Mechanical Characteristics of Self-Healing, Deflection-Hardening, High-Performance Fiber-Reinforced Cementitious Composites Using Coarse Aggregates

The main focus of the current research is the development of high-performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composites with large amounts of coarse aggregates without risking deflection-hardening response, and the evaluation of the autogenous selfhealing capability of these composites at different scales. The structural performance of cementitious composites exhibiting strain hardening should be known to be used in large-scale specimens. In addition to the studies carried out in small sizes, there is a need to examine the self-healing performances of large-scale specimens. Composite mixtures included different design parametersnamely Class F fly ash-to-portland cement ratio (FA/PC = 0.20, 0.70), aggregate-cementitious materials ratio (A/CM = 1.0, 2.0), addition/type of different fibers (for example, polyvinyl alcohol [P], nylon [N], and hooked-end steel [S] fibers), addition/type of nanomaterials (for example, nanosilica [NS] and nanoalumina [NA]) and inclusion of steel reinforcing bar in tested beams. Small-scale (80 x 75 x 400 mm [3.15 x 2.96 x 15.76 in.]) and large-scale beams (100 x 150 x 1000 mm [3.94 x 5.91 x 39.4 in.]) were produced and considered for performance comparison. Four-point bending tests were performed on different-scale beams loaded by considering different shear span-effective depth ratios (a/d) ranging between 0.67 and 2.00 and 0.67 and 2.96 for small- and large-scale beams, respectively. Autogenous self-healing evaluation was made using different-scale beam specimens subjected to 30-day further cyclic wetting-and-drying curing in terms of changes in microcrack characteristics and recovery in flexural parameters of preloaded beams. Experimental results showed that it is possible to successfully produce concrete with large amounts of coarse aggregates without jeopardizing the deflection-hardening response both at small and large scale. Autogenous self-healing is valid for small- and largescale beams in terms of crack characteristics/flexural parameters and is found to improve with the increased FA/PC, decreased A/ CM, in the presence of nanomaterials, and with the increased fiber amount (regardless of the type). Outcomes of this research are thought to be important because they show the manufacturability of deflection-hardening concrete with large amounts of coarse aggregates at large scale and validate their autogenous self-healing capabilities, which are important for the real-time applicability of such mixtures in actual field conditions.