Flexural and shear performance of HFRC beams

Abstract

This paper describes the load bearing capacity prediction of two different types of fibres in Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams exposed to bending loads. A two-point test in a loading frame was conducted under static loading to examine the flexural and shear performance of Hybrid Fibre Reinforced Concrete (HFRC) beams in the preparation of steel-polypropylene fibres (SPF) and glass-polypropylene fibres (GPF). In this experimental study, 1% of steel fibres, 0.03% of glass fibres and 0.30% of polypropylene fibres were added by volume of concrete in two different combinations. Totally 6 numbers of beams of size 150 mm × 200 mm × 2100 mm were casted and tested in two series (A series & B series), each series containing 3 beams. The beams of A series and B series were designed to fail in flexure and shear respectively. An experimental test was performed to explore the behaviours namely ultimate load along with its crack patterns and width, load deflection behaviour, ductility and stiffness relations. The test results revealed that HFRC beams significantly increased the ultimate load than the control beams. In addition, an HFRC beam reduces the deflection and crack width. It was also identified that RC beams with SPF showed enhanced performance than the RC beams with GPF.