Experimental and numerical study on T‐Shaped UHPFRC beams with high‐strength reinforcement

Abstract

AbstractThis article experimentally and numerically investigated the flexural behavior of T‐shaped UHPFRC beams reinforced with high‐strength bars. A total of five beams were tested to study the effect of steel fiber volumetric ratio, longitudinal reinforcement ratio, and mix proportion of UHPFRC. Test results indicate that flexural stiffness and strength increased with increasing reinforcement ratio, while the effect of mix proportion was negligible. With the same shear reinforcement ratio, the failure mode of T‐shaped beams changed from shear failure to flexural failure with steel fibers. Results from finite element analyses had good agreement with test results. Future research will focus on the parametric study based on calibrated finite element models and the secondary development of ABAQUS to simulate the shear failure of UHPFRC beams.