Tensile behavior and analytical modeling of cement-based thin plates synergistically reinforced by carbon textile and PVA fibers

To investigate the tensile behavior of cement-based thin plates under the synergistic action of carbon textile and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers, four types of thin plate specimens were designed, including plain cement-based (PC), PVA fiber-reinforced cement-based (PF-RC), carbon textile-reinforced cement-based (TRC), and carbon textile-PVA fiber hybrid-reinforced cement-based (PF-TRC). A total of 22 plate specimens were prepared and tested under uniaxial tension to evaluate the effects of textile reinforcement ratio, PVA fiber volume content, fiber length, and the synergistic interaction between the textile and short fibers. The experimental results demonstrate that both carbon textile and PVA fibers independently enhance the mechanical properties of the thin plates. Specifically, PVA fibers significantly delay crack initiation and control crack propagation, while the carbon textile substantially enhances ultimate tensile stress and deformability. Notably, a pronounced synergistic effect is observed when the carbon textile and PVA fibers are combined, leading to further improvements in the overall mechanical performance. Compared with the PC-type thin plates, the peak tensile strength of the PF-TRC, TRC, and PF-RC specimens exhibited increases of up to 5.2, 3.0, and 1.4 times, respectively, while the corresponding deformation capacity exhibited increases of approximately 12.1, 6.8, and 6.5 times, respectively. Finally, a three-stage analytical model was developed that explicitly accounts for the synergistic contributions of the carbon textile and PVA fibers, which can predict the full tensile stress-strain curve of cement-based materials reinforced with carbon textile and PVA fibers, and the predictions agree well with the experimental results.