Influences of Polyvinyl Alcohol Fiber Addition on the Specimen Size Effect and Energy Absorption of Self-Consolidating Concrete

Polyvinyl alcohol is one of the most efficient synthetic fibers in concrete technology; however, the size effect was rarely evaluated in Polyvinyl alcohol fiber-reinforced concretes. In this research, six types of SCC mixtures containing two dosages of PVA fibers were designed in two strength levels and different sizes of cylindrical specimens were cast. The fresh properties, 28-day compressive strength, and pre-peak energy per unit volume of PVA-FRSCC were evaluated through laboratory tests. several theoretical models, including Size Effect Law, Modified Size Effect Law, Multi-fractal Scaling Law, and Sim et al. model, were also refined to study the size effect in the designed mixtures under uniaxial compressive failure. Based on the obtained results, the inclusion of Polyvinyl alcohol fibers had significant effect on the performance of the designed concretes. The incorporation of PVA fibers reduced the specimen size effect and improved the ductility and pre-peak energy absorption of plain SCC.