Eag ,ν ag , Eit ,ν it , Ebk ,ν bk , E ifi ,ν ifi as the elastic modulus and Poisson’s ratio of the

aggregate, ITZ, bulk cement paste and the ith type fibers, respectively. Meanwhile, with the volume

fraction of the aggregate and different types of fibers, ITZ thickness and ci (the volume fraction of

aggregates with radius ranging from ri to ri +1 ), the volume fractions of ITZ and bulk cement paste can

be calculated by modifying the ‘void exclusion probability’. Therefore, the random vector
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{E fi , t , cag , γ fi ,L γ fi L γ fi , c fi , L c fi L c fi , c1 ,L ci L cNu } ∈R
T
ag ,ν ag , Eit ,ν it , Ebk ,ν bk , E1fi ,ν 1fi ,L Eifi ,ν ifi ,L E fiNf ,ν Nf 1 i Nf 1 i Nf 8+4 Nf + Nu

states the uncertainties from all sources for HFRC based on our proposed micromechanical model. Nf

is the total number of fiber types.

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4.2 The moments and standard deviations for the effective properties
Through the stochastic descriptions of the microstructures, the effective properties of the HFRC

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turn to random functions with multivariate random variables based on our proposed deterministic

micromechanical model. Hence, the effective modulus, such as K ∗ , µ ∗ and E∗ , can be regarded as a

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random variable. The means, standard deviations and ith order moments of the effective properties can

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be obtained using the Monte Carlo simulations as follows: AN
2 1/2
 
mean ( K ) = ( K ), imom ( K ) = M1 ( K ) , sd ( K ) =  M1 ∑(K − mean ( K ))
M M M
1
*

M
∑ *
m
*
∑ * i
m
* *
m
*
 (37)
m =1 m =1  m =1 
M

2 1/2
 
mean ( µ ) = ( µ ), imom ( µ ) = M1 ( µ ) , sd ( µ ) =  M1 ∑(µ − mean ( µ ))
M M M
1
*

M
∑ *
m
*
∑ * i
m
* *
m
*
 (38)
m =1 m =1  m =1 
D
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2 1/2
 
mean ( E ) = ( E ), imom ( E ) = M1 ( E ) , sd ( E ) =  M1 ∑( E − mean ( E ))
M M M
1
*

M
∑ *
m
*
∑ * i
m
* *
m
*
 (39)
m =1 m =1  m =1 
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Where M is the sample size; mean ( ) , sd ( ) and imom ( ) denote the mean, the standard deviation
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and ith order moment, respectively; K m* , µ m* and Em* are the mth sample of the effective bulk modulus,
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shear modulus and Young’s modulus.

4.3. The maximum entropy distribution for the effective properties

For the random variable x , the normalization condition and different order moments can be

expressed as below:

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∞
∫-∞
f ( x)dx − 1 = 0 (40)

∞
∫ -∞
xi f ( x)dx − mi = 0 (41)

where mi is the ith order moment of random variable.

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According to the maximum entropy principle developed by Jaynes, the minimally prejudiced

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probability distribution for random subject to these constraints can be arrived by maximizing the

entropy of the random variable [54]. The maximum entropy distribution subject to these constraints can

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be expressed as below according to [55],

U
N
f ( x)=exp[a 0 + ∑ ai x i ] (42)
i =1
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where a0 , a1 , a2 , L aN are the Lagrangian multipliers. a1 , a2 ,L aN can be obtained by solving following
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equations:

 1 m1 m2 L mN −1   0 
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   
 m1 m2 m3 L mN  − 1
 a1   
 m2 m3 m4 L mN +1     − 2 m 
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1
   2a2   
 M M M O M 
 3a3  = 
M  (43)
m mN mN +1 L m2 N − 2     −( N − 1)mN − 2 
 N −1  M  
 mN mN +1 mN + 2 L m2 N −1     − NmN −1 
NaN  
m m2 N   −( N + 1)mN 
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mN + 2 mN + 3 L
 N +1   
   
 M   M 
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With a1 , a2 ,L aN , the parameter a0 can be reached using the normalization condition as below:
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 
 1 
a0 =ln  N
 (44)
 +∞ exp[ a xi ] 
 ∫−∞

