Flexural behaviour of hybrid polyvinyl alcohol fibre-reinforced ferrocement containing different fibre types and volume fractions

This article presents an investigation into the flexural strength and behaviour of ferrocement panels containing different volume fractions of hybrid polyvinyl alcohol fibre. The research is focussed on the determination of the strength and the classification of the modified hybrid ferrocement panels. The consideration of 0.75, 1.0 and 1.5% fibre contents and the hybridisation effect of fibre in each mix are significant parameters in this study. In the experimental work, 9 control panels and 36 hybrid ferrocement panels, each of the size 620 mm × 200 mm × 40 mm have been tested for flexure, compression, indirect tensile and toughness. The test results show that the hybrid ferrocement panels have an increase in the flexure strength of up to 30% compared to the control ferrocement and mono-fibre-reinforced panels. Moreover, the tested hybrid fibre ferrocement panels exhibit deflection hardening and are classified using the toughness indices method as high-performance fibre-reinforced cementitious composite.