Loading rate effect on fracture behavior of fiber reinforced high strength concrete using a semi-circular bending test

•Adding fibers significantly enhances ductile behavior of high strength concrete.•Steel fibers resulted in different fracture behavior in comparison to glass and PP fiber.•Increasing the loading rate affects steel FRC samples more than samples with other fiber types.•SCB can be used as a reliable test for evaluating fracture behavior of concrete. Adding different types of fiber is one of the most common ways to enhance high strength concrete’s mechanical behavior. In this paper, the effect of the loading rate and different type of fibers including glass, polypropylene, and steel were studied using the semi-circular bending (SCB) test method. It was evaluated that the SCB test can be used as a rapid and simple method to measure fracture properties of fiber reinforced high strength concrete (HSC) including ductility, energy absorption, and loading capacity by considering the effect of the loading rate on the parameters mentioned above. Specimens with glass fibers showed the most ductile behavior among all specimens with different types of fiber. On the other hand, steel fibers provided higher strength and higher energy absorption among the specimens. While specimens with steel fibers are highly sensitive to the loading rate in terms of peak load, this effect is not significant for specimens with glass and polypropylene fibers.