Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering.

Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;

posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

Mechanical Behavior of Fiber Reinforced Engineered Cementitious Composites

in Uniaxial Compression

Jiajia Zhou1, Jinlong Pan2*, C.K.Y Leung, F.ASCE3

Abstract: Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber reinforced engineered cementitious

composite (ECC) is a class of high performance cementitious composites with pseudo

t
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strain-hardening behavior and excellent crack control when subjected to uniaxial

d cr
tension. However, the compressive behavior of ECC has not been well characterized

in the literature. In this paper, uniaxial compression tests were carried out on ECC

te s
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with five different mix proportions and compressive strength ranging from 35 MPa to

60 MPa. Complete stress-strain curves were obtained. Based on the test results, the
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compressive parameters, such as the elastic modulus, engineering strain at the peak
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stress, the Poisson’s ratio and the toughness index, were studied. A new constitutive

model was proposed to express the pre- and post-peak mechanical behavior of ECC
C ted

under uniaxial compression. The proposed model showed a good agreement with the

experimental curves. The model proposed should be a valuable reference for the
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nonlinear analysis of ECC material in the part of structures under uniaxial

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compression.
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Key words: ECC; Uniaxial compression strength; Stress-strain curve;

Stress-deformation curve; Elastic modulus.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1
Ph.D candidate, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China. E-mail:
[email protected]
2*
Professor, Key Laboratory of Concrete and Prestressed Concrete Structures of Ministry of
Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, China. (corresponding author). E-mail:
[email protected]
3
Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science
and Technology, Hong Kong, China. E-mail: [email protected]

Copyright 2014 by the American Society of Civil Engineers

J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

 Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

Introduction

Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) are high performance fiber reinforced

cementitious composites that are designed based on micromechanics concept. The

theory of the steady state crack propagation and the micromechanics of the

stress-cracking relationship were used as the basis for the tailoring of fiber, matrix and

t
interface in order to attain strain-hardening behavior with the minimum amount of
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fibers for ECC (Li and Leung 1992, Li 1992, and Li et al. 1995).The materials of ECC

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comprise of a Portland cement based mortar reinforced with high modulus, high

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aspect ratio Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) fibers. The volume fraction of PVA fibers in

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ECC material is about 2%. When a properly designed ECC is subjected to uniaxial

tension, it shows post-cracking strain hardening behavior with the formation of

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multiple fine cracks. The ultimate tensile strain of ECC could reach 0.02 to 0.06,
op M

which is 200 to 600 times above that of conventional concrete (Li and Leung 1992).
C ted

At the ultimate failure, the crack width of ECC under uniaxial tension is about 60 μm

and the crack spacing is 3-6mm (Zhang et al. 2009).With pseudo-strain hardening

behavior and multiple cracking characteristic under uniaxial tension, ECC is expected
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N ce

to perform better than traditional cementitious composites in many applications (Li

2003, Fukuyama et al. 2000, Rokugo et al. 2009, Kim et al. 2004). Research studies in
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the past two decades have covered material design (Li and Leung 1992, Li et al. 1995,

Zhang et al. 2009, and Chan and Li 1997), mechanical properties (Li et al. 2001,

Maalej and Li 1994, and Maalej et al. 1995) as well as the performance of structural

members (Fukuyama et al. 1999, Fischer and Li 2002, Rokugo et al. 2009, and Kim et

al. 2004, Yuan et al. 2013a, 2013b). The ductility, resistance to cracking and energy

absorption capacity of ECC have led to its application in seismic resistant structures,

bridge structures as well as the rehabilitation of dams and retaining walls. 

Copyright 2014 by the American Society of Civil Engineers

J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

 Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

Up to now, the behavior of ECC under compression has not been widely studied. As

the failure behavior of many structural components are affected by both the tensile

and compressive behaviors, a better understanding of the compressive behavior is

crucial for the wider application of ECC in structural engineering. Li (1998)

compared the compressive responses of ECC with fiber reinforced concrete (FRC)

t
under uniaxial compression, and found that the compressive strain capacity of ECC
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was approximately 50%-100% higher than normal concrete and FRC, while the

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elastic modulus of ECC was about 30%-40% lower than conventional concrete due to

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the absence of coarse aggregates. Other investigators have studied the compressive

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behavior of materials similar to ECC. Xu and Cai (2010, 2011) investigated the

compressive properties of Ultra High Toughness Cementitious Composite (UHTCC),

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using specimens 40mmh40mmh160mm in size. Moreover, a new constitutive
op M

model was proposed for UHTCC under uniaxial compression. In the study by Kittnun
C ted

(2010), a series of High Performance Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Composite

(HPFRCC) prism and cylindrical specimens were used to obtain the stress-strain
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response under uniaxial compression. It was found that the shape of the specimens
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had great influence on the compressive strength and the stress-strain response at the

post-peak stage, but little effect on the elastic modulus. Hassan (2012) also
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experimentally studied the compressive response of Ultra High Performance Fiber

Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC) specimens at different ages. It was found that the

addition of steel fibers improved post-peak behavior of UHPFRC, but little influence

on the strength and elastic modulus was found. Moreover, the age (between 7days and

28days) was found to have little effect on the compressive parameters, such as the

compressive strength and the elastic modulus. These former studies emphasized the

compressive parameters of ECC under uniaxial compression, but few comprehensive

Copyright 2014 by the American Society of Civil Engineers

J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

 Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

constitutive models appeared for predicting the response of ECC specimens under

compression (Xu and Cai 2010). For Xu and Cai’s model, the stress-strain behavior of

ECC was divided into two parts, i.e., the ascending part and the descending part,

which was based on Wang and Shah’s model (1978) and Guo’s model (1997)

proposed for concrete. However, it does not accurately describe the post-peak

t
behavior of ECC in compression because it ignores the post-peak localization
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ip
characteristic (van Mier et al. 1997). Hence it is necessary to develop a new analytical

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model to accurately describe the behavior of ECC in compression for nonlinear

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structural analysis.

di nu
In this paper, cylinder specimens were tested to study the compressive behavior of

ECC. The stress-deformation curves were generated from the test results. Several
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compressive parameters, such as elastic modulus, strain corresponding to peak stress,
op M

and Poisson’s ratio were investigated. Finally, a constitutive model was proposed to
C ted

predict the pre- and post-peak behaviors of ECC under uniaxial compression, which

could be used as a reference for nonlinear analysis of ECC structures.

Experimental program
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Material properties

Five groups of ECCs and three groups of mortar with different mix proportions were
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designed to prepare cylinder specimens for the compression test. A total of 48

specimens were tested to investigate the compression behaviors of ECCs and mortar,

in which 24 specimens were for obtaining the elastic modulus and Poisson’s ratio

while the others were for investigating the stress-deformation relationship under

uniaxial compression. For the ECC specimens, the constituents include Portland

cement, fine silica sand, silica fume, fly ash, polyvinyl acetate (PVA) fibers,

super-plasticizer, and water. The mixture proportions of components are listed in

Copyright 2014 by the American Society of Civil Engineers

J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

 Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

Table 1.

Cylinder specimens with dimensions of 100mm (diameter)×200mm (height) were

prepared and tested in uniaxial compression according to ASTM C469 (ASTM

2002). All specimens were cast in steel molds and covered by plastic sheets for about

24h. They were then removed from the molds and placed into a standard curing room

t
with temperature of 20f2°C and relative humidity of 95% for 28 days. When the
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standard curing period was reached, the specimens were removed from the curing

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room and left in the atmosphere until the age of testing. Prior to testing, both ends of

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the specimens were capped with sulfur compound to meet the planeness requirements

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of ASTM C469 (ASTM 2002).

Testing equipment and testing method

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The uniaxial compression test was carried out to study the compressive properties of
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ECCs. For each group, three specimens were tested to obtain elastic modulus and
C ted

Poisson’s ratio, and three were examined to obtain the stress-deformation relationship.

A servo-hydraulic testing machine with a 4600 kN capacity was used to conduct the
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tests. In order to obtain elastic modulus and Poisson’s ratio, two compressometers and
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one circumferential extensometer were centered about mid-height of the specimen to

measure the longitudinal strain and the transverse deformation. The test setup is
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illustrated in Figure 1(a). In order to obtain the stress-strain relationship, the strain

was measured by compressometers or LVDTs at the central region of the specimen

traditionally, as shown in ASTM 2002. The stress-deformation curve attained by this

method may satisfy up to the peak load level, since the specimens shows uncracked

and microcracking behaviors at the pre-peak load stage. However, the extensive

cracking in the post-peak part may leads to the compressometer readings erratic due

to disturbances at the contact points (Mansur et al. 1995). It may not the actual

Copyright 2014 by the American Society of Civil Engineers

J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

 Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

deformation in the post-peak part by this measurement method. In order to solve this

problem, the setup suggested by Mansur (1995) is used which is shown in Figure 1(b).

In this setup, two LVDTs were attachedbetween both ends of the specimens to

measure the whole longitudinal deformations which show stable behavior at the post

peak stage, and two compressometers were also centered about mid-height of the

t
specimen to measure the longitudinal strain. By this method, the deformation obtained
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by compressometers could be used as the deformation up to the pre-peak load, and the

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deformation measured by LVDTs could be applied as the deformation beyond the

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post-peak load.

di nu
Before specimens were formally loaded, three cycles of preloading were performed.

For preloading process, the loading rate was set to be 0.33 MPa/s. The specimens
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were unloaded to 2.5 kN (0.33 MPa) after the preloading value reached 40% of the
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peak load. After three cycles, the specimens were then subjected to formal loading.
C ted

During the formal loading process, the displacement rate was set to be 0.001 mm/s to

obtain a stable softening stage. Considering the high deformation capacity of ECC

specimens, loading was stopped when the load value decreased to 30% of the peak
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load.

