The behaviour of coconut fibre reinforced concrete (CFRC) under impact loading

•Impact behaviour of a novel natural coconut fibre reinforced concrete was investigated.•Dynamic increase factor of CFRC was studied by experiments and theoretical method.•Impact damage mechanisms of the CFRC cylinders have been described.•Both single and repeated impact tests have been studied.•The relationship between impact height and maximum impact stress was examined.

This work presents the behaviour of coconut fibre reinforced concrete (CFRC) composites under drop weight impact loadings. Both single and repeated impact tests were conducted using a drop weight device. Both plain concrete (PC) and CFRC cylinders with the identical size of 200 mm × 100 mm were tested. Various impact energies were applied to the specimens by adjusting the drop height. In the single impact test, the history of impact force, change of Young's moduli and the dynamic increase factor (DIF) of CFRC were investigated. The damage pattern of PC and CFRC was compared. In the repeated impact tests, the effect of impact height on the maximum compressive stress and the damage pattern was evaluated. The relationship between impact height and maximum impact stress was examined and an empirically derived equation was proposed.