Effect of bond on the behavior of steel fibre reinforced concrete beams

This paper investigates the effect of concrete-rebar bond and fibre content on the capacity and ductility of steel fibre reinforced concrete beams. In this papers beams with different proportions of steel fibre and different bar types are tested. Three sets of steel fibre reinforced concrete beams are made with 0%, 1 %, and 2% steel fibres by volume. All beams are singly reinforced with three different bar types; deformed bars, plain round bars, and deformed bars unbonded in the central one-third length. All beams are designed for flexure failure, and two equal point loads are applied symmetrically to generate a constant moment region in the central span between the point loads. Test results show that beams containing steel fibres have higher yield load, possess better post-yield load carrying capacity, and are more ductile than the beams made of plain concrete. Although beams with deformed bars possess higher post-yield load carrying capacity and are more ductile than beams with round and unbonded bars, this difference diminishes with the addition of fibres.