Study of the influence of the surface characteristics of steel bars on the steel-concrete interaction

Abstract

The steel-concrete adherence is of fundamental importance for the operation of reinforced concrete elements since they provide the transfer of stresses between the materials. The geometry of the steel bars is one of the main factors that interfere with adherence behavior. This paper makes an experimental study of adherence using steel bars with different surface characteristics, applying direct pull-out tests. From the experimental investigation, it was concluded that the steel bars' geometry interferes with the steel-concrete interface's performance. After identifying the necessary parameters, numerical simulations were performed using the Finite Element Method to verify the numerical results with the experimental ones and thus validate the modeling. Furthermore, the Mohr-Coulomb and Drucker-Prager criteria made it possible to visualize the stresses in the concrete. Finally, after the analyses, it was found that the numerical model developed was close in parts to the experimental model and that further refinement is needed to accurately represent the physical effects present in direct pull-out tests.