Test results and Discussions

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Stress-deformation curves

In the deformation measuring method shown in Figure 1(b), the axial deformation

may be affected by end restraining effects. In order to eliminate the influence of the

end-restraining effects, a correction was made according to the method introduced by

Mansur (1995). In that correction method, the deformation measured by transducers

placed between the top and bottom machine platens (Δtp) comprised three parts, i.e.,

the deformation due to flexibility of the machine (Δm), the deformation due to

Copyright 2014 by the American Society of Civil Engineers

J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

 Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

end-zone effect (Δe) and the actual axial deformation of the specimen (Δc). It follows:

'tp 'a  'c (' a 'm  'e ) (1)

In order to obtain the actual axial deformation of the specimen (Δc), Mansur assumed

that Δa was a function of the applied load, which could be expressed as follows:

'co
'a 'tp  ( )L (V V )L (2)
Lg Etp Eco

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In this function, Δc0 is the deformation measured by compressometer over the gauge

length Lg; L is the distance between the machine platens, σ is the applied stress and Etp

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and Eco are the initial tangent moduli of the concrete based on the stress-strain curves

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derived from the transducer and compressometer readings respectively.

di nu
From Eqs. (1) and (2), the actual axial deformation of the specimens could be
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obtained like this:
op M

'c 'tp  ( V V )L (3)

Etp Eco
Figure 2 shows the typical stress-deformation curves for ECC specimens. Only one
C ted

stress-deformation curves was displayed in Figure 2 for each mix proportion, while

the others were shown in the appendices. The ‘x’ axis shows the corrected
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longitudinal deformation of the specimens, and the ‘y’ axis displays the actual
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compressive stress which was calculated by dividing the force (measured by the
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machine) by the cross-section area of the specimen.

For each specimen, the curve could be divided into four stages, i.e., linear elastic

ascending stage, nonlinear ascending stage, cracking stage and residual softening

stage. In the linear elastic ascending stage, ECC specimens behaved elastically as the

stress increased. After the applied loading reached approximately 40% of the

compressive strength, the curves deviated from linear elastic behavior and showed

nonlinear behavior up to the peak stress. This is attributed to the emergence and

Copyright 2014 by the American Society of Civil Engineers

J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

 Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

development of internal defects and micro cracks during the loading process. These

two stages were similar for conventional concrete and fiber reinforced concrete.

Beyond the peak stress, the curves dropped with different slopes to a certain stress

level. In the post-peak stage, the fibers in the matrix played an important role in

bridging the cracks. When the stress decreased to about 50% of the ultimate strength,

t
an apparent inflection point appeared in the stress-deformation curve. The
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stress-deformation curve after the inflection point was defined as residual softening

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stage, in which the stress decreased stably with the deformation until final failure

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occurred.

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Figure 3 shows the stress-deformation curves of ECC and mortar specimens under

uniaxial compression. It can be found that addition of PVA fibers had little effect on
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the pre-cracking behavior, but had great effect on the post-peak behaviors of
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specimens.
C ted

Failure mode

For specimen under uniaxial compression, the crack pattern is dependent on the stress

state and the microstructure of the specimens (Xu and Cai 2010).
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Figure 4 shows the typical failure modes of the specimens. From Figure 4 (a), the

mortar specimens were found to split vertically and divided into several prisms after
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failure. The specimens exhibited brittle failure under uniaxial compression. In contrast,

the ECC specimens showed different failure modes. The addition of fibers resulted in

a much more ductile failure than the mortar specimens. As external loading increased,

micro cracks continued to appeared and propagated. Beyond the peak load, as the

cracks extended, the bridging effect of fibers were activated and provided lateral

constraint to the specimen. As a result, the cracks along the specimen were controlled

to relative small size. Instead of vertical splitting, a major inclined shear crack formed

Copyright 2014 by the American Society of Civil Engineers

J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

 Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

along the specimens with the cracking plane about 45°-90° from the horizontal plane,

as shown in Figure 4 (b). Finally, the ECC specimens failed in ductile shear failure

other than brittle splitting failure. The ductile failure mode can be attributed to

bridging interaction between PVA fibers and the cementitious matrix, which kept the

specimens in integrity after they entered the softening stage.

t
Compressive properties of fiber reinforced cementitious composites
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The mechanical properties of ECC are important for structural analysis, and the main

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parameters include the peak stress (fcr’), the strain corresponding to the peak load (ε0),

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the elastic modulus (E0), Poisson’s ratio at the elastic stage (ν0), and the toughness

di nu
index. The peak stress is calculated by dividing the peak load by the cross-section

area of the specimen. The strain corresponding to the peak strength can be obtained
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by dividing the corrected deformation at the peak load by the height of the specimen.
op M

Based on the method in ASTM (C469) (ASTM 2002), the elastic modulus (E0) and
C ted

Poisson’s ratio at the elastic stage (ν0) are calculated as follows:

( S1  S2 )
E0 (4)
(H1  H 2 )
ot p

(H t 2  H t1 )
Q0 (5)
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(H 2  H1 )

In the Eqs. (4) and (5), S2 is the stress value corresponding to 40 % of the peak load
Ac

and S1 is the stress corresponding to the load of 1kN. ε1 and ε2 are the longitudinal

strains corresponding to the stresses S1 and S2, respectively. εt1 and εt2 are the

transverse strains in the middle height of the specimen corresponding to the stresses

S1 and S2. The mechanical parameters of ECC and mortar under compression are

shown in Table 2.

