Material characterisation of engineered cementitious composites in 1D, 2D and 3D specimens under uniaxial tension

Uniaxial direct tension test on any cementitious composite is a very sensitive and difficult test to perform. There is a need to develop robust uniaxial tensile test which without involving expensive experimentation, complex specimen configuration and difficult test set-up can provide reasonably reliable and consistent results. In the present work, for testing engineered cementitious composite (ECC) which exhibits strain hardening behaviour through multiple cracking with good tensile strain capacity, three different types of specimens i.e. briquette, coupon and dog bone specimens were designed and tested and their response was compared. An ECC performance criterion was evaluated with respect to 1D, 2D and 3D orientation of fibres in addition to fibre volume optimisation. Study of fractured surface through scanning electron microscope provided useful information about the fibre performance mechanism that governs the behaviour of the ECC matrix.