Reinforced reactive powder concrete plate under cyclic loading

Reactive powder concrete (RPC) is a kind of high-strength and high-performance cement-based composite. The steel welded wire mesh reinforced thin reactive powder concrete plate (WMRPC) has been fabricated to explore its behavior when subjected to reversed cyclic bending. The fabrication process of specimens has been improved to control distribution, orientation and uniformity of steel fibers in the matrix of WMRPC. The aim of this study is to develop a cement-based composite plate with large energy dissipation capacity, which can be applied to structural passive control engineering. Therefore, the study focuses on the energy dissipation property of WMRPC, especially under reversed cyclic bending. In this paper, the effects of steel welded wire meshes and volume fractions of steel fibers in WMRPC are presented. Under both the monotonic static bending tests and the reversed cyclic bending tests, flexural strength, toughness, and energy dissipation ability of WMRPC are reported. The experimental results indicate that the surfaces of WMRPC flexural specimens show multiple cracks and the load versus mid-span deflection curves display the pseudo-displacement-hardening phenomenon and stable hysteretic loops that enhance energy dissipation. WMRPC provides an alternative for metals as a material of structural energy control applications.