∑i =1
i 


The results in Eq. (43) usually become distorted, when the number of parameters becomes large. To

obtain the more stable results, instead of the moments of the effective properties, the moments of the

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normalized properties are adopted herein to substitute into Eq. (43):

1 m ( ) 
 M  K * − mean K * i 
miK = icmom ( K * ) =  ∑  (45)

M m=1  sd ( K )
* 
  

1  M  µm − mean ( µ )  

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 * *
i

mi = icmom ( µ ) =
µ
∑ *
  (46)
M  m=1  sd ( µ * ) 
  

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1  M  Em − mean ( E )  
 * *
i

m =icmom ( E ) =
E
∑
*
  (47)
M  m=1  sd ( E * ) 
i

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  

Where icmom ( ) denotes the ith order moments for the normalized properties. The pdf f ( x ) can be

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reached using different order moments of the normalized effective properties by solving Eqs. (43)-(44),
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where f ( x ) represents the pdf for the normalized effective properties. With the pdf f ( x ) , the pdf
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f ( x) of the effective properties without normalization procedures can be obtained as follows:

1  x − mean( K * ) 
fK ( x) =
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f  (48)
sd ( K * )  sd ( K * ) 
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1  x − mean( µ * ) 
fµ ( x ) = f   (49)
sd ( µ * )  sd ( µ * ) 
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1  x − mean( E * ) 
fE ( x) = f   (50)
sd ( E * )  sd ( E * ) 
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Where f K ( x ) , f µ ( x ) and f E ( x ) are the pdfs for the effective bulk modulus, shear modulus and
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Young’s modulus.

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5. Verifications and discussions

5.1. Verifications

To verify the proposed deterministic micromechanical framework for HFRC, the predicting results

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herein are compared with those of existing micromechanical models and experimental data for concrete,

FRC and HFRC.

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If there are no fibers in the composite, the proposed model turns to a three-phase micromechanical

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model for the concrete considering the aggregate and ITZ effects. Fig. 3 shows the comparisons among

the predictions herein, results of existing models and the experimental data of Stock et al. [56]. The

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aggregate volume fraction was between 0.2 and 0.8 in their experiment and the maximum and
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minimum aggregate diameters were 19 and 0.15mm, respectively. It can be observed that the

predictions herein correspond well with the experimental data [56] and close to the predicting results of
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Hirsch [57]. Meanwhile, the predictions lie reasonably between the Voigt upper bounds and Reuss

lower bounds.
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If there is only one type of fiber in the composite, the proposed model turns to a multi-phase
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micromechanical model for the FRC. Fig.4 shows the comparisons among the predictions herein, the

results of existing model [23] and the experimental data of Thomas and Ramaswamy for FRC [16]. It
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can be found that the predictions herein are close to the results of the existing model and experimental
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data for the Young’s modulus. The maximum relative difference between our results and the
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experimental data is about 5%. Meanwhile with the increase of the aspect ratio of the fiber, the

predicted Young’s modulus grows.

Fig. 5 displays the comparisons among our estimations, the results of existing models and the

experimental data for HFRC [58]. The volume fraction for the steel fiber varies from 1% to 3% and the

volume fraction for the polypropylene fiber is 0.11%. From Fig. 5, it can observed that the predicted

results are quite acceptable compared with the experimental data, with the maximum relative difference
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 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

being 4%. Predictions herein lie between the Voigt upper bounds and Reuss lower bounds and are near

to the results of Hirsch model, with the maximum relative difference less than 4% [57]. Furthermore,

the standard deviation of the Young’s modulus can be reached by considering the coefficient of

variations (whose value is assumed to be 0.05 in this case), which is also exhibited in Fig.5.

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To verify the proposed stochastic micromechanical framework for HFRC, the predicting results

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herein are compared with the commonly used pdfs and the results of the direct Monte Carlo simulations.

