Experimental Study of Hollow RC Beams Strengthened by Steel Fiber under Pure Torsion

Abstract

This paper examines the effectiveness of pure torsional loads on hollow reinforced concrete high-strengthened beams. Engineers need to know how much twist a structural member generates when exposed to torsional loads to design it properly. This is done through an experimental investigation of the torsional behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) beams using twelve hollow rectangular beams with varying parameters, such as the spacing of the stirrups, the influence of the steel fiber fraction, and the main reinforcement amount. Four values of fiber volume fractions (0, 0.5%, 0.75%, and 1%), three spacings of transverse reinforcements (60,100, and 150 mm), and various longitudinal reinforcements (8Ф12 mm, 6Ф12 mm, and 4Ф12 mm) have been used. The tested beams had the same length (1000 mm), cross-sections, concrete mixture, and quality control. In the hollow beams, the interior dimensions were 180 mm × 180 mm, while the exterior dimensions were 300 mm × 300 mm. Torsional loads were applied to all the beams using custom-built test equipment. This study highlighted that the structural characteristics of hollow RC beams could be improved by increasing the fiber volume, lowering the stirrup spacing, and increasing the longitudinal reinforcement. Torsion moments rose by 132% when the fractional volume of fiber was increased from 0% to 1%, while they rose by 71.27% when the longitudinal reinforcement was increased from 4 to 8 bars for beams with fractional volumes of fiber of 0.5 percent and the same transverse reinforcement ratios.