SEMINAR REPORT

ON
“BENDABLE CONCRETE”
PRESENTED BY
CHITARI NAGESH BABASAHEB
I ST – SEM M.TECH. IN STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
BASAVESHWAR ENGINEERING COLLEGE BAGALKOT
 ABSTRACT
 Engineered Cementitious Composites
(ECC) is an ultra-ductile fiber reinforced
cementitious material that embodies a
micromechanics based design concept.
The tensile ductility and self-controlled
tight crack width characteristics are
conducive to enhancing structural safety
under severe loading, and durability
under normal service loading.
 The cost of ECC is currently about three
times that of normal concrete per cubic
yard. However, a number of commercial
projects in Japan and Australia have
already demonstrated that initial
construction cost saving can be achieved
when ECC is used, through smaller
structural member size, reduced or
eliminated steel reinforcement,
elimination of other structural protective
systems, and faster construction offered
by the unique fresh and hardened
properties of ECC .
 The advantages offered by ECC over
conventional concrete become even
more compelling. ECC is a field-ready
ductile concrete that has the potential to
significantly contribute to enhancing
infrastructure safety, durability and
sustainability. These properties of ECC
and its applications are reviewed in the
seminar work.
 INTRODUCTION
 Demands on Future Concrete:-
Concrete is ubiquitous. Annually,
more than one ton per capita of
concrete is cast for infrastructure
construction worldwide. By many
measures, concrete is an excellent
construction material. However,
the mechanical properties and
functional characteristics of concrete
will have to be improved, in some
ways drastically, and these
improvements are already emerging
in limited forms.
 These advancements are needed to
address deficiencies in concrete
infrastructure, currently facing three
major challenges
1) Brittle failure under severe loading:-
Infrastructures are subjected to severe
natural loadings such as earthquakes,
which see no national boundaries. In
some cases, serious damages have
occurred to infrastructures including
buildings, roadways and bridges.
 Infrastructure failure can often be traced
to brittle fracture of concrete, e.g. bond
splitting, cover spalling, and core
crushing resulting in subsequent collapse
of bridge piers or columns in soft first
stories in buildings.
2)Deterioration under normal service loading:-
Deterioration is not as dramatic as
collapse of infrastructure, the magnitude
of this problem in terms of dollar cost
dwarfs those associated with failure due
to severe loading.
A major cause of lack of durability of
reinforced concrete structure may be
traced to cracking of concrete which
may lead to steel reinforcement
corrosion and other problems.
3) Lack of sustainability of RC structures:-
The sustainability of RC infrastructure
has come into question in recent years.
Globally, the huge flow of material
driven by concrete production causes
significant societal and environmental
impacts.
1) Highly ductile: - With ability to “yield”
like a metal when overloaded, even
under severe impact load or large
imposed deformation, thus providing
infrastructure safety.

2) Highly durable: - with ability to

withstand mechanical and
environmental loads under normal
service conditions, thus providing
service life significantly higher than
current infrastructure.
3) Highly sustainable: - minimize natural
resource use and pollution emission,
during the full life cycle (material
production, construction and use, end
of life demolition) of an infrastructure,
thus ensuring harmonious interaction
between the built and the natural
environment.
If concrete behaves like steel in tension
(highly ductile), while retaining all
other advantages, concrete structures
with enhanced serviceability and safety
can be readily realized.
 ENGINEERED CEMENTITIOUS COMPOSITE

Concrete also known as Engineered

Cementitious Composites (ECC) is a
fiber reinforced cement based
composite material systematically
engineered to achieve high ductility
under tensile and shear loading.
Which have 500 times more resistant to
cracking and 40 percent lighter in
weight.
By employing micromechanics-based
material design, maximum ductility in
excess of 3% under uniaxial tensile
loading can be attained with only 2%
fiber content by volume.

