Influence of Casting Direction on Fracture Energy of Fiber-Reinforced Cement Composites

This paper is focused on behavior of fiber reinforced cement composites (FRC) and ultrahigh-performance fiber reinforced cement composites (UHPFRC) in dependence on the direction of casting. Twelve prismatic samples of size of 400 x 100 x 100 mm were cast into moulds; six of these were FRC and the other six were UHPFRC. Three samples of both series were cast in the common horizontal direction and the other three in the vertical way. It was found that fracture energy of horizontally cast prisms was approximately three times higher in both cases than the vertically cast ones. The peak loads of FRC were very similar for both ways of casting. On the other hand the UHPFRC behaved differently, the peak load of horizontally cast prisms was approximately 2,5 times higher than the vertically cast ones. It was demonstrated that these differences are caused by the way of casting and vibration.