An innovative pavement system known as Ultra Thin Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement (UTCRCP) was recently developed in South Africa. The technology is currently being implemented on some major routes in the country. The system consists of a high performance fibre reinforced concrete pavement slab with a nominal thickness of approximately 50 mm. The material has a significant post crack stress capacity compared to plain concrete. Current design methods for UTCRCP are based on conventional linear elastic concrete pavement design methodology, which does not take into account post crack behaviour. Questions can be raised with regards to the suitability of conventional approaches for the design of this high performance material. The hypothesis of the study is that the accuracy of design models for UTCRCP can benefit from the adoption of fracture mechanics concepts. The experimental framework for this study includes fracture experiments under both monotonic and cyclic loading, on specimens of different sizes and geometries and produced from several mix designs. The aim is to quantify size effect in the high performance fibre reinforced concrete material, to determine fracture mechanics material parameters from monotonic tests, and to investigate the fatigue behaviour of the material. As part of the study a method is developed to obtain the full work of fracture from three point bending tests by means of extrapolation of the load-displacement tail. This allows the specific fracture energy (Gƒ) of the material to be determined. An adjusted tensile splitting test method is developed to determine the tensile strength (ƒτ) of the material. The values of Gƒ and ƒτ are used in the definition of a fracture mechanics based cohesive softening function. The final shape of the softening function combines a crack tip singularity with an exponential tail. The cohesive crack model is implemented in finite element methods to numerically simulate the fracture behaviour observed in the experiments. The numerical simulation provides reliable results for the different mixes, specimen sizes and geometries and predicts the size effect to occur. Fracture mechanics based models for the prediction of the fatigue performance of the material are proposed. The predictive performance of the models is compared against a model representing the conventional design approach. It is concluded that the findings of the study support the thesis that design methods for UTCRCP can benefit from the adoption of fracture mechanics concepts. This conclusion is mainly based on the following findings from the study: <ul><li> The high performance fibre reinforced concrete material was found to be subject to significant size effect. As a consequence the MOR parameter will not yield reliable predictions of the flexural capacity of full size pavement structures, </li><li> In contrast to the MOR parameter, the fracture mechanics damage models developed as part of this study do provide reliable predictions of the flexural behaviour of the material, </li><li> The fatigue model developed based on fracture mechanics concepts, though not necessarily more precise, is more accurate. </li></ul> / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Civil Engineering / PhD / Unrestricted

O uso de fibra de aço como reforço no concreto tem sido objeto de várias pesquisas recentes. Com o surgimento do concreto autoadensável reforçado com fibras, a fluidez do concreto aumenta a possibilidade de orientação das fibras na etapa de concretagem, o que pode trazer alterações significativas no comportamento mecânico do concreto endurecido. O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar a influência das condições de moldagem sobre a resistência residual pós-fissuração de elementos planos moldados com concreto autoadensável reforçados com fibra de aço. Também foi objetivo deste trabalho verificar previamente a combinação de ensaios reológicos com métodos convencionais para controle e caracterização do concreto autoadensável no estado fresco. A caracterização do concreto foi feita com reometria rotacional, caixa-L e espalhamento. Os resultados apontam que o estudo da reologia do concreto é desejável e a combinação dos ensaios de reologia com ensaios convencionais pode trazer mais informações sobre o efeito da adição de fibras. Foram realizados ensaios de punção de placas para avaliar o comportamento mecânico de elementos planos produzidos com concreto lançado em posições distintas. A confirmação da orientação preferencial das fibras como causa da diferença de comportamento foi realizada através de informações obtidas com os ensaios indutivo e Double Edge Wedge Splitting (DEWS) realizados em testemunhos extraídos de placas moldadas sob as mesmas condições. Além disso, comprovou-se que a orientação preferencial gerada pelas condições de lançamento do concreto pode influenciar significativamente na resistência pós-fissuração de elementos estruturais planos. / The use of steel fiber as reinforcement in concrete has been the subject of several recent studies. With the development of self-compacting fiber reinforced concrete, the fluidity of the material could increase the possibility of orientation of fibers during the casting process. That condition could bring significant changes in the mechanical behavior of hardened fiber reinforced concrete. