Impact characteristics of ultra-high-performance fiber reinforced concrete plates under different boundary conditions

The paper reports on the impact resistance of fiber-reinforced composite named ultra-high performance fiber reinforced concrete (UHPFRC). UHPFRC is a new type of composite material developed in the mid-1990s. The impact resistance characteristics of UHPFRC specimens in the light of an energy absorption capacity correspond to the number of blows, deformation, acceleration, strain, ductility ratio, and crack pattern depending on support conditions. These parameters are studied by varying micro steel fiber (MSF) volumes from 0 to 10 percent. UHPFRC plate specimens were cast and tested with and without MSF to investigate the influence of these parameters under different support conditions. The typical results on UHPFRC plates, when compared to plain UHPC, illustrated that UHPFRC plates exhibited a pseudo-ductile behavior. Increasing MSF content in UHPFRC plates enhances the number of blows corresponding to the various failure stages. It is demonstrated that the energy absorption capacity of UHPFRC plate specimens at the first, second, third, and failure stages increases significantly. UHPFRC plate specimens with MSF content exhibited more ductile behavior than their control specimens. The increase in ductility is attributed to the bridging action of the increased number of MSF, which increases the impact capacity and allows for observing higher impact energy after the first crack. Finally, an optimized volume of MSF content was observed to be 8 percent to provide excellent strength and ductility properties of UHPFRC plates under impact loading. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.