THE INFLUENCE OF THICKNESS ON PERFORMANCE OF FIBER-REINFORCED CONCRETE IN A ROUND DETERMINATE PANEL TEST

The Round Determinate panel test represents a reliable and structurally relevant alternative to beam tests for the evaluation of post-crack performance in fiber-reinforced concrete and shotcrete. However, performance assessment using panel specimens is hindered by a marked sensitivity to thickness. Failure to accurately control the thickness of a specimen can lead to a significant variation in apparent performance that may compromise the goal of reliably characterizing post-crack capacity. The present investigation was undertaken to examine the influence of thickness and diameter on the performance of round panels made with four distinctly different fiber-reinforced concretes. The objective was to develop correction factors for performance that could be used to reduce the sensitivity of test data to variations in specimen geometry and thereby improve the effectiveness of the procedure for postcrack performance assessment of fiber-reinforced concrete and shotcrete.