Phenomenological and numerical modelling of short fibre reinforced cementitious composites

In this paper, a constitutive model for short fibre reinforced cementitious composites will be presented. This model is based on the St. Venant–Kirchhoff model, which is a special case of a hyperelastic material. This model is refined to include the fibre orientation distribution. Numerical FEM simulations with the developed constitutive model and fracture simulations using the discrete element method are presented. The outcomes of these numerical methods demonstrate how important it is to monitor and further to control the fibre orientation distribution during the manufacturing process. As the manufacturing process might involve casting, as, e.g., in the case of steel fibre reinforced concrete, an outlook on simulations of the manufacturing process in order to predict and to control the fibre orientation distribution is given.