Perforated SIFCON blocks – An extraordinarily ductile material ideal for use in compression yielding structural systems

Compression yielding (CY), an innovative structural concept, has recently been introduced to offset the ductility deficiency of concrete structures reinforced with fiber-reinforced polymer. The CY structural scheme employs a ductile material to replace concrete in the compression side of a plastic hinge, thus allowing the ductile flexural deformation of the member to be achieved through the compressive, rather than tensile, yielding of that member. The CY system makes an extraordinarily high ductility demand on the compression yielding material. Although slurry infiltrated fiber concrete (SIFCON) is a very ductile material, it is still unable to satisfy the excessive ductility demand of this system. However, through the extensive experimental testing reported in this paper, it is found that the high ductility demand of the CY material can be satisfied by providing perforations inside a SIFCON block. This paper reports the experimental testing and its results. From analyses of the test results, a methodology for the design and construction of an adequate CY block is proposed.