Title: Nonlinear Analysis of Beams Reinforced in Shear with Stirrups and Steel Fibers

Author(s): Nino Spinella, Piero Colajanni, and Lidia La Mendola

Publication: Structural Journal

Volume: 109

Issue: 1

Appears on pages(s): 53-64

Keywords: cracking; experimental tests; fiber-reinforced concrete; nonlinear finite element model analysis; shear

DOI: 10.14359/51683494

Date: 1/1/2012

Abstract:
Experimental four-point bending tests on steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) beams were performed and the complete load-versus-displacement curves were predicted by suitably adapting a nonlinear finite element code for plain and reinforced concrete (RC) elements to the analysis of SFRC structural members, based on the modified compression field theory (MCFT) and the disturbed stress field model (DSFM). The effect of steel fibers on shear-flexure response is taken into account, mainly by incorporating appropriate tensile and compressive stress-strain analytical relationships for SFRC and introducing several modifications in the theoretical models to cover local conditions at crack. The numerical results show the model’s effectiveness to predict the structural response of both specimens reinforced with steel fibers only and beams with stirrups and steel fibers as transverse reinforcement. The experimental and numerical results highlighted the capacity of steel fibers to partially substitute the stirrups as shear reinforcement in beams and demonstrated how the coupled transverse reinforcement, provided by stirrups and steel fibers, is an optimum solution both in terms of structural performance and costs.