Flexural Behavior of Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) Slabs with Different Strength Grades

Engineering Cementitious Composites (ECC) has gained significant attention in civil engineering due to its excellent tensile strength, crack width control capability, and remarkable ductility. This study examines the influence of the ECC strength and reinforcement on the flexural behavior of ECC slabs through four-point flexural tests. The results demonstrate that ECC is well suited for flexural applications. During flexural tests, the fibers within the ECC provide a bridging effect, allowing the ECC in the tensile zone to sustain a load while developing a dense network of fine microcracks at failure. This characteristic significantly enhances the crack resistance of ECC slabs. Despite the relatively low flexural capacity of unreinforced ECC slabs, they achieve 59.2% of the capacity of reinforced ECC slabs with a reinforcement ratio of 1.02%, demonstrating the potential for using unreinforced ECC in low-load-bearing applications. Further findings reveal that high-strength ECC (HSECC) not only improves the flexural capacity of unreinforced ECC slabs but also maintains excellent ductility, enabling a better balance between the load-bearing capacity and deformation ability. However, while reinforcement enhances both the flexural capacity and energy absorption, an excessively high reinforcement ratio significantly compromises ductility. Additionally, this study proposes a simplified calculation method for the flexural capacity of ECC slabs based on the axial force and moment equilibrium, providing theoretical support for their design and application. Due to their excellent flexural behavior, ECC slabs exhibit significant potential for use in flexural components such as bridge deck slabs and link slabs in simply supported beam bridges. With continued research and optimization, their application in engineering practice is expected to become more widespread, thereby improving the cracking resistance and durability of concrete structures.