Elastic modulus

The elastic modulus describes the initial elastic response of specimens under uniaxial

Copyright 2014 by the American Society of Civil Engineers

J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

 Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

compression. The relationships of the elastic modulus and the compressive strength

are shown in Figure 5. It could be found that the elastic modulus increases with the

compressive strength, the same with Xu and Cai’s research (Xu and Cai 2010). The

relationship between the elastic modulus and compressive strength of concrete has

been proposed in both ACI (1984) and CEB (1990) standards. Figure 5 shows the

t
comparisons of the relationship between elastic modulus and compressive strength
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from different standards and the experimental results. From Figure 5, it is found that

d cr
the elastic modulus predicted by the standards were much higher than the test results,

te s
indicating that the formula for concrete is not suitable for ECC material. This is an

di nu
expected result as there is only a small amount of sand and no coarse aggregates in

ECC.
ye a
Based on the test results, regression analyses gave the following expression for the
op M

elastic modulus in terms of the compressive strength of ECC:

C ted

E0 1.5( fcr' )0.638 (6)

In Eq. (6), E0 and fcr’ (cylindrical strength) are expressed in the units of gigapascal

(GPa) and megapascal (MPa), respectively. From Figure 5, it can be seen that the
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proposed equation fits the experimental results well, with a correlation coefficients R2
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of 0.978. The regression equation proposed by Xu (2010) for prism specimens (with
Ac

the dimensions 40mmh40mmh160mm ) is shown in Figure 5. The equation shows

distinct difference from our test results due to the effect of the shape and size of the

specimens.

From Figure 6, it can be found that the elastic moduli of ECC specimens are smaller

than those of mortar specimens. This is attributed to the increased porosity caused by

fiber addition which decreases the stiffness of the specimens (Xu and Cai 2010).

Strain at peak stress

Copyright 2014 by the American Society of Civil Engineers

J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

 Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

The strain at peak stress indicates the deformability of the specimen at the ultimate

strength. For each specimen, the strain at peak stress is plotted against the

compressive strength in Figure 7. The results indicate that the strain at peak load is

between 0.004 and 0.005 for specimens of different strength, and there is little

correlation with the compressive strength of ECC. The comparisons of strains at peak

t
stresses between ECC and corresponding mortar specimens are shown in Figure 8. It
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can be observed that there is little difference between the values for ECC and mortar.

d cr
This result demonstrates that addition of PVA fiber has little effect on the strain at

te s
peak stress under compression. This can be explained by the fact that before the peak

di nu
stress is reached, only microcracks occur in ECC or mortar specimens under external

loading and the fiber bridging is not yet introducing a significant effect.
ye a
Poisson’s ratio
op M

As mentioned, after the stress reaches approximately 40% of the peak stress (fcr’) at
C ted

the ascending stage, the stress-strain curve shows apparent curvature and the

Poisson’s ratio could not be described as a constant value. In this study, to account for

the effect of cracking on nonlinear stress-strain behavior of ECC at the ascending

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stage, the Poisson’s ratio is divided into two parts, including ν0 and νcr, and ν0 defines

the Poisson’s ratio due to elastic deformation and νcr defines the Poisson’s ratio due to
Ac

cracking in ECC (the cracking Poisson’s ratio).

The Poisson’s ratios at the elastic stage (ν0) for the tested ECC are plotted against

compressive strength in Figure 9. For strength lower than 50MPa, ν0 increases slightly

with the compressive strength; when the strength exceeds 50MPa, ν0 stays almost

constant at 0.17. For simplification, ν0 of ECC can be considered independent to the

compressive strength and its value can be taken as 0.17 for structural analysis. With

the method of ASTM C469 (ASTM 2002), the ν0 of concrete was found to be 0.11,

Copyright 2014 by the American Society of Civil Engineers

J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

 Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

which is much smaller than that of ECC for the same strength grade.