Fig. 6 shows the comparisons among our results and different commonly used pdfs. It can be

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observed that our proposed distribution-free method is capable of representing these distributions

without any premise, including the normal distributions, lognormal distributions and Weibull

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distributions. Meanwhile, the approximations become better when higher order moments are employed.
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When 4th order moments are adopted, the maximum entropy based pdfs correspond well with the

theoretical solutions.
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Furthermore, the pdfs obtained by our proposed stochastic micromechanical framework are
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compared with the direct Monte Carlo simulations. In this example, the grading of aggregate and the
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mean value for the properties of the aggregate, ITZ and bulk cement paste are from [56]. The mean

values for the properties of steel fiber and polypropylene fiber are from [30]. The Lognormal
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distribution is utilized to represent the pdfs of the constituents’ properties. The volume fractions of the

steel and polypropylene fiber are respectively assumed to follow the Beta distributions with the mean
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values as 1% and 2% [11]. The coefficients of variation for all the random variables are supposed to be
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0.1 in the following stochastic modeling examples. The sample size is 1000 to obtain the different order

moments in our stochastic micromechanical framework. Fig. 7(a) exhibits the probability density

function of the Young’s modulus calculated by direct Monte carlo method and our proposed simulation

framework. It can be observed that the estimations of our presented framework are quite accurate

compared with the direct Monte carlo simulation when the second order moments or the forth order

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 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

moments are considered. It is noted that the iterative times in solving the micromechanical equations by

direct Monte carlo method is 106. However, the iterative times in our numerical computing can be

dramatically reduced to 103. Similar conclusions can be reached from the probability density function

of the shear modulus, which are exhibited in Fig. 7(b).

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5.2. Discussions

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There are many factors that influence the properties of HFRC. In this section, we discuss the

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effects of the mix proportions of different fibers, the concrete matrix and the ITZs between the

aggregate and cement paste on the effective properties of the HFRC. The effects of other factors such

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as fiber properties, the aggregate properties and ITZ properties on the HFRC properties can be similarly
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obtained with our proposed stochastic micromechanical framework.

Firstly, three types of mix proportions between steel fiber and polypropylene fiber are employed
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to investigate the influence of mix proportions of fibers on the probabilistic characters of the composite.

The sum of the two fiber volume fraction is 5%. The ratios between these two fiber volume fractions
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are 1:4, 1:1 and 4:1 as the first, second and third type of mix proportions. From Fig. 8(a), with the
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increase of volume fraction of steel fiber, the HFRC demonstrates greater Young’s modulus

statistically. Similar conclusions can be reached for the effective shear modulus of the HFRC, as
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displayed in Fig. 8(b).

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Secondly, the effects of concrete matrix on the properties of the HFRC are studied by adopting the
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experimental data of Thomas and Ramaswamy [16]. There are three types of concrete matrix in their

experiment, which are C35, C65 and C85. From Fig. 9(a)-9(b), when the mean of the matrix properties

increases, the properties of the HFRC increase accordingly. However, due to the fluctuations of the

material properties, some predictions using the C65 matrix are lower than those with the C35 matrix.

Similar conclusions can be reached for the C65 and C85 fiber reinforced concrete.

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Thirdly, three types of ITZs, whose thickness mean values are 0.01mm, 0.03mm and 0.05mm, are

adopted as examples to illustrate their quantitative effects on the HFRC’ properties. With the increase

of the ITZ thickness, the Young’s modulus of the HFRC decreases statistically since the properties of

the ITZs are lower than those of bulk cement paste, which is shown in Fig.10(a). As to the results of the

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shear modulus, the properties are similarly increase with the decrease of ITZ thickness, as exhibited in

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Fig. 10(b). Similarly, due to the fluctuations of the material properties, some estimations with the mean

value as 0.01 are lower than the predictions with the mean value of 0.03.

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6. Conclusions

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There are few micromechanical models available for the HFRC and the current models for the
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FRC or HFRC are mainly based on the deterministic micromechanical framework, which can’t

consider the inherent randomness of the material’s microstructures. In this paper, a stochastic
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micromechanical framework is presented to predict the probabilistic behavior of the HFRC. The main

advantages of this stochastic framework lie in these facts: (1) The random microstructures of the HFRC
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can be described with the high dimensional random vector; (2) The quantitative relation between the
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HFRC random microstructures and the macroscopic properties can be obtained with the proposed

multilevel homogenization scheme; (3) The unbiased probabilistic behavior of the HFRC can be
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reached with the presented maximum entropy principle based simulation procedures. Meanwhile, the
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numerical examples including validations and discussions are performed to illustrate the capacity of the
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proposed framework. The following main conclusions can be drawn:

(1) The proposed deterministic and stochastic micromechanical framework is capable of

predicting the HFRC’s macroscopic behavior with the ITZ effects. With the statistical characteristic of

the different components, the probabilistic behavior of the HFRC can be quantitatively calculated.