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of the conditions of casting on the post-cracking residual strength of flat elements molded with self-compacting concrete reinforced with steel fibers. It was also an objective of this work verify previously the combination of rheological tests with conventional methods in order to control and characterize the self-compacting concrete in the fresh state. The characterization of the concrete in fresh state was made with rotational rheometer, L-box and spreading tests. The results showed that the study of the concrete rheology is desirable and combination of rheological tests with conventional testing can provide more information about the effect of fiber addition. The evaluation of the mechanical behavior of flat elements produced under different positions of casting was conducted through test panels submitted to punching loading. The confirmation of the orientation of the fibers as a cause of the difference in the behavior was accomplished through information obtained from the inductive and DEWS tests performed on extracted cores of panels molded under the same conditions. Furthermore, the preferred orientation caused by the concrete flow significant influence on the post-cracking strength of the structural flat elements was shown. The tests carried out with extracted cores endorsed the conclusion that the cause of performance variation is fundamentally linked to the preferred orientation, which is a result of the casting procedure.

O uso de fibra de aço como reforço no concreto tem sido objeto de várias pesquisas recentes. Com o surgimento do concreto autoadensável reforçado com fibras, a fluidez do concreto aumenta a possibilidade de orientação das fibras na etapa de concretagem, o que pode trazer alterações significativas no comportamento mecânico do concreto endurecido. O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar a influência das condições de moldagem sobre a resistência residual pós-fissuração de elementos planos moldados com concreto autoadensável reforçados com fibra de aço. Também foi objetivo deste trabalho verificar previamente a combinação de ensaios reológicos com métodos convencionais para controle e caracterização do concreto autoadensável no estado fresco. A caracterização do concreto foi feita com reometria rotacional, caixa-L e espalhamento. Os resultados apontam que o estudo da reologia do concreto é desejável e a combinação dos ensaios de reologia com ensaios convencionais pode trazer mais informações sobre o efeito da adição de fibras. Foram realizados ensaios de punção de placas para avaliar o comportamento mecânico de elementos planos produzidos com concreto lançado em posições distintas. A confirmação da orientação preferencial das fibras como causa da diferença de comportamento foi realizada através de informações obtidas com os ensaios indutivo e Double Edge Wedge Splitting (DEWS) realizados em testemunhos extraídos de placas moldadas sob as mesmas condições. Além disso, comprovou-se que a orientação preferencial gerada pelas condições de lançamento do concreto pode influenciar significativamente na resistência pós-fissuração de elementos estruturais planos. / The use of steel fiber as reinforcement in concrete has been the subject of several recent studies. With the development of self-compacting fiber reinforced concrete, the fluidity of the material could increase the possibility of orientation of fibers during the casting process. That condition could bring significant changes in the mechanical behavior of hardened fiber reinforced concrete. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of the conditions of casting on the post-cracking residual strength of flat elements molded with self-compacting concrete reinforced with steel fibers. It was also an objective of this work verify previously the combination of rheological tests with conventional methods in order to control and characterize the self-compacting concrete in the fresh state. The characterization of the concrete in fresh state was made with rotational rheometer, L-box and spreading tests. The results showed that the study of the concrete rheology is desirable and combination of rheological tests with conventional testing can provide more information about the effect of fiber addition. The evaluation of the mechanical behavior of flat elements produced under different positions of casting was conducted through test panels submitted to punching loading. The confirmation of the orientation of the fibers as a cause of the difference in the behavior was accomplished through information obtained from the inductive and DEWS tests performed on extracted cores of panels molded under the same conditions. Furthermore, the preferred orientation caused by the concrete flow significant influence on the post-cracking strength of the structural flat elements was shown. The tests carried out with extracted cores endorsed the conclusion that the cause of performance variation is fundamentally linked to the preferred orientation, which is a result of the casting procedure.