In the present work, mortar beams reinforced with polymeric reinforcing elements are manufactured using Polylactic acid (PLA), inspired by crack propagation deflecting architectures found in nature such as Sinusoidal and Bouligand architectures. Mechanical flexural properties of mortar beams are studied and compared with that of reinforcing elements with an architecture parallel to the direction of tensile stress as well as non-reinforced mortar beams. Furthermore, the reinforcement configuration and ratio are designed using principles from mechanics of materials. A Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique is used to obtain the load-deflection curves during flexural evaluation. Results show that changing the microarchitecture of the reinforcement can enhance the flexural performance of the beam. Additionally, interface properties between the mortar and the reinforcing element are studied using pull-out tests. Interface properties were enhanced by introducing architectural patterns on the surface of the reinforcement. Finally, using material properties of the mortar, reinforcement and the interface obtained from experiments, a numerical model is developed and calibrated. The outcome of this study helps explore the opportunities of using novel nature-inspired reinforcement to enhance the mechanical properties of cementitious composites.

中文翻译：

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致力于开发采用 3D 打印聚合物增强的水泥基复合材料

在目前的工作中，受到自然界中发现的裂纹扩展偏转结构（例如正弦曲线和 Bouligand 结构）的启发，使用聚乳酸（PLA）制造了用聚合物增强元件增强的砂浆梁。研究了砂浆梁的机械弯曲性能，并与结构平行于拉应力方向的加强元件以及非加强砂浆梁进行了比较。此外，钢筋配置和比例是利用材料力学原理设计的。数字图像相关 (DIC) 技术用于在弯曲评估过程中获取载荷-挠度曲线。结果表明，改变钢筋的微观结构可以提高梁的弯曲性能。此外，还通过拉拔试验研究了砂浆和增强元件之间的界面特性。通过在钢筋表面引入建筑图案来增强界面性能。最后，利用从实验中获得的砂浆、钢筋和界面的材料特性，开发并校准了数值模型。这项研究的结果有助于探索使用新型自然增强材料来提高水泥基复合材料机械性能的机会。