Abstract
Compared to using steel bars or Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) bars alone, Steel-FRP composite bars (SFCBs) offer superior corrosion resistance, higher elastic modulus and ductility, suggesting their suitability in harsh environments. Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) provides outstanding tensile strength and crack control capability, exhibiting significant pseudo-strain hardening with an extremely high ultimate tensile strain. This research explores the static flexural performance of SFCB-reinforced concrete-ECC (SFCB-RC/EC) composite beams, focusing on the effects of SFCB bars and ECC materials on failure patterns, load-carrying capacity, deflection, strain, cracking and ductility. Results revealed that SFCBs provided excellent post-yielding stiffness, and ECC effectively limited crack development and fully utilized matrix strain in both tensile and compressive zones. Compared to SFCB-reinforced concrete beam, SFCB-RC/EC beam showed a 38.3% increase to load-carrying capacity, and a 42.8% improvement to energy ductility coefficient, significantly enhancing the beam deformability. A cross-sectional analysis method for SFCB-RC/EC beams was developed based on reasonable assumptions and a simplified constitutive model for the materials. The impact of ECC tensile strength was examined in relation to reinforcement ratio of SFCB and height of the ECC layer. A quantification method for determining the SFCB reinforcement ratio was suggested as a safety reserve for the contribution of ECC tensile strength and the height of the ECC layer. Additionally, a simplified analytical model for the load-bearing capacity of SFCB-RC/EC beams was developed. The predicted values from the model showed good agreement compared to experimental results, confirming the validity of the proposed model and their applicability in engineering practice.
Published Version
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