This work presents the results of a theorical-experimental study performed in cooperation between the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro and the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha in Spain. The main goal was to verify the influence of the loading frequency on the compressive fatigue behavior of plain and fiber reinforced concrete FRC. The motivation comes from the intention on building wind energy generator towers with one hundred meters in height by using a high-performance concrete as a cheaper alternative material instead of steel. These towers are subjected to load and unload cycles at frequencies from 0,01 Hz to 0,3 Hz. The addition of fibers improves concrete properties such as tensile strength, reducing cracking. In the experimental study three types of concrete were produced from the same matrix: a plain concrete and two FRC, with polypropylene fibers and with steel fibers. One hundred twenty four compressive fatigue tests were performed on cubic specimens with 100 mm in edge length, divided on twelve series: three types of concrete and four frequencies 4 Hz, 1 Hz, 0,25 Hz and 0,0625 Hz. Comparing the number of cycles to failure, it is clear that the loading frequency influences the compressive fatigue behavior and that the addition of fibers improves fatigue performance only at the lower frequencies. The performance of the steel fibers is more efficient than the polypropylene ones. A probabilistic model was proposed to relate the fatigue parameters with the loading frequency, considering both statistical distributions of the fatigue tests and the concrete mechanical properties. There is a good agreement between the model and the experimental results. In terms of number of cycles N or strain history (through the secondary strain rate ) the rupture is probabilistic, and there is a direct relation between N and . This relation provides the possibility to estimate the number of cycles to failure without breaking the specimen.
