The influence of strain rate on performance of fiber-reinforced concrete loaded in flexure

Fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) is commonly used in applications in which the rate of loading exceeds quasistatic conditions by a large margin. Since the performance of materials can vary with strain rate, there is a need to determine the performance of FRC at rates of strain that approximate those occurring in actual applications, In this investigation, FRC has been tested using the round determinate panel procedure to examine the influence of low to moderate rates of strain on cracking and postcrack performance up to severe levels of deformation. The results indicate that performance can vary substantially with strain rate when some types of polymer fibers are used as reinforcement, but that this is not true for all types. Moreover, steel fiber-reinforced concrete exhibits a smaller variation in postcrack performance with rate of strain than polymer FRC.