Simplified method for evaluating the behavior of strain hardening cementitious composite flexural strengthening reinforced concrete members

•Simplified method was proposed for the behavior of SHCC flexural strengthening RC.•Average tensile behavior of elements for SHCC layer was adopted in the method.•Above average tensile behavior was obtained by proposed zero-span tensile model.•Multiple cracks in SHCC adjacent to the crack in RC were placed in an element.•Numerical result using the simplified method was independent on mesh size.

The ductility of strain hardening cementitious composite (SHCC) in uniaxial tensile behavior was reduced while SHCC was used for flexural strengthening reinforced concrete member, since multiple fine cracks of strain hardening cementitious composite strengthening layer were limited in a ranged area adjacent to crack within reinforced concrete members. In this paper, a simplified method was proposed for evaluating the behavior of strain hardening cementitious composite flexural strengthening reinforced concrete member, able to adopt coarse mesh size with numerical result independent on mesh size. In the proposed simplified method, the multiple fine cracks in strain hardening cementitious composite layer adjacent to the crack in reinforced concrete member were placed in a unique element, and the average tensile behavior of elements for strain hardening cementitious composite strengthening layer was adopted, which was obtained from the proposed zero-span tensile model. The effectiveness of the proposed simplified method was confirmed through the comparison between experiment and numerical simulation.