(2) The presented maximum entropy based simulation framework is accurate and computationally

efficient in characterizing the HFRC’s effective properties compared with the direct Monte Carlo
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 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

simulations. Meanwhile, the commonly used pdfs can be approximated by the proposed maximum

entropy distributions without any premise.

(3) Based on our proposed models, the quantitative influence of the different fibers and ITZs can

be investigated on the material’s properties. When the mean values of ITZ thicknesses increase, the

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effective properties decrease statistically. With the increase of steel fiber volume fraction, the concrete

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reinforced by the steel fiber and polypropylene fiber demonstrates greater properties for a given volume

fraction for hybrid fibers.

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Acknowledgements

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This work is supported by National key research and development plan (2018YFC0705404,
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2017YFC0704004). This work is also supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China

(51878496, 51478348, 51278360, 51308407, U1534207), Key Laboratory of Durability Technology

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for Harbour and Marine Structure, Ministry of Communication, the Funds of Fundamental Research

Plan for the Central Universities in Chang’an University (300102218511), the Funds of Fundamental
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Research Plan for the Central Universities. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Appendix:

The post cracking toughness is important for FRC engineering applications and this depends on many
factors such as the fiber diameters, the fiber properties and the interface between fibers and concrete
matrix. The authors have published some papers to illustrate these issues. Some results from the

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authors previous work[A1] are summarized as below:
The fiber will exert a bridging effect after matrix cracking. Fig.A1a represents a macro diagram of

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HFRC under tensile load after cracking. At micro level, as shown in Fig. A1b, an isolated straight fiber,
loaded by an axial force P at its end, is usually selected to analyze. When the force P increases to a

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value that causes fiber debonding (see Fig. A1b), a frictional bond τ at the interface along the fiber
will appear and resist the increasing axial load.

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a
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σ σ
M

δ
D

b
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∆ ∆
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P P

xm b xm
l l
C

Debonding stage Pullout stage

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Fig. A1 The schematic diagram of a FRC specimen under uniaxial tension. a) macro-level; b) meso-level.

Through analysis of the balance between the stress intensity and fracture toughness, the following
equation was obtained:

KL + KB = Km (A1)

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where K m is the facture toughness of the concrete or cement matrix. KL is the stress intensity factor
caused by loading. As for a penny crack with radius c under tensile load σ , the stress intensity factors
can be written as:

c
KL = 2 σ (A2)

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π
The stress intensity factor due to fiber bridging can be calculated by accounting for the contribution of

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the fiber that is at different stages.

σ (δ% )
c r
π∫
K B = −2 dr (A3)

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B 2
r
c2 1 −  
c

( )
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The negative sign represents the closing effect due to fiber bridging. σ B δ% is the bridging stress with
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the normalized crack opening displacement δ% .
By introducing the characterized length, the simplified expression of the constitutive relationship of
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HFRC under an axial tensile load can be reached after lengthy derivations as follows:
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 Ecε , ε ≤ ε fc

σ c = (1 − d ) Ecε , ε fc ≤ ε ≤ ε ∗ (A4)
TE

(1 − d ) E (ε − ε p ), ε ∗ ≤ ε ≤ ε tu
 c

The evolution of the damage degree of HFRC can be given by:

EP



 0, ε ≤ ε fc
C

 ε  ε 
d = 1 − fc (1 − BT ) − BT exp 1 − fc  , ε fc ≤ ε ≤ ε ∗ (A5)
ε ε 
AC

 

1− ∑ i
α (δ ) N i A fi E fi
, ε ∗ ≤ ε ≤ ε tu
 Ac Ec

0 , ε ≤ ε fc

d =  ∑ α i (δ ) N i A fi E fi (A6)
1− , ε fc ≤ ε
 Ac Ec

23
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

σ B 0 − σ fc
where BT in Eq. (A5) takes the form: BT = . In addition, Eq. (A5) is the
 ε fc 
Ecε ∗ exp  − 1 − Ecε fc
 ε∗ 
evolution of damage of HFRC that shows notching-sensitive cracking, and Eq. (A6) is the evolution of
damage of HFRC that exhibits multiple cracking and hardening strain. Note that ε ∗ is the strain

