Mechanical behaviour of a polyvinyl alcohol fibre reinforced engineered cementitious composite (PVA-ECC) using local ingredients

A polyvinyl alcohol fibre reinforced engineered cementitious composite (PVA-ECC) using local ingredients is developed, aiming for a reduced cost and a tensile strain capacity matching that of steel reinforcement for commonly used reinforced concrete structures. Experiments are conducted to determine mechanical behaviour of the composite. In addition, a finite element model is developed to simulate the flexural behaviour of PVA-ECC beams, and experimental results are used to calibrate the model. The material models of the PVA-ECC under compression and tension are calibrated using experimental results of uniaxial compression and tension tests. Furthermore, a theoretical relationship on the tensile strength between specimens with two-dimensional and three-dimensional fibre distribution is derived, and accuracy of the simulation is improved by using the theoretical ratio. Agreement between the computed results and the experimental data demonstrates the effectiveness of the finite element model.