Uniaxial tensile test integrated design considering mould-fixture for UHPC

Tensile property is one of the excellent properties of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC), and uniaxial tensile test is an important and challenging mechanical performance test of UHPC. Traditional uniaxial tensile tests of concrete materials have inherent defects such as initial eccentricity, which often lead to cracks and failure in non-test zone, and affect the testing accuracy of tensile properties of materials. In this paper, an original integrated design scheme of mould and end fixture is proposed, which achieves seamless matching between the tension end of specimen and the test fixture, and minimizes the cumulative eccentricity caused by the difference in the matching between the tension end of specimen and the local stress concentration at the end. The stress analysis and optimization design are carried out by finite element method. The curve transition in the end of specimen is preferred compared to straight line transition. The rationality of the new integrated design is verified by uniaxial tensile test of strain hardening UHPC, in which the whole stress-strain curve was measured, including the elastic behavior before cracking, strain hardening behavior after cracking and strain softening behavior.