%A Zhi QIAO, Zuanfeng PAN, Weichen XUE, Shaoping MENG %T Experimental study on flexural behavior of ECC/RC composite beams with U-shaped ECC permanent formwork %0 Journal Article %D 2019 %J Front. Struct. Civ. Eng. %J Frontiers of Structural and Civil Engineering %@ 2095-2430 %R 10.1007/s11709-019-0556-0 %P 1271-1287 %V 13 %N 5 %U {https://journal.hep.com.cn/fsce/EN/10.1007/s11709-019-0556-0 %8 2019-10-15 %X

To enhance the durability of a reinforced concrete structure, engineered cementitious composite (ECC), which exhibits high tensile ductility and good crack control ability, is considered a promising alternative to conventional concrete. However, broad application of ECC is hindered by its high cost. This paper presents a new means to address this issue by introducing a composite beam with a U-shaped ECC permanent formwork and infill concrete. The flexural performance of the ECC/RC composite beam has been investigated experimentally with eight specimens. According to the test results, the failure of a composite beam with a U-shaped ECC formwork is initiated by the crushing of compressive concrete rather than debonding, even if the surface between the ECC and the concrete is smooth as-finished. Under the same reinforcement configurations, ECC/RC composite beams exhibit increases in flexural performance in terms of ductility, load-carrying capacity, and damage tolerance compared with the counterpart ordinary RC beam. Furthermore, a theoretical model based on the strip method is proposed to predict the moment-curvature responses of ECC/RC composite beams, and a simplified method based on the equivalent rectangular stress distribution approach has also evolved. The theoretical results are found to be in good agreement with the test data.