Failure Analysis of Mortar Specimens with a Hexagonal Honeycomb Panel during Fatigue Load

It has been published in recent research studies that several mechanical properties of mortar reinforced with suitably spatial shaped plastic elements can be improved. Thus, a hexagonal geometric shape was chosen due to its high rigidity for this study. Stress distribution at a bi-material interface between a polymer part reinforcing a mortar specimen and the rest of the mortar part has been investigated to explain fatigue fracture behavior of rectangular specimens tested. A three-point-bending (3PB) test was simulated via a finite element method (FEM) considering several simplifications, and various heights of the polymer reinforcement were modeled to investigate its influence on stress redistribution. For comparison, a pure mortar specimen without any plastic elements was considered the reference. The numerical results obtained are discussed and compared to the experimental ones. Within the experimental campaign, bulk density, static properties and fatigue characteristics were tested, analyzed and discussed. Improvements in flexural strength were observed when the plastic panel was used as reinforcement, which agrees with other scientific works. Directions for future research were identified.