Mechanical Properties of Sprayable Fiber Reinforced Strain-Hardening Cement Composite (SHCC)

The use of strain-hardening cement composite (SHCC), which exhibits metal-like deformation behavior and has ability to restrict crack opening, as a retrofit material for seismic retrofitting of existing infrastructures, has been the subject of high expectations. In this work, Three SHCC mixtures including different chemical or mineral admixtures were prepared and evaluated based on the mechanical properties, such as flow, sprayability, compressive and uniaxial tensile performances. All SHCC mixtures were reinforced with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers at volume fraction of 2.2%. Mechanical properties of each SHCC mixture were measured and evaluated after mixing, pumping, and shotcreting. Experimental results indicated that the compressive strength and elastic modulus of three SHCC mixtures increased almost linearly according to shotcreting procedure from mixer to nozzle. And the uniaxial tensile of SHCC mixture (SHCC-AE) with AE agent was superior to the other SHCC mixtures (SHCC-MC and -N).