The fracture and fatigue performance in flexure of carbon fiber reinforced concrete

The fracture parameters and fatigue performances of carbon fiber reinforced concrete is investigated by three point bending tests. In comparison with the results of quasi-static tests where no pre-cyclic loading is applied, the influence of pre-cyclic loading history on fracture parameters was researched by using compliance calibration. The test results show that the fracture parameters of carbon fiber reinforced concrete and plain concrete will be reduced if the pre-cyclic loading stress levels are higher than a certain threshold, and this threshold value for carbon fiber reinforced concrete is higher than that of plain concrete. The critical effective crack length for carbon fiber reinforced concrete is significantly larger than that of plain concrete and independent of the pre-cyclic loading history and fatigue life. Carbon fiber reinforced concrete has a considerable beneficial effect on the behaviour of concrete subjected to flexure fatigue loading.