Flexural load-deflection performance of polyvinyl alcohol fiber reinforced cementitious composite beams.

• The ultimate deflection of the reinforced PVA-FRCC beam can reach 39 mm-57 mm. • The force versus deformation model of the reinforced PVA-FRCC beam was proposed. • The deflection expression of the reinforced PVA-FRCC beam was established. PVA-FRCC (polyvinyl alcohol-fiber reinforced cement composite) materials have superior tensile strain hardening characteristics, which can significantly improve the bearing and deformation capacities of the structure. The load-deflection performance of the PVA-FRCC reinforced beam is investigated in this study. Four-point bending experiment and theoretical analysis are conducted on the PVA-FRCC beams with different PVA fiber volume mixing ratios and reinforcement ratios. The experimental results show that the PVA-FRCC beams conform to the assumption that plane sections remain plane and the steel bars have the deformation compatibility with the PVA-FRCC material. The load-deflection curves obtained by the experiment show that the PVA-FRCC beams exhibit obvious deflection hardening and high performance of ductility compared with the RC beams, and the ultimate deflections are about 2.4–3.1 times that of the RC beams. In the theoretical part, the force versus deformation model of the PVA-FRCC beam is proposed. Based on the geometry compatibility equations, the constitutive equations and the force equilibrium equations, the theoretical expressions of the load-deflection curve at the mid-span of a PVA-FRCC beam subjected to flexural loading at different working stages is developed and validated by the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]