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Textile reinforced concrete (TRC) has a higher sustainable potential than conventional reinforced concrete, with a significantly lower CO2 footprint. To study the dynamic flexural behavior of TRC composites, the Alkali Resistant (AR)-glass textile reinforced concrete (TRC) plate specimens was investigated with the three-point bending test under low-velocity impact. This study examined the influences of the textile layer number (1, 2, and 3 layers) and the impact velocity (1.29–4.04 m/s) on the dynamic behavior of TRC composites, and compared that with the quasi-static test results. The results show that the Young's modulus and initial peak impact stress of the AR-glass TRC generally increase with the impact velocity, while its influence on the ultimate flexural stress is insignificant. It is found that the ultimate flexural stress can better represent the dynamic flexural capacity of AR-glass TRC materials than the initial peak stress. The failure modes were also analyzed in terms of crack patterns and crack widths, which were measured through the digital image correlation (DIC) method. It was found that rebound and rupture are the two main failure scenarios of the AR-glass TRC under low-velocity impact loading. The cracks of AR-glass TRC specimens could be mainly categorized into flexural crack, shear-flexural crack, and interfacial debonding crack. The study of stress-crack width relationship is helpful to determine the design strength of TRC material to meet the requirement on crack width. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foamed concrete is an attractive material for structural use and insulation of buildings, which can replace flammable organic insulating materials on the market. This study investigated the compressive and thermal properties of the plain, fly ash and expanded polystyrene (EPS) foamed concrete ranging widely in density from 180 to 1800 kg/m3. Furthermore, the compressive strength of the plain foamed concrete was analyzed at four density levels of 180, 325, 450, and 595 kg/m3 and at four temperatures of room temperature, 300, 600, and 900 °C to quantify its fire resistance. The compressive strength of the foamed concrete dramatically declined, and it suffered severe damage when the temperature was higher than 300 °C. A constitutive stress–strain model incorporating the compressive strength–density relationship and the temperature effects was also proposed for the plain foamed concrete. The findings may provide new perspectives on the existing design codes for energy efficiency and fire protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]