Behaviour of fiber reinforced concrete beams with spliced tension steel reinforcement

Abstract

The aim of the current work is to describe the flexural behaviour of simply supported concrete beams with tension reinforcement spliced at mid-span. The parameters included in the study were the type of the concrete, the splice length and the configuration of the hooked splice. Fifteen beams were cast using an ordinary concrete mix and two fiber reinforced concrete mixes incorporating steel and polypropylene fibers. Each concrete mix was used to cast five beams with continuous, spliced and hooked spliced tension steel bars. A test beam was reinforced on the tension side with two 12 mm bars and the splice length was 20 and 40 times the bar diameter. The hooked bars were spliced along 20 times the bar diameter and provided with 45-degree and 90-degree hooks. The test results in terms of cracking and ultimate loads, cracking patterns, ductility, and failure modes are reported. The results demonstrated the consequences due to short splices and the improvement in the structural behaviour due to the use of hooks and the confinement provided by the steel and polypropylene fibers.