Flexural Fatigue Performance of Steel Fiber Reinforced Expanded-Shales Lightweight Concrete Superposed Beams with Initial Static-Load Cracks.

Fulai Qu,Xiaowu Hu,Xinxin Ding,Changyong Li,Chao Peng,Liyun Pan

doi:10.3390/ma12193261

Abstract

Concerning the structural applications of steel fiber reinforced expanded-shales lightweight concrete (SFRELC), the present study focuses on the flexural fatigue performance of SFRELC superposed beams with initial static-load cracks. Nine SFRELC superposed beams were fabricated with the SFRELC depth varying from 50% to 70% of the whole sectional depth, and the volume fraction of steel fiber ranged from 0.8% to 1.6%. The fatigue load exerted on the beams was a constant amplitude sinusoid with a frequency of 10 Hz and a fatigue characteristic value of 0.10; the upper limit was taken as the load corresponded to the maximum crack width of 0.20 mm at the barycenter of the longitudinal rebars. The results showed that with the increase of SFRELC depth and the volume fraction of steel fiber, the fatigue life of the test beams was prolonged with three altered failure modes due to the crush of conventional concrete in the compression zone and/or the fracture of the tensile rebar; the failure pattern could be more ductile by the prevention of fatigue fracture by the longitudinal tensile rebar when the volume fraction of steel fiber was 1.6% and the reduction of crack growth and concrete strain in the compression zone; the fatigue life of test beams was sensitive to the upper-limit of the fatigue load, a short fatigue life appeared from the higher stress level and larger stress amplitude of the longitudinal rebar due to the higher upper-limit of the fatigue load. The methods for predicting the stress level, the stress amplitude of the longitudinal tensile rebar, and the degenerated flexural stiffness of SFRELC superposed beams with fatigue life are proposed. With the optimal composites of the SFRELC depth ratio and the volume fraction of steel fiber, the controllable failure of reinforced SFRELC superposed beams could be a good prospect with the trend curves of fatigue flexural stiffness.

Highlights

With the development of high-rise buildings and the increasing span and space of concrete structures, the disadvantage of conventional concrete with great self-weight becomes more acute compared to the imposed loads
The first is abrupt along a section of the main crack with the sudden fracture of a tensile rebar, the second is the crush of conventional concrete in the compression zone accompanied with the fracture of the tensile rebar, and the third is only the crush of conventional concrete in the compression zone
It should be noted that the horizontal interface between SFRELC and conventional concrete was laniated during the failure of test beams with an SFRELC depth ratio of 0.7

Summary

Introduction

With the development of high-rise buildings and the increasing span and space of concrete structures, the disadvantage of conventional concrete with great self-weight becomes more acute compared to the imposed loads. This promotes the research and development of structural lightweight concrete with different kinds of lightweight aggregates categorized as natural lightweight aggregates. Steel fiber reinforced expanded-shales lightweight concrete (SFRELC), with market-supply sintered expanded-shales for the fine and coarse aggregates, has excellent mechanical properties, especially those related to tensile performances [8,9,10,11,12,13]. Due to lower shrinkage and reliable bond behavior with the rebar, the SFRELC can be applied to concrete structures [14,15,16,17]

Results

Discussion

Conclusion