Recent research indicates that ECC holds

promise in enhancing the safety,
durability, and sustainability of
infrastructure.
 Figure 1 shows a typical uniaxial tensile
stress-strain curve of a ECC containing
2% Poly Vinyl Alcohol (PVA) fiber. The
properties of PVA fibers are given in the
table below.
Properties of PVA fibers

Length (mm) 12
Diameter (μm) 40
Volume fraction (%) 2
Elastic modulus (GPa) 40
Fiber strength (MPa) 1600
Interfacial bond strength (MPa) 2.01
Typical tensile stress-strain curve and crack width
development of ECC.
 Making of ECC
 ECC is made with ingredients typically
found in concrete, including cement,
sand, fly ash, and super plasticizer.
However, no coarse aggregate are
employed, and no air entrainment is
necessary. Instead, micro-fibers are
added
the resulting composite maintains
self-consolidating characteristics
during casting and ductile behavior
after hardening.
The components in an ECC mix design is
based on micromechanics on how the
fiber, mortar matrix and the interface
between them interact under mechanical
loading. As a result, brittle fracture failure
is eliminated. Instead, multiple micro
racks form when the composite material is
overloaded beyond the elastic state
(pseudo-yielding), and the propagating
micro cracks maintain very tight cracks
width in accordance with the tailored
nature of the bridging fibers
FLOW CHART OF IMPORTANT ELEMENT OF ECC
 PROPERTIES OF ECC
 Safety:- A major driver of next generation
infrastructure resistant to seismic loading is
performance-based earthquake engineering.
Its implementation eases the adoption of
new high performance material such as
ECC. In addition to collapse resistance,
Billington in reviewing this subject
suggested that the use of ECC could lead to
highly damage tolerant structures with
limited residual crack widths such that post-
earthquake repair costs could be minimized.
 Durability
 The cause of infrastructure
deterioration, under combined
environmental and mechanical loads, is
complex. In bridges and roadways,
deterioration often begins with cracking
due to thermal movements or
restrained drying or autogenously
shrinkage cracking. These cracks are
exacerbated by fatigue loading due to
moving traffic.
Damage behavior
 Crack width
evaluation of link
slab specimen
during fatigue test

Coefficient of permeability
versus crack width for
ECC & reinforced mortar
series prestrained to 1.5
in unaxial tension.Grey
no indicate data
normalized by number of
cracks.
Micro cell & Micro cell
corrosion rate measured
for 1) rc 2)RECC along the
reinforcement bar length

Failure mode of a) concrete b) ECC

 APPLICATIONS
 Earthquake resistant structures:-
The no of experiments confirm significant
improvements in damage tolerance,
suppressing many of the commonly
observed failure modes in RC such as
cover spalling. Additionally, the amount
of steel shear reinforcement can be
drastically reduced since ECC remains
highly ductile in shear.
 Durable and sustainable infrastructure
Structures have enhanced durability when
applying ECC. Freeze-thaw exposure,
accelerated weather exposure, fatigue, and
wheel load abrasion and wear tests, all
indicate high ECC material durability self–
controlled tight crack widths reduce
transport of water and corrosives through
the cover , and significantly delay
corrosion of reinforcing steel. Furthermore,
the ductility of ECC minimizes the potential
for cover spalling.
 Uses of ECC in Field

 MIHARA BRIDGE JAPAN

  Hand finishing of
ECC link slab on
Grove Street
Bridge Project

Patch repair on a bridge deck.

 Comparison between ECC, FRC, and HPFRCC
Properties FRC Common ECC
HPFRCC

Mechanical
Properties Strain-softening: Strain-hardening: Strain-hardening:

Tensile strain 0.1% <1.5% >3% (typical); 8% max

Typically several
Typically < 100
hundred micrometers,
Crack width Unlimited micrometers during
unlimited beyond 1.5%
strain-hardening
strain

Controlled for matrix

Coarse aggregates, Fine Fine aggregates and
Matrix toughness, fine sand,
aggregates and Cement Cement
Cement, Fly ash.
Properties FRC Common ECC
HPFRCC

Chemical and frictional

Interface Not controlled Not controlled bonds controlled for
bridging properties

Micromechanics based,
Design Methodology N.A. Use high Vf minimize Vf for cost and
process ability

Tailored, polymer
Any type, Vf usually Mostly steel, Vf usually
fibers , Vf usually less
Fiber less than 2%; df for steel > 5%; df ~ 150
than 2%; df < 50
~ 500 micrometer micrometer
micrometer

FRC:- FIBER REINFORCED CONCRETE

HPFRCC:- High Performance Fiber Reinforced Cement Concrete
 MODERN TECHNIQUES
 Spray able ECC Technology :-In the
development concept of spray able ECC,
micromechanics is adapted to properly
select the matrix, fiber, and interface
properties to exhibit strain-hardening and
multiple cracking behaviors in the
composites. Within the pre-determined
micromechanical constraints, the fluid
properties are controlled by the rheological
process design to develop flocculations
between cementitious particles at a proper
rate.
Lightweight ECC Technology