No abstract

Textile Reinforced Concrete (TRC) is an advanced cement-based material in which fabrics used as reinforcement can bring significant loads in tension, allowing architects and engineers to use thin cross-sections. Previous research projects, developed during the last 10 years mainly in Germany, Israel and the USA, have shown the capabilities of such a material. In this paper an extensive experimental investigation of TRC is presented: tensile tests were carried out to obtain a complete mechanical characterization of the composite material under standard conditions, considering the influence of different variables such as reinforcement ratio, fabric geometry, curing conditions, displacement rate and specimen size

No abstract

Textile Reinforced Concrete (TRC) is an advanced cement-based material in which fabrics used as reinforcement can bring significant loads in tension, allowing architects and engineers to use thin crosssections. Previous research projects, developed during the last 10 years mainly in Germany, Israel and the USA, have shown the capabilities of such a material. In this paper an extensive experimental investigation of TRC is presented: tensile tests were carried out to obtain a complete mechanical characterization of the composite material under standard conditions, considering the influence of different variables such as reinforcement ratio, fabric geometry, curing conditions, displacement rate and specimen size.

7This paper concerns the investigation of the behaviour of sandwich beams previously tested in four point bending through 8 analytical and numerical models. Modelling is a fundamental resource to predict the mechanical response of the element 9 and to investigate the mechanisms that act during the evolution of the test. 10The sandwich beams here taken into account are characterised by external textile reinforced concrete (TRC) layers and 11 an insulation material (expanded polystyrene, EPS) able to transfer shear stresses. Bond between the layers is obtained 12 during production thanks to an in-pressure casting technique, and no particular device is used in order to transfer shear 13 stresses between the layers. Two beam slenderness values are taken into account. 14 An analytical and a numerical approach have been used in order to predict the experimental behaviour: concerning the 15 analytical approach, a model based on the Stamm and Witte sandwich theory has been developed including material non-16 linearity; concerning the numerical analysis, a finite element (FE) model has been built in ABAQUS including material 17 and geometry non-linearity. The assumption of perfect bond is used in both cases. 18The non-linear analytical and finite element models have been validated, as a good agreement with experimental results 19 has been achieved. The experimental identification of material parameters -TRC in tension, mortar in compression and 20 EPS in tension, compression and shear -is crucial for the definition of proper constitutive laws for the models and is here 21 presented and discussed. For both approaches, the assumptions of modelling TRC in bending as homogeneous and 22 assuming perfect bond between TRC and EPS (even when behaviour becomes highly non-linear) have been proved to be 23 reliable. Analytical and FEM results show that EPS non-linear behaviour and TRC membrane and bending behaviour 24 govern the response. The FE analysis also highlights the mechanisms involved in specimen failure. 25Textile reinforced concrete (TRC); sandwich beam; four-point bending test; non-linear analytical model; finite element 26 method. 27