Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) was recently developed and was reported to improve the
strength, damage tolerance, ductility, energy dissipation capacity, and durability of components when compared to
conventional reinforced concrete. A polyvinyl alcohol fiber reinforced engineered cementitious composite (PVAECC) using local ingredients – namely local sand instead of using microsilica sand – was developed, aiming for
tensile strain capacity matching that of steel reinforcement for commonly used reinforced concrete structures
while reducing the cost. The main objectives of this research are to develop and validate a procedure for numerical
modeling and structural analysis of PVA-ECC beams using local sand. Also, the research aims to study the effects
of several parameters on the flexural and shear behaviors of PVA-ECC beams. The results of numerical study
indicated that the PVA-ECC beams have excellent shear capacity that helps in decreasing shear reinforcement
congestion in structural elements. Consequently, PVA-ECC with local sand is very useful for structural elements
to resist seismic loads. Furthermore, the peak load is increased with increasing of longitudinal reinforcement ratio
(µ) and with increasing of yielding stress. On the other hand, the peak load is decreased with increase of shear
span-to-depth ratio (S/d) and the mid-span deflection at peak load is increased with the increasing of S/d in all
cases. The stiffness of PVA-ECC is decreased with increasing of S/d and is slightly increased with increasing of µ
values. Also, there are minor differences in stiffness when yielding stress of steel reinforcement is changed.