Experimental study on dynamic direct tensile performances of steel fiber-reinforced RPC at high strain rates

Reactive power concrete (RPC) exhibits excellent mechanical properties, makes it great potential for applications. RPC has gained increasing attention in academic and engineering areas and has been used in fields such as anti-explosion engineering. The insufficient tensile strength of RPC is one of the critical reasons for its structural failure. Existing studies revealed that the strain rate effect of concrete under dynamic tension is stronger than that under dynamic compression. The existing research focuses either on dynamic splitting and spalling tests, or dynamic uniaxial tensile properties with a strain rate of 0-100/s, neither of which are representative of the effect of RPC subject to explosion. In addition, the study of the dynamic uniaxial tensile constitutive model of RPC has not been reported in the existing research. To solve the existing limitations, this study conducted dynamic direct tension tests on steel fiber-reinforced RPC with a predefined strain rate higher than 100 s-1 using a Split Hopkinson Tension Bar (SHTB) apparatus. RPC dumbbell-shaped samples, including plain RPC and steel fiber-reinforced RPC (SFRPC) with 1% and 2% fiber volumetric fractions, were tested at high strain rates of 98-528 s-1. Based on the test results of this study and those derived from existing publications, the relationship between dynamic direct tensile properties, steel fiber fraction, and strain rate was quantitatively analyzed, and corresponding empirical formulae were proposed. To meet the demand for numerical analysis on RPC structures subjected to explosive forces, a dynamic tensile stress-strain model for steel fiber-reinforced RPC considering steel fiber, strain rate, and dynamic toughness, was established.