Engineered Cementitious Composites.pdf

Engineered Cementitious Composites Victor C. Li The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA Abstract This paper overviews Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) as an emerging construction material. Emphasis is placed on the accumulated knowledge on durability, safety, and sustainability of reinforced ECC (R/ECC) structures, recognizing that the concrete of the future must meet these characteristics. In light of recent and future full-scale field applications of ECC, the limited studies on long-term performance of ECC are also summarized. Keywords: composite, fiber, ductility, durability, sustainability, safety, design, infrastructure. ___________________ Victor Li University of Michigan Rm 2326, GGB Building Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2125 USA Email: vcli@ Tel: 734-764-3364 2 1.0 Introduction: The Demands on Future Concrete Concrete is ubiquitous. Annually, more than one ton per capita of concrete is cast for infrastructure construction worldwide. By many measures, concrete is an excellent construction material. However, the mechanical properties and functional characteristics of concrete will have to be improved, in some ways drastically, and these improvements are already emerging in limited forms. These advancements are needed to address deficiencies in concrete infrastructure, currently facing three major challenges: Brittle failure under severe loading: Infrastructures are subjected to severe natural loadings such as earthquakes, which see no national boundaries. In some cases, serious damages have occurred to infrastructures including buildings, roadways and bridges. While not all economic losses are due to concrete structural damage, the estimated economic impact is big: $100 billion [1] for the 1995 Kobe earthquake in Japan and $20 billion [2] for the 1994 Northridge earthquake in the US. FEMA [2] estimates los