Expansion behavior of self-stressing concrete confined by glass-fiber composite meshes

Confined self-stressing concrete (SSC) efficiently improves the crack resistance of concrete materials. Considering the drawbacks of steel bar- or fiber-reinforced SSC, we propose glass-fiber composite mesh-reinforced SSC. Some mechanical properties of mesh-reinforced SSC have been investigated, but their expansion properties remain unclear. In this research, expansion experiments were conducted to understand the expansion behavior of this new combination. The development of expansion deformation was obtained and generalized using exponential and cotangential models. Theoretical analyses of the expansion behavior were deduced from the experimental results. The analyses showed that the expansion strain increases with the increment of width confinement and decreases with the increment of longitudinal confinement. Glass-fiber composite mesh-reinforced SSC has the potential to improve the crack resistance of concrete materials. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.