Shear behavior of self-consolidating concrete deep beams reinforced with hybrid of steel and GFRP bars

Abstract

This paper experimentally investigates the dowel action contribution of longitudinal reinforcement, a hybrid of steel and GFRP bars (usually adopted for avoiding corrosion of steel bars), in concrete deep beams for different reinforcement schemes. The self-consolidating concrete without and with steel fibers (0.9 % and 1.2 % by volume) was used. Sixteen simply supported deep beams of 140 × 300 (depth) × 1500 mm were tested under the two-point loads. A model is developed to predict the shear capacity of deep beams without web reinforcement, taking into consideration the dowel action contribution of longitudinal reinforcement, which is a hybrid of steel and GFRP rebars. The results showed a significant dowel action contribution of steel as well as GFRP rebars to beam shear strength. However, the use of a hybrid system of steel and GFRP bars caused a reduction in the dowel action of steel bars due to their combined action.