Figure 10 shows the relationships between cracking Poisson’s ratios and normalized

longitudinal strains of ECC specimens N1 and concrete specimens (fcr’=35.3MPa)

(Pan 2010). For concrete, when the normalized longitudinal strain is smaller than 0.6,

the cracking Poisson’s ratio increases gradually with the longitudinal strain. When the

t
normalized strain is beyond 0.6, the cracking Poisson’s ratio increases exponentially
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due to rapid development of micro cracks in concrete. In contrast, for ECC, the

d cr
cracking Poisson’s ratio increases quickly with the normalized longitudinal strain in

te s
the initial stage. After the normalized longitudinal strain is larger than 0.2, the

di nu
cracking Poisson’s ratio is almost constant and stays very close to 0.2. This is

attributed to the bridging effect of the fibers which restrict the opening of cracks in
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the lateral direction.
op M

Toughness index
C ted

Toughness index is another important parameter for evaluating the compressive

properties of ECC. It represents the energy absorption capacity of a material and is

often used to characterize the material’s ductility before failure.

ot p
N ce

Researchers have proposed different definitions for the toughness index (TI) under

compression to describe the ductility property of fiber reinforced cementious

Ac

composites. Fanella et al (1985) and Hsu (1994) defined the toughness of fiber

reinforced concrete (FRC) as the ratio of the area under the stress-strain curve of the

fiber reinforced matrix to that of the matrix. Mansur (1999) defined the toughness as

the ratio of the area under the stress vs average strain curve up to a strain of 3ε0 to that

up to a strain of ε0, where ε0 is the strain corresponding to the peak stress. Nataraja et

al. (1999) defined the toughness as the total area under the stress vs average strain

curve up to a strain of 0.015, which was considered sufficient to represent the trend of

Copyright 2014 by the American Society of Civil Engineers

J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

 Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

the post-peak behavior. In this paper, the toughness is proposed as the ratio of the

post-peak area under the normalized stress vs deformation curve reach to a stress of

30% fcr’ at the post-peak stage to the pre-peak area up to the peak stress, as shown in

Fig.11. With this method, the dimensionless toughness index is calculated and plotted

against the compressive strength in Figure 12.

t
From Figure 12, it can be observed that the ECC specimens of composition N1 show
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the highest ductility among all compositions, and the ductility of ECC shows a

d cr
decreasing trend with compressive strength.

te s
Analytical modeling of ECC in compression

di nu
In order to predict the behavior of ECC under uniaxial compression, few analytical

models have been proposed in the past few decades (Xu and Cai 2010). The model
ye a
proposed by Xu and Cai (2010) is shown as follows:
op M

­ A( H )  B( H ) 2
°f H0 H0
'
(0 d H d H 0 )
° cr 1  C ( H )  ( H ) 2
C ted

° H0 H0
V ® (7)
° H
H0
° f cr '
(H t H 0 )
° b0 ( H  1) 2  H
ot p

¯ H0 H0
N ce

In Eq. 7, the coefficients A, B, C, D, b0 could be determined by the physical and

geometric boundaries conditions of the curve, ε0 and fcr’ are the strain and stress at the
Ac

peak load. This model showed good agreement with the experimental results of ECC

in Xu and Cai’s research (2010). However, as the stress vs strain relation was

employed for both the pre-peak and post-peak regimes, such model ignores the

post-peak localization characteristic of ECC. After the post-peak localization, the

strain is no longer well defined as deformation becomes concentrated around the

crack rather than uniformly spreading over the gauge length. In the paper of van Mier

et al. (1997), it was suggested that the pre- and post-peak parts of the

Copyright 2014 by the American Society of Civil Engineers

J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

 Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

stress-deformation curve should be considered independently for structural analysis.

The behavior of uncracked concrete and concrete with diffused microcracks is

described by the pre-peak stress vs strain behavior, while the behavior of concrete

after crack localization is described by the post-peak stress softening curve, which is

in terms of stress vs deformation. In the following section, this method is used to

t
establish the constitutive models for ECC specimens of different compositions, which
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exhibit the same post-peak localization characteristic as concrete.

d cr
New constitutive model for ECC under uniaxial compression

te s
In this section, test results of ECC specimens with different compressive strengths are

di nu
used to derive a new constitutive model for ECC in compression. For the ascending

branches, the stress-strain curves begin to deviate from linear behavior at about 40%
ye a
of ultimate strength, when internal micro cracks start to form. In order to describe the
op M

nonlinear behavior in the ascending stage, a reduction factor of elastic modulus α is

C ted

introduced to account for the decreasing stress at a particular strain level relative to

the linear elastic behavior. This approach, which was first purposed by Graybeal

(2007), is illustrated schematically in Figure 13.

ot p
N ce

According to Figure 13, the specimens behave elastically at the stage when the stress

is less than 40% of the peak stress. With increasing compressive stress, reduction of
Ac

elastic modulus is governed by the parameter α. Therefore, the relationship of stress

and strain in the ascending stage can be expressed by:

­ E0H (0  H  H 0.4 )
V ® (8)
¯ E0H (1  D ) (H 0.4  H  H 0 )

in which, ε0.4 is the strain at 40% of ultimate strength. α is taken to be a function of the

measured strain normalized by the theoretical elastic strain fcr’/E0 if concrete had

remained linearly elastic up to its compressive strength. The following simple

expression for α is proposed:

Copyright 2014 by the American Society of Civil Engineers

J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

 Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

D a
H E0 b (9)
f cr '
The two parameters in Eq. (9), a and b, are found to be 0.308 and 0.124 by linear

regression analysis of all test results. As shown in Figure 14, the model fits the

experimental results very well. In other words, the same values of a and b applies to

all ECC compositions so a and b can be considered as constants.

