DESIGN AND STRUCTURAL APPLICATIONS OF STRESS-CRACK WIDTH RELATIONS INFIBER-REINFORCED CONCRETE

The stress-crack width relationship has been shown to be the key to an understanding of fracture propagation in and mechanical behaviour in tension of fibre reinforced concrete materials and structures. A model is derived for the stress-crack width relationship for randomly orien ted short fibre composites which takes hybrid fibre systems and possib le fibre rupture into account. It is shown how this stress-crack width relationship can be included in a structural model for the prediction of crack, widths in reinforced concrete structures. With this combina tion of models a rational design tool for the design of composite mate rials and structures has been established. It is shown how different f ibre systems can be tested for structural applicability and how combin ed material and structural optimization can take place.