Experimental Study on Performance of Mechanical Splices in Reinforced Concrete Beams

Mechanical splices are commonly used on site to join two steel reinforcing bars. If the two bars being spliced are off-axis, they may not be embedded far enough into the coupler, leading to an improper splice. This paper describes the mechanical properties of such improperly installed splices and the influence they have on the behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) beams. Test results show that insufficiently embedded splices result in RC beams with reduced load-carrying capacity and ductility. To improve the properties of such splices, a new type of corrective splice is developed. Reinforced concrete beams using the corrective splices exhibit almost the same load-displacement relationship and crack width as a control beam without mechanical splices.