t
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Considering the post-peak localization characteristic of ECC, the stress-deformation

ip
curve was introduced to describe the post-peak behavior. A bilinear curve is

d cr
introduced as below:

te s
°V
­ m( x  x0 )  f cr ' ( x0  x  xl )

di nu
® (10)
°̄V n( x  x0 )  f cr ' ( xl  x  xmax )

In Eq. (10), xl and σl are the deformation and stress at the inflection point of the
ye a
op M

softening curve, while x0 and fcr’ are the deformation and stress at the peak load. With

this approach, the descending curve could be generated from test data at three points
C ted

of the experimental curve, namely, stress and deformation at the peak load, stress and

deformation at the inflection point as well as stress and deformation at an arbitrary

ot p

point selected from the curve. From statistical analysis of the test results, the values of
N ce

xl and σl are found to be xl=1.5x0 and σl=0.5fcr’ respectively. The comparisons of the

proposed model with the other two test data for the same mix proportion are shown in
Ac

Figure 15. In addition, the comparisons of the proposed model with the other two test

data for each mix proportion are shown in the appendices. The correlation coefficients

R2 between the experimental and predicted results are in the range of 0.9-0.99, and

good agreement can be observed.

Conclusions

With the addition of PVA fibers, ECC becomes more ductile than mortar under

uniaxial compression, and the failure mode changes from brittle splitting to ductile

Copyright 2014 by the American Society of Civil Engineers

J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

 Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

shear failure. The elastic moduli of ECC increase with the compressive strength. Due

to the lack of aggregate, the modulus of ECC is lower than concrete with similar

strength. Based on the test results, a regression equation is proposed to obtain the

elastic modulus of ECC from its compressive strengths. The strain at peak load is

between 0.004 and 0.005 for the tested ECC compositions, and there is little

t
correlation between the peak strain and the compressive strength. Moreover, addition
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ip
of PVA fiber has little effect on the strain at peak stress.For ECC material, the

d cr
Poisson’s ratio increases slightly with the compressive strength when the strength is

te s
lower than 50 MPa. However, when the strength exceeds 50 MPa, the Poisson’s ratio

di nu
stays almost constant, at a value higher than that for concrete of similar strength. The

toughness index of ECC decreases with compressive strength.

ye a
Based on the experimental stress and deformation curves, a new constitutive model is
op M

proposed to predict the response of ECC under uniaxial compression.

C ted

Acknowledgement

Financial support of the work by National Natural Science Foundation of China under
ot p
N ce

51278118, by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) under

2009CB623200 and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher

Ac

Education Institutions, is gratefully acknowledged.

Reference

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Chan, Y. W., and Li, V. C. (1997). “Age effect on the characteristics of fiber/cement

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 Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

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Fukuyama, H., Sato, Y., Li, V. C., Matsuzaki, Y., & Mihashi, H. (2000). “Ductile

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te s
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di nu
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ye a
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Fiber-Reinforced Concrete.” ACI Mater J., 104(6), 146-152.

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ot p

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Mansur, M. A., Chin, M. S., and Wee, T. H. (1999). “Stress-strain relationship of

ip
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d cr
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te s
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di nu
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op M

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Kotsovos, M.D., Labuz, J., Lange-Kornbak, D., Markeset, G., Paclovic, M. N.,
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Ac

Xu, S. L., and Cai X. R. (2010). “Experimental study and theoretical models on
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Appendices

The stress-deformation curves of the other two specimens for each proportion are

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J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

 Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

shown in Figure 16.

The comparisons of the proposed model with the other two test data for each mix

proportion are shown in Figure 17. The correlation coefficients R2 between the

experimental and predicted results are in the range of 0.90-0.10 which indicated that

this model is also valid for the other two specimens from the same mix proportion.

t
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ip
d cr
te s
di nu
ye a
op M
C ted
ot p
N ce
Ac

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 )LJXUH&DSWLRQ/LVW

Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

Fig. 1 The schematic diagram of test setup (a) To obtain the elastic moduli (b) To

obtain the stress-deformation curves

Fig. 2 Stress-deformation curves of ECC specimens with different strengths

Fig. 3 The stress-deformation of ECC and mortar specimens under uniaxial

compression (a) N1 and M1 (b) N4 and M4 (c) N5 and M5

t
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ip
Fig. 4 Typical failure modes of cylinder specimens under compression (a) failure

d cr
mode of mortar (b) failure modes of ECC

te s
Fig. 5 Relationships between compressive strength and elastic modulus for ECC

di nu
Fig. 6 Comparison of the elastic modulus between ECC and mortar
ye a
Fig. 7 Relationship between strains at peak stress and strength of ECC
op M

