Tension stiffening evaluation of steel fibre concrete beams with smooth and deformed reinforcement

Abstract

This study investigated the flexural performance of steel fibre beams reinforced with smooth and deformed reinforcement, both experimentally and numerically. As part of the experimental investigation, five full-scale reinforced concrete beams were constructed with plain and steel fibre concrete and were tested under 4-point flexural monotonic loading. The amount of fibre and the condition of the rebar were the main parameters studied. The test’s outcome built up a numerical model to simulate the actual performance of the reinforced concrete beams under tested loading. Afterward, a parametric study was conducted to get a better understanding of the behaviour of the steel fibre concrete beams. The experimental results show that the cracking load was not affected by the steel reinforcement conditions, whether smooth or deformed. Moreover, 9% of the ultimate deflection was caused by tension stiffening and 3% due to the steel fibre content in steel fibre concrete beams. Finally, the concrete compressive strength was found to have less of an effect on the ultimate deflection than the ultimate load.