Fatigue Behaviour of Textile Reinforced Cementitious Composites and Their Application in Sandwich Elements  
[PERSON]  
1 Department Mechanics of Materials and Constructions, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium; [PERSON]SS] (T.T. ); [PERSON]SS] (J.W. ); [PERSON]K.); [PERSON]S] (J.V. ); [PERSON] (M.E.K.) 2  
[PERSON]  
1 Department Mechanics of Materials and Constructions, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium; [PERSON]SS] (T.T. ); [PERSON]SS] (J.W. ); [PERSON]K.); [PERSON]S] (J.V. ); [PERSON] (M.E.K.) 2  
[PERSON]  
1 Department Mechanics of Materials and Constructions, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium; [PERSON]SS] (T.T. ); [PERSON]SS] (J.W. ); [PERSON]K.); [PERSON]. cover is needed, and lightweight sandwich panels with skins of only a few millimeter's thickness can be achieved. The combination of a cementitious matrix with a textile reinforcement has been widely investigated for different kinds of applications: reinforcing and/or strengthening of concrete and masonry structures [2; 3; 4; 5], construction of pedestrian bridges [6], and as skins for the fabrication of sandwich panels. In addition to an experimental characterization of the bending behaviour of TRC sandwich panels [7; 8; 9; 10], various work has been done on the analytical [11; 12] and numerical [13; 14; 15] modelling of this behavior. Textile reinforced cementitious composite (TRC) is characterized by a linear behavior in compression and a non-linear behavior in tension. This non-linear tensile behavior was observed in various experiments [16; 17; 18; 19; 20]. Parallel to this experimental campaign, different models were elaborated to predict the structural behavior of TRC [21; 22; 23; 24]. Generally, the tensile behavior of the composite can be divided into three different stages (Figure 1). During the first linear stage, fibers and matrix are working together, and the modulus is given by the law of mixtures. For composites with a low fiber volume fraction, the modulus of the matrix is determining for the resulting initial modulus E1. Cracks start forming in the matrix when the ultimate tensile stress of the matrix is exceeded, resulting in a reduction of the modulus. Once a crack is formed, the load is redistributed. This process of the formation of cracks and subsequently redistribution of the load is called the multiple cracking stage and repeats itself until the matrix is fully saturated with cracks. The third and last stage is called the post-cracking stage. In this linear stage, the additional load is only carried by the fibers. The tangential modulus of the composite E3 is determined by the modulus of the fibers and the fiber volume fraction. Finally, failure of the composite material is induced by tensile rupture of the textile at a strain largely exceeding the tensile failure strain of the matrix. Applied in sandwich panels, the TRC faces are subjected to different loading conditions. One of the determining loading conditions is wind loading, comparable to a repeated loading. The influence of TRC sandwich panels subjected to a repeated loading has been studied little before. [PERSON] et al. [25] cyclically loaded sandwich panels with E-glass fiber reinforced cementitious faces up to 2/3 rd of their ultimate load. The panels were subjected to ten loading cycles and subsequently loaded up to failure. During the repeated loading an accumulation of the residual deformation was observed. Literature data on the fatigue behavior of TRC itself are limited. [PERSON] [6] and [PERSON] [26] performed cyclic loading tests on TRC coupons, but the number of loading cycles was limited. [PERSON] [27] and [PERSON] [28] studied the behavior of TRC specimens, combining an inorganic phosphate cement with E-glass fibers. The specimens were subjected up to \(10^{7}\) cycles for different maximum cyclic loads. By assessing the evolving modulus, it was concluded that the accumulation of damage was not stabilized after \(10^{7}\) cycles.