Fig. 8 Strains at peak stresses of ECC and corresponding mortar specimens

Fig. 9 Relationship of Poisson’s ratio (ν0) and compressive strength of ECC

C ted

specimens

Fig. 10 Relationship between cracking Poisson’s ratios and normalized longitudinal

ot p
N ce

strains of ECC and concrete

Fig. 11 Toughness index of ECC definition

Ac

Fig. 12 Relationship of toughness index and compressive strength of ECC specimens

Fig. 13 The comparison of actual stress-strain curve with the linear elastic response

Fig. 14 The relationship between α and the strain normalized by fcr’/E0

Fig. 15 Comparisons between the modeling results and the experimental results

Fig. 16 The experimental results

Fig. 17 Comparisons between the modeling results and the experimental results (a)

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posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

Comparison at the ascending stage for each sample (b) Comparison at the descending

stage for each sample

t
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ip
d cr
te s
di nu
ye a
op M
C ted
ot p
N ce
Ac

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 )LJXUH

Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
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(a) To obtain the elastic moduli (b) To obtain the stress-deformation curves
Fig. 1 The schematic diagram of test setup

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70
60
N5
50

Stress (MPa)
N4
40 N3
30 N2
20
10 N1
0
0.6 0
1.2 1.8 2.4
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Aixial Deformation (mm)

Fig. 2 Stress-deformation curves of ECC specimens with different strengths

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50

40
M1

Stress (MPa)
30
N1
20

10

0
0.0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0
Axial Deformatiom (mm)
(a) N1 and M1
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70
60
M4
50
Stress (MPa)

40
30 N4

20
10
0
0.0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0
Axial deformation (mm)
(b) N4 and M4
80
M5
60
Stress (MPa)

40 N5

20

0
0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0
0
Axial Deformation (mm)
(c) N5 and M5
Fig. 3 The stress-deformation of ECC and mortar specimens under uniaxial
compression

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Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
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45°
90°
60°

(a) failure mode of mortar (b) failure modes of ECC

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Fig. 4 Typical failure modes of cylinder specimens under compression

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50
Test data

Elastic modulus (GPa)

40 Fitting curve
Xu et al
ACI
30
CEB
20

10
20 30 40 50 60 70
Compression strength (MPa)
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Fig. 5 Relationships between compressive strength and elastic modulus for ECC

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25
ECC

Elastic modulus (GPa)

20 Matrix
15

10

0
2 0 31 4
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Group Number
Fig. 6 Comparison of the elastic modulus between ECC and mortar

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0.006

Average strain (mm/mm)

0.005

0.004

0.003

0.002
30 40 50 60 70
Compressive strength (MPa)
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Fig. 7 Relationship between strains at peak stress and strength of ECC

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Strain at peak stress (10-6mm/mm)

6000
ECC
5000 Matrix
4000
3000
2000
1000
00 1 2 3 4
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Group Number
Fig. 8 Strains at peak stresses of ECC and corresponding mortar specimens

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0.3

Poisson's Ratio (υ0)

0.2

0.1

0.0
40 30 50 60 70
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Compressive strength (MPa)

Fig. 9 Relationship of Poisson’s ratio (Ȟ0) and compressive strength of ECC
specimens

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0.8

Cracking Possion's Ratio

0.6 ECC
Concrete
0.4

0.2

0.0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2
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Normalized longitudinal strain (ε/ε0)

Fig. 10 Relationship between cracking Poisson’s ratios and normalized longitudinal
strains of ECC and concrete

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Toughness Index = (Area B)/(Area A)

Area A
’
fcr 

Stress (Mpa)
Area B
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’
0.3fcr 

0 x0 xmax
Axial deformation

Fig. 11 Toughness index of ECC definition

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Toughness index
2

0
30 40 50 60 70
Compressive strength (MPa)
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Fig. 12 Relationship of toughness index and compressive strength of ECC specimens

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100

Compressive stress (MPa)

80

60 αE0ε
αε
40 1
E0 (ε, σ)
20

0
0.000 0.001 0.002 0.003 0.004 0.005
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Axial Strain (mm/mm)

Fig. 13 The comparison of actual stress-strain curve with the linear elastic response

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0.4

0.3 Test data

Fitting curve
0.2

α
0.1

0.0
0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6
E0ε/ fcr
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Fig. 14 The relationship between Į and the strain normalized by fcr’/E0

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80 40
Proposed model Test data for N1
N11 N2 Proposed model
60 30
N3 N4
Stress (MPa)

Stress (MPa)
N5
40 20

20 10

0 0
0.000 0.001 0.002 0.003 0.004 0.005 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0
Strain (mm/mm) Axial deformation (mm)
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50 60
Test data for N2 Test data for N3
40 Proposed model 50
Proposed model
40
Stress (MPa)

Stress (MPa)
30
30
20
20
10 10
0 0
0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0
Axial deformation (mm) Axial deformation (mm)
60 70
Test data for N4 Test data for N5
50 60
Proposed model Proposed model
50
Stress (MPa)

Stress (MPa)

