Influence of environmental loading on the tensile and cracking behaviour of textile reinforced cementitious composites

In outdoor applications, textile reinforced cementitious composites (TRCs) are susceptible to varying weathering conditions. To guarantee their performance during the entire life-time, it is necessary to evaluate the long-term behaviour. In this paper, the mechanical behaviour of reference specimens is compared to aged specimens, which are subjected to heat-rain and/or freeze-thaw cycles. Results show that subjection to heat-rain cycles leads to a larger degradation of the tensile behaviour compared to subjection to freeze-thaw cycles. Besides the macroscopic tensile behaviour, also the cracking behaviour is evaluated. Analysis shows that cracks are formed at lower stress levels after being subjected to environmental loading.