Investigating the shear characteristics of high performance fiber reinforced concrete

Six reinforced PVA-ECC concrete panels were tested under conditions of in-plane pure shear in Toronto, as part of a joint research project between the Department of Civil Engineering of University of Toronto and Kajima Technical Research Institute in Japan. The performance of reinforced PVA-ECC concrete panels with regards to such variables as reinforcement ratios, loading conditions and mechanical properties of reinforcement was observed. The data gathered increased the small existing database of such elements subjected to pure shear.; Once the test data accuracy was verified and validated, the stress-strain relationships of reinforced PVA-ECC concrete panels were determined and the pure shear capacity and ductility was investigated.; From the analysis performed was found that the MCFT underestimates PVA-ECC concrete behavior both in terms of shear strength and ductility. Two improved models were proposed, MMCFT and MMCFTnocrack. The latter was found to significantly improve the MCFT prediction of PVA-ECC concrete behavior.