A mechanical model for predicting the long term behavior of reinforced polymer concretes

Polymer concretes represent challenging materials in the Civil Engineering field, with them being characterized by a high value of the compressive strength and ultimate compressive strain, as well as by a good chemical resistance when compared to that of traditional concretes. These innovative materials exhibit a limited value of the strength in tension and therefore need to be reinforced with either steel or FRP pultruded internal bars. Moreover, their structural performance is strongly affected by the rheological behavior of the resin as well as the internal bars, if made of FRP. In this paper, a mechanical model capable of analytically evaluating the long term behavior of reinforced polymer concrete beams is presented, which accounts for the linear viscoelastic behavior of the constituent materials.

► A mechanical model for predicting the long term behavior of polymer concrete beams reinforced with either steel or FRP pultruded bars under combined bending and axial load, starting from the rheological characterization of the polymer concrete, is proposed. ► The proposed innovative solving approach allows to obtain the exact solution of the problem. ► An useful tool to assess durability and reliability over time of polymer concrete beams reinforced with internal bars is given for the design of these structural elements. ► The analysis gives a contribution to the limited state of knowledge on the mechanical behaviour of polymer concrete beams.