Experimental and numerical analysis on effect of fibre aspect ratio on mechanical properties of SRFC

Based on experimental results, this paper firstly evaluates the effect of fibre aspect ratio (length-to-diameter) on mechanical characteristics of steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC). Analysis reveals that the aspect ratio has an optimal value for strengths in every concrete batch. Beyond this value, the addition of steel fibres into concrete may have an effect of increasing the ductility rather than the strengths. Subsequently, crater and perforation in two SFRC targets by a steel projectile are numerically simulated based on erosion algorithm. The effective stress and effective plastic strain are tabulated to model the softening behavior due to post-yield damage. Numerical results show that the hydrodynamic model is able to describe the responses of SFRC under impact loading. Besides, higher aspect ratio of fibres can absorb more energy, causing smaller craters in SFRC target and lower residual velocity of the projectile.