PT
corresponding to the peak bridging stress and σ B0 is the peak value of the bridging stress or ultimate
εtu is the useful extent of the post cracking strain, which mainly refers to the strain that meets

RI
strength.

design code requirements for crack width or the deformation of specimen. εtu for notch-sensitive

SC
Lf 1 L f 1 Lf 2
HFRC can be obtained by Eq. (A7) when the crack opening displacement is or Min ( , ).
16 16 16

U
Lf 1 Lf 2 L
Min( , ) or f 1
ε tu = 16 16 16 + σ B0
AN
(A7)
L Ec

As for multiple cracking HFRC, εtu should be selected based on the design requirements.
M

The evolution of the equivalent plastic strain can be determined by following equations.

0, ε ≤ ε∗
D


ε p = δ dσ B , for notch-sensitive cracking HFRC (A8)
 L − (1 − d ) E , ε ≤ ε
∗
TE

 c

For multiple cracking HFRC, it can be expressed as:

EP

0, ε ≤ ε fc

 σ B 0 − σ fc  σ B 0 − σ fc
 1 − ε + ε fc , ε fc < ε < ε ∗
ε =   (1 − d ) Ec (ε − ε fc ) 
p ∗
(1 − d ) Ec (ε − ε fc )
∗
C

(A9)

 δ dσ B
− ε∗ ≤ ε
AC

,

 L (1 − d ) Ec

The definitions of the parameters mentioned above can be found in our published paper[A1]. With
these expressions, the stress-strain relation can be predicted with fiber properties.

24
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Meanwhile, the quantitative influence of the fiber volume fraction, the fiber diameter, the fiber
length, the interfacial shear stress and the fiber modulus can be investigated on the stress-strain
relationship of HFRC based on our proposed model, which are shown in Fig.A2-Fig.A6.

PT
a
7 ST (1.5%)+PE(1%)

RI
6
ST (1%)+PE(1%)
5

SC
Stress (MPa)

ST (0.5%)+PE(1%)
4

U
3
Unloading
Unloading

Unloading

AN
2

1
M

0
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06
Strain (ε)
D
TE

b 7
ST (1%)+PE(1.5%)
6
EP

5 ST (1%)+PE(1%)
Stress (MPa)

4 ST (1%)+PE(0.5%)
C

3
AC

Unloading
Unloading

Unloading

0
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06
Strain (ε)

25
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

Fig. A2 Influence of the fiber volume fraction on the stress-strain relationship of HFRC. a) ST-like fiber; b) PE-
like fiber.

a
8 df1=0.08 mm

PT
6

df1=0.16 mm
5

RI
Stress (MPa)

4 df1=0.32 mm

Unloading
SC
Unloading
3
Unloading

U
AN
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06

Strain (ε)
M

b 8

df2=0.0195 mm
D

7
TE

5 df2=0.039 mm
Stress (MPa)

4 df2=0.078 mm
EP

3
Unloading
Unloading
Unloading

2
C

1
AC

0
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.10
Strain (ε)

Fig. A3 Influence of the fiber diameter on the stress-strain relationship of HFRC. a) ST-like fiber; b) PE-like
fiber.

26
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

a 8 Lf1=27 mm

7
Lf1=20 mm
6

PT
Lf1=13 mm
5
Stress (MPa)

RI
Unloading

Unloading
3

SC
1

U
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06
Strain (ε)
AN
b
8
M

Lf2=26 mm
7

Lf2=19 mm
D

5 Lf2=12 mm
TE
Stress (MPa)

4
Unloading

3
Unloading
Unloading
EP

1
C

0
AC

0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18 0.20
Strain (ε)

Fig. A4 Influence of the fiber length on the stress-strain relationship of HFRC a) ST-like fiber; b) PE-like fiber.

27
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

a 5 τ1=4.2 MPa

4
τ1=2.1 MPa

PT
Stress (MPa)

3
τ1=1.05 MPa

RI
2
Unloading

Unloading
Unloading

SC
0
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06

U
Strain (ε)
AN
b 7
M

τ2=1.5 MPa
6
D

5 τ2=1.02 MPa
Stress (MPa)

TE

4 τ2=0.5 MPa

3
Unloading

Unloading

Unloading
EP

1
C

0
AC

0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06

Strain (ε)

Fig. A5 Influence of the interfacial shear stress on the stress-strain relationship of HFRC. a) ST-like fiber; b) PE-
like fiber.

