Ductility of High-Performance Concrete Beams with High-Strength Lateral Reinforcement

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the flexural behavior of high workability, high-performance concrete (HPC) beams with high-strength transverse reinforcement under static load. A total of 21 beam specimens were fabricated in this study: 7 were normal concrete beams, and the remainder were HPC beams. The parameters included concrete strength, amount of tension reinforcement, amount of compression reinforcement, amount of transverse reinforcement, and strength of transverse reinforcement. Results show that HPC beams have slightly higher strengths than normal concrete beams. In addition, an increase in tension reinforcement will increase the strength but decrease the ductility of the beams. An increase of compression steel and concrete strength will increase the ductility of the beams effectively. HPC beams show better ductility than normal concrete beams. HPC beams also have better crack control than normal concrete beams. Beams with high-strength shear reinforcement exhibit the same crack control ability as beams with normal strength shear reinforcement.