Study on the damage and fracture behaviors of fiber-reinforced cementitious composites by peridynamic simulation

A novel numerical model for the damage and fracture behaviors of fiber-reinforced cementitious composites (FRCC) is introduced based on Peridynamic (PD) theory. This Peridynamic fiber-reinforced Cementitious Composites (PD-FRCC) model improves the bond-based PD theory's capability to describe the intrinsic microstructural heterogeneity and macroscopic nonlinear mechanical properties of cementitious by introducing key damage correction factors. A semi-discrete method is used to simulate the reinforcement effect of fibers, where a proportion of cementitious matrix bonds are randomly selected as fiber-reinforced bonds based on fiber content and length. The effectiveness and stability of the proposed numerical model are validated by numerical simulation examples. These examples include tensile tests of single-fiber cementitious plates, static tensile tests of steel-polyethylene hybrid fiber reinforced engineered cementitious composites (ST/PE-ECC), and tensile failure simulations of double-notched beams. The results demonstrate that the proposed numerical model accurately captures the complex morphology and propagation of FRCC cracks, and showcases high predictive accuracy. The significant impact of fiber bridging on material toughness and ductility during crack propagation is emphasized, revealing that fibers not only suppress initial crack growth but also lead crack propagation along complex paths, thereby extending crack propagation time and enhancing fracture resistance.