FLEXURAL BEHAVIOR OF COMPOSITE R.C.-SLURRY INFILTRATED MAT CONCRETE (SIMCON) MEMBERS

This paper explores the structural use of a new High-Performance Fiber Reinforced Concrete (HPFRC) called Slurry infiltrated Mat Concrete (S IMCON) and presents the effect of using this material on flexural stre ngth and energy absorption of composite members. SIMCON is made by fir st placing continuous stainless steel fiber-mats into the form followe d by infiltration of the dense fiber network with a cement-based slurr y. These mats are ''pre-woven'' and delivered to the site in large rol ls. The mats need only to be ''unfurled'' into the formwork, thus subs tantially simplifying the manufacturing process, as compared to reinfo rced concrete. The advantages of SIMCON, namely high strength, high to ughness; excellent crack control, and good constructability, make it w ell suited for development of high-performance infrastructural systems . The paper describes the flexural behavior of composite SIMCON member s, and provides a non-linear analysis procedure capable of accurately predicting the moment-curvature behavior of these members; Due to its fibermat configuration, SIMCON is well suited for (a) structural repai r/retrofit by wrapping around existing structural members, and (b) new construction as stay-in-place formwork SIMCON use in repair/retrofit was evaluated experimentally by testing three different repair/retrofi t layouts: on the beam top, at the beam bottom and on three beam sides (bottom and two side faces). An analytical valuation procedure was de veloped and then used to investigate the performance of new composite members. The use of SIMCON increased strength energy absorption capaci ties, durability, and allowed for optimization of member weight and he ight.