INTRODUCTION OF STRAIN-HARDENING ENGINEERED CEMENTITIOUS COMPOSITES IN DESIGN OF REINFORCED-CONCRETE FLEXURAL MEMBERS FOR IMPROVED DURABILITY

This paper proposes a new design for reinforced concrete flexural memb ers to improve durability. The design makes use of the unique properti es of a strain-hardening cementitious composite to limit crack width. The composite is used as a replacement for the concrete material that surrounds the main reinforcement in a regular reinforced concrete memb er. With this design, it was shown that crack widths under service loa d conditions can be limited to values never before achieved using conv entional steel reinforcement and concrete. Under these conditions, it was concluded that it would be possible to prevent migration of aggres sive substances into the concrete or reinforcement. Furthermore, accel erated corrosion due to longitudinal cracking or spalling can be reduc ed, if not eliminated, and spalling and delamination problems common t o many of today's reinforced concrete structures can be prevented.