Effects of Polyvinyl Alcohol (PV A) in the Compressive Fatigue Strength of Concrete

An experimental program is carried out to evaluate the performance of plain concrete and
fiber-reinforced concrete on size I OOmm x I OOmm x I OOmm under compressive static
loading after 67 days of curing and compressive fatigue loading after 97 days of curing.
Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers (30 mm length) are used for test with different fiber volume
fraction and their performance compared. The results of the fatigue test are presented as two
types of S-N diagrams. The first one is expressed as the percentage of maximum stress level
to the number of loading cycles to failure. The fatigue equation can be determined using
regression equation from the graph obtained and the percentage fatigue strength for the Nth
cycles can be determined. The second one is expressed as the actual fatigue stress applied to
the number of loading cycles to failure. Both graphs are compared and analyzed to find the
optimal fiber volume and the effectiveness for incorporating the PV A fibers in improving the
compressive fatigue strength of the concrete.