40
40
30
30
20
20
10 10
0 0
0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0
Axial deformation (mm) Axial deformation (mm)
Fig. 15 Comparisons between the modeling results and the experimental results

Accepted Manuscript
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J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

 )LJXUH

Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

70 70
60 N5_2 60
N5_3
50 50

Stress (MPa)
Stress (MPa)

N4_2 N4_3
40 40
30 N3_2 30 N3_3
20 20 N2_3
10 N1_2 10 N1_3
N2_2
0 0
0.0 0.6 1.2 1.8 2.4 0.0 0.6 1.2 1.8 2.4
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Axial deformation (mm) Axial deformation (mm)

Fig. 16 The experimental results

Accepted Manuscript
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J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

 )LJXUH

Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

80 80
Proposed model Proposed model
N1_2 N2_2 N1_3 N2_3
60 N3_2 N4_2 60 N3_3 N4_3

Stress (MPa)
Stress (MPa)
N5_2 N5_3
40 40

20 20

0 0
0.000 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.000 0.002 0.004 0.006
Strain (mm/mm) Strain (mm/mm)
(a) Comparison at the ascending stage for each sample
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50 50
Test data for N1_2 Test data for N1_3
40 Proposed model 40 Proposed model
Stress (MPa)

Stress (MPa)
30 30

20 20

10 10

0 0
0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4
Axial deformation (mm) Axial deformation (mm)
50 50
Test data for N2_2 Test data for N2_3
40 Proposed model 40 Proposed model
Stress (MPa)
Stress (MPa)

30 30

20 20

10 10

0 0.4 0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4

0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4
Axial deformation (mm) Axial deformation (mm)
60 60
Test data for N3_2 Test data for N3_3
50 Proposed model 50 Proposed model
Stress (MPa)

Stress (MPa)

40 40
30 30
20 20
10 10
0 0.4 0
0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4
Axial deformation (mm) Axial deformation (mm)

Accepted Manuscript
Not Copyedited
Copyright 2014 by the American Society of Civil Engineers

J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

 Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

60 60
Test data for N4_2 Testt data for N4_3
50 Proposed model 50 Proposed model
40 40

Stress (MPa)
Stress (MPa)

30 30
20 20
10 10
0 0
0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 2.4
Axial deformation (mm) Axial deformation (mm)
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80 80
Test data for N5_2 Test data for N5_3
60 Proposed model Proposed model
60

Stress (MPa)
Stress (MPa)

40 40

20 20

0 0
0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0
Axial deformation (mm) Axial deformation (mm)
(b) Comparison at the descending stage for each sample
Fig. 17 Comparisons between the modeling results and the experimental results

Accepted Manuscript
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Copyright 2014 by the American Society of Civil Engineers

J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

 7DEOHVGRF[

Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

Table 1. Mixture proportions of specimens

Silica Vf Super-
Series Cement FA SF Water
Sand (%) plasticizer
N1 0.20 0.80 - 0.20 0.28 2 0.0036
N2 0.18 0.80 0.02 0.20 0.26 2 0.0040
N3 0.20 0.80 - 0.40 0.26 2 0.0058
N4 0.33 0.67 - 0.20 0.26 2 0.0058
N5 0.20 0.80 - 0.20 0.22 2 0.0081
M1 0.20 0.80 - 0.20 0.28 0 0.0030
M4 0.33 0.67 - 0.20 0.26 0 0.0047
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M5 0.20 0.80 - 0.20 0.22 0 0.0068

FA: Fly ash; SF: Silica fume

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 Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. Submitted August 6, 2013; accepted January 15, 2014;
posted ahead of print January 17, 2014. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001034

Table 2. Mechanical parameters of fiber reinforced cementitious composites and mortar

Series fcr’/MPa ε0/με E0/GPa ν0

37.28 3800 15.1 0.155
N1 42.63 4195 16.0 0.160
41.71 4021 15.7 0.160
44.12 4237 16.5 0.164
N2 43.01 4264 16.3 0.166
45.46 4406 17.0 0.160
48.56 4153 17.8 0.171
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N3 46.86 4145 17.5 0.170

48.38 4323 18.0 0.170
52.92 4201 19.0 0.172
N4 53.91 4429 19.4 0.173
54.41 4450 19.7 0.170
Series fcr’/MPa ε0/με E0/GPa ν0
60.55 4570 20.9 0.171
N5 61.52 4692 21.0 0.174
59.86 4517 20.8 0.170
41.63 4547 17.4 0.162
M1 47.11 4230 17.8 0.160
44.82 4312 17.4 0.165
57.0 4494 21.2 0.172
M4 63.15 4458 21.5 0.170
62.26 4603 22.0 0.171
72.97 4578 22.4 0.171
M5 65.83 4503 21.9 0.170
67.74 4495 22.5 0.175

Note: in this table, fcr’ -the peak stress, ε0 -the strain corresponding to the peak load, E0-
the elastic modulus, ν0-Poisson’s ratio at the elastic stage

Accepted Manuscript
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J. Mater. Civ. Eng.