Performance of Repaired Concrete under Cyclic Flexural Loading

There is limited research reported on the effect of cyclic loading on cement-based repair materials as conducting such tests is time consuming. To overcome this issue, this study utilized a novel loading regime consisting of cycle groups with increasing stress amplitude to accelerate the test process. The Palmgren-Minder rule was used to estimate the fatigue life of repaired specimens. Specimens repaired with Mix M (cementitious repair mortar), which was estimated to have the highest 2-million-cycle fatigue endurance limit (77.4%), showed the longest fatigue life (95,991 cycles) during the cyclic loading test, the highest slant, and splitting bond strength among all repair mixes. The estimated two-million cycle fatigue endurance limit of Mix S (70.8%) was very similar to that was reported in literature (71%) using the traditional loading method. This study confirms the usefulness of Palmgren-Minder rule on estimating the fatigue life of repaired specimens. Additionally, the use of the novel loading regime showed the benefit of shortening the test process while producing results similar to those from using traditional loading methods. To improve the prediction accuracy, future research is required to modify the failure criteria to accommodate specimens that may not fail even when the average flexural strength is met.