28
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

a
6
Ef1=150 GPa

Ef1=200 GPa
4

PT
Stress (MPa)

3
Ef1=100 GPa

Unloading

Unloading

RI
2

SC
1

0
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06

U
Strain (ε)
AN
b 6 Ef2=66 GPa
M

5
Ef2=99 GPa
D

4
Stress (MPa)

TE

3
Unloading

Unloading

Unloading

Ef2=33 GPa
EP

1
C

0
AC

0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07

Strain (ε)

Fig. A6 Influence of the fiber modulus on the stress-strain relationship of HFRC. a) ST-like fiber; b) PE-like
fiber.
[A1] Z.G. Yan, Y. Zhang, J.W. Ju, Q. Chen, H.H. Zhu, An equivalent elastoplastic damage model based on micromechanics
for hybrid fiber-reinforced composites under uniaxial tension. Int. J. Damage Mech. 28(1) (2019) 79-117.

29
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PT
Bulk cement paste
ITZ Hybrid fibers

RI
Aggregate (like steel fiber,carbon fiber, etc)

Fig. 1.Multi-phase micromechanical model for hybrid fiber reinforced concrete (HFRC).

U SC
AN
Homogenization
M

Bulk cement paste

Equivalent matrix
ITZ (concrete)
Aggregate (a)
D
TE

Homogenization
EP

Equivalent matrix Equivalent composite

Hybrid fibers
(like steel fiber,carbon fiber, etc)
(concrete) (b)
C

Fig. 2.The multilevel homogenization procedures: (a) the first-level: homogenization of the aggregate,
AC

ITZ and bulk cement paste; (b) the second-level: homogenization of the concrete and hybrid fibers
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

6 Es/Ebk
Eu/Ebk

PT
5 El/Ebk
Effective properties

Eh/Ebk

RI
Ed/Ebk
4

SC
3

U
2 AN
1
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
cag
M

Fig. 3. Comparisons among our predictions, the existing micromechanical results [57] and the
D

experimental data [56] for the properties of concrete. Here cag is the volume fraction of the aggregates;
TE

Ed and Ebk are the experimental data of concrete Young’s modulus and the Young’s modulus of bulk

cement paste, respectively; Es , Eu , El and Eh are the results herein, upper bounds and lower bounds
EP

and Hirsch’s results for Young’s modulus

C
AC
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

33.0
Resutls herein(γ=5)
Resutls herein(γ=50)
Results herein(γ=100)
31.5 Results of existing model
Young's Modulus, GPa

Experimental data

PT
30.0

RI
28.5

SC
27.0
0.000 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.010 0.012 0.014 0.016

U
AN Volume fraction of fiber

Fig. 4. Comparisons among our predictions, the existing micromechanical results [23] and the
experimental data [16].
M

50
D

Results herein
Upper bounds
Lower bounds
TE

Results of existing model

Young's modulus, GPa

45 Experimental data
EP

Results herein+1*sd

40
C
AC

Results herein-1*sd
35
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05
fst

Fig. 5. Comparisons among our predictions, the existing micromechanical results [57], upper
bounds, lower bounds and the experimental data [58] for the properties of HFRC with steel fiber and
polypropylene fiber, where fst is the volume fraction of the steel fiber, sd is the standard deviation of
the Young’s modulus with the coefficient of variation as 0.05.
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

1.8
Theoreticl value-1(µ=1,σ=0.4)
Results herein-1(N=2)
1.5 Results herein-1(N=3)

PT
Theoreticl value-2(µ=3,σ=0.3)
Results herein-2(N=2)
1.2
Normal distribution

Results herein-2(N=3)

