Investigation of specimen size effect on the use of double punch test as quality control method of the steel fiber reinforced shotcrete

ABSTRACT

The double punch test (DPT) is increasingly used internationally for quality control of steel fiber reinforced shotcrete (SFRS). This study intends to verify the influence of the DPT specimens’ diameter on the residual strength behavior of the SFRS. The experimental program aims to evaluate the dynamics of the test in terms of the results obtained from the analytical conversion of the axial displacement into total circumferential opening displacement (TCOD). The results are compared to those obtained through the 3D digital image correlation (DIC3D) to evaluate its applicability as a quality control method of the SFRS. The results demonstrated that the TCOD could be easily obtained by analytical conversion with reliable accuracy. The analysis of the DPT results could consider the crack opening level to obtain constitutive equations. The diameter of the DPT specimens directly influences the structural parameters of the SFRS. Smaller specimens may show a 35% reduction in residual strength associated with the service limit state. As the coefficient of variation of the residual strength associated with the ultimate limit state practically doubles when smaller specimens are used, for the same reliability, the sample sizing of the specimens of 10 cm is twice the quantity of the 15 cm.

Keywords
Steel fiber reinforced shotcrete; Tunneling quality control; Double punch test; Inductive test; Digital image correlation