Flexural Behavior of Continuous Beams Made of Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC)—Experimental and Numerical Analysis

Abstract

Self-compacting concrete (SCC) is a type of concrete that is placed in the formwork under its own weight. Although there are many studies showing the behavior of SCC beams, most relate to the behavior of simple supported beams. Unlike those, this is a study of continuous beams made of SCC aimed to analyze their flexural performance as well as to confirm the possibility of using nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) in the design of such structural elements. An experimental study of three two-span continuous beams of a total length of 3400 mm, with the span between supports of 1600 mm, with 150/200 mm cross section made of SCC exposed to short-term loading, was carried out. The parameter that varied is the percentage of tensile reinforcement, with values of 0.65, 0.86 and 0.94 being selected. As all analyzed beams have shown a satisfactory load-bearing capacity and stiffness, the research confirmed the possibility of using SCC in continuous beams in civil engineering practice. Using Abaqus/Standard software, a nonlinear numerical model is proposed, which is validated and verified against experimental research, as there is only a 5% difference in the numerically calculated ultimate load compared to the experimentally measured values.

Study on Flexural Behavior of Self-Compacting Concrete Beams with Recycled Aggregates

“…Additionally, Luo et al [22] and Huang et al [23] suggested that the failure form of self-compacting concrete (SCC) beams is similar to that of NC beams, whereas the ultimate bending moment of SCC beams is slightly larger than that of NC beams; moreover, the cracking moment of SCC beams is slightly smaller. Petrovic et al [24] found that SCC beams had satisfactory bearing capacity and stiffness, confirming the possibility of using SCC in continuous beams. Xue et al [25] found that the ultimate bearing capacity of SCC beams can be calculated using the current code equations.…”

“…These material properties of recycled aggregate can also affect the performance of the components. So far, the flexural properties of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) beams [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] and SCC beams [22][23][24][25][26] have been experimentally studied, and valuable results have been obtained. Ignjatovic et al [14] found no significant difference between the load-deflection curves and ultimate bearing capacity of RAC beams and normal concrete (NC) beams.…”

Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Impact Strength of Concrete Slabs

“…The adopted CDP model introduces damage of the concrete both due to compression and tension, and has its ground in Fracture mechanics, i.e., on the Drucker-Prager's hyperbolic function of flow of the plastic potential. Taking into account [23], this model has been selected as adequate for modelling quasi-brittle materials, see also [26,27]. Prior to applying the CDP material model in analysis, several input parameters need to be defined, as described below.…”

“…Dilatation angle (dilatancy) ψ has been adopted as ψ = 30°, according to [27]. For the eccentricity of the plastic potential є, and for the relation between the biaxial and uniaxial yield stress under compression σ b0 /σ c0 , default values have been chosen, i.e., є = 0.1 and σ b0 /σ c0 = 1.16, as recommended in [26].…”

“…For the eccentricity of the plastic potential є, and for the relation between the biaxial and uniaxial yield stress under compression σ b0 /σ c0 , default values have been chosen, i.e., є = 0.1 and σ b0 /σ c0 = 1.16, as recommended in [26]. Also, default value has been adopted for the relation of the magnitude of the deviatoric stress under tension and compression, K = 0.666 [27]. Finally, the nondimensional viscosity parameter μ, has been taken as μ = 0.000001.…”