RI
0.9

0.6

SC
0.3

U
0.0
-1 0 1 2 3 4 5
AN
x

−
( x − µ )2
1
(a) Normal distribution, with pdf f ( x ) = 2σ 2
M

e
σ 2π
D
TE

1.0

Theoreticl value-1(µ=10,σ=1)
Results herein-1(N=2)
0.8 Results herein-1(N=3)
EP

Theoreticl value-2(µ=6,σ=0.6)
Lognormal distribution

Results herein-2(N=2)
0.6 Results herein-2(N=3)
C

0.4
AC

0.2

0.0
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
x

−
( ln x − µ )2
1
(b) Lognormal distribution, with pdf f ( x ) = e 2σ 2

xσ 2π
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

1.8
Theoreticl value-1(λ=1,k=4)
Results herein-1(N=2)
1.5
Results herein-1(N=3)

PT
Theoreticl value-2(λ=2,k=5)
1.2 Results herein-2(N=2)
Weibull distribution

Results herein-2(N=3)

RI
0.9

SC
0.6

0.3

U
0.0
0 1 2 3 4
AN
x

 k  x k −1 −( x / λ )k
M

 e x≥0
(c) Weibull distribution, with pdf f ( x ) =  λ  λ 
0 x<0

D

Fig. 6. Comparisons among our predictions and commonly used probability density functions (pdfs) ,
TE

where N = 2 and N = 3 mean the second order moments or the forth order moments are adopted in the
proposed simulation framework
C EP
AC
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

0.20

6
Monte Carlo(10 )
3

Probability density function, 1/GPa

Results herein(N=2,10 )
0.15 3
Results herein(N=3,10 )

PT
0.10

RI
0.05

SC
0.00
20 25 30 35 40 45
Effective Young's modulus,GPa

U
AN
(a) Young’s modulus

0.5
M

6
Monte Carlo(10 )
0.4
Probability density function, 1/GPa

3
Results herein(N=2,10 )
D

3
Results herein(N=3,10 )

0.3
TE

0.2
EP

0.1
C

0.0
9 12 15 18
Effective Shear modulus,GPa
AC

(b) Shear modulus

Fig. 7. Comparisons among our predictions and direct Monte Carlo simulations, where N = 2 and
N = 3 mean the second order moments or the fourth order moments are adopted in the proposed
simulation framework; 106 or 103 in the bracket means that the iterative times in solving the
micromechanical equations by direct Monte Carlo method is 106 or 103
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

0.25

Results herein(4:1)
Probability density function, 1/GPa 0.20 Results herein(1:1)
Results herein(1:4)

PT
0.15

RI
0.10

0.05

SC
0.00
20 25 30 35 40 45

U
Effective Young's modulus,GPa
AN
(a)
M

0.5

Results herein(4:1)
Results herein(1:1)
0.4
Probability density function, 1/GPa

Results herein(1:4)
TE

0.3

0.2
EP

0.1
C

0.0
9 12 15 18
AC

Effective Shear modulus,GPa

(b)
Fig. 8. Influence of the fiber mix proportions on the properties of HFRC, where the ratios in the

bracket represent the volume proportions of the polypropylene fiber and steel fiber
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0.4

Conrete matrix-1
Conrete matrix-2
Probability density function, 1/GPa 0.3
Conrete matrix-3

PT
0.2

RI
0.1

SC
0.0
9 12 15 18 21 24

U
Effective Shear modulus,GPa
AN
(a)
M

0.3

Conrete matrix-1
Conrete matrix-2
D
Probability density function, 1/GPa

Conrete matrix-3

0.2
TE
EP

0.1
C
AC

0.0
9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36
Effective bulk modulus,GPa

(b)

Fig. 9. Influence of the concrete matrix on the properties of HFRC, where -1, -2 and -3 represent

three different concrete matrix in [16].

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0.25

Results herein(Type 1)
Results herein(Type 2)
0.20
Probability density function, 1/GPa

Results herein(Type 3)

PT
0.15

RI
0.10

0.05

SC
0.00
20 25 30 35 40 45

U
Effective Young's modulus,GPa
AN
(a)
M

0.5
Results herein(Type 1)
D

Results herein(Type 2)
0.4 Results herein(Type 3)
Probability density function, 1/GPa

TE

0.3
EP

0.2

0.1
C
AC

0.0
6 9 12 15 18
Effective Shear modulus,GPa

(b)

Fig. 10. Influence of the ITZ thickness on the properties of HFRC, where Type 1, 2 and 3

represent different ITZ thicknesses with mean values as 0.01mm, 0.03mm and 0.05mm