A phenomenological model to describe cracking and fibre pull‐out in ultra high‐performance fibre reinforced concrete

Abstract

AbstractIn ultra‐high performance concrete (UHPC) embedded micro steel fibres increase the ductility and improve the post cracking load‐bearing behaviour under tensile loading. For an efficent and economical dimensioning of components, especially for fatigue susceptible structures, it is necessary to characterise the crack‐bridging load‐bearing effect of the micro steel fibres and the associated processes taking place in the intersection between both material components. Thus, the development of model equations to predict the deformation and damage behaviour of UHPFRC with numerical simulations on the macro‐level is very useful. In the contribution, a material model, which describes the phenomenological damage processes of the composite material, is presented. The numerical realisation with the finite element method applies a hybrid‐mixed element formulation, where a direct coupling with the material model is performed. Numerical studies of the material behaviour of UHPFRC are presented by means of an illustrative example.