Microstructural analysis and mechanical properties of concrete reinforced with polymer short fibers

The paper focuses on the development of a methodology for quantitative characterization of a concrete containing polymer fibers and pores. Computed tomography (CT) characterization technique is used to provide input data for Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations and analytical modeling based on micromechanical homogenization via the compliance contribution tensor formalism. Effective elastic properties of reinforced concrete are obtained experimentally using compression testing, analytically in the framework of Non-Interaction approximation and numerically performing direct FEM simulations on specimen with reconstructed microstructure. It is shown that CT produces results suitable for implementation in numerical and analytical models. The results of analytical and numerical modeling are in a good agreement with experimental measurements providing maximum discrepancy of ∼ 2.5%.