FLEXURAL BEHAVIOR OF FIBER AND TEXTILE REINFORCED HPC THIN PLATES

The interest in the use of high performance cement-based materials (HPC) has been recently increased due to the need to intervene on existing buildings that do not meet the structural and seismic requirements imposed by the revised national codes. A retrofitting strategy that might be successfully applied to several precast buildings in Northern Italy is represented by the substitution of the unsafe roofing elements with innovative multilayer panels characterized by lightness and high structural performances. The significant self-weight reduction might play a positive role on both the static and the dynamic building behavior. The paper investigates the flexural behavior of three sets of prismatic specimens (400 mm long, 70 mm wide, 15 mm thick); the first set was reinforced with unoriented high carbon steel microfibers, the second one with two layers of glass fabrics and the third one with a combination of steel fibers and textiles. Performing four point bending tests, it was find out that the addition of high-carbon steel microfibers is capable of increasing the structural performances of the composites, in terms of tensile strength, ductility and crack pattern.