Flexural Performance of Concrete Beams Reinforced with Continuous FRP Bars and Discrete Steel Fibers under Cyclic Loads

Abstract

This research investigated the flexural behavior of high-strength concrete beams reinforced with continuous basalt fiber-reinforced polymer (BFRP) bars and discrete steel fibers. Five concrete beams with the dimensions of 150 × 300 × 2100 mm3 were constructed and tested to failure under four-point bending cyclic loading. The specimens consisted of four BFRP-reinforced concrete beams with various reinforcement ratios (ρf), namely, 0.56%, 0.77%, 1.15%, and 1.65%, and one conventional steel-reinforced concrete beam for comparison purposes. The cracking behavior, failure modes, load-deflection behavior, residual deformation, and stiffness degradation of the beams were studied. Additionally, a deformation-based approach was used to analyze the deformability of the beams. The results show that an increase in the ρf effectively restrained the crack widths, deflections, and residual deformation while also enhancing the flexural bearing capacity of the beams. In comparison to the first displacement cycle, the bearing capacity dropped by 10% on average in the third cycle. The stiffness exhibited a fast to slow degradation trend until failure. The residual stiffnesses were higher in beams with a higher ρf. The over-reinforced beams had superior deformability than the under-reinforced beams, according to the deformability factors.

Theoretical and Experimental Substantiation of the Efficiency of Combined-Reinforced Glass Fiber Polymer Composite Concrete Elements in Bending

“…Finally, from a price point of view, the cost of our elements is reduced and is more economical, as confirmed by our economic analysis. This is in good agreement with the results of the authors [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]35,[37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50].…”

“…All this is proposed for use not only in compressed elements, as in [18,19,[28][29][30][31][32][33], but, of course, in tensioned bending elements, which emphasizes the more rational operation of fiber-reinforced elements, since fiber reinforcement is primarily directed for bending and tensile loads. In this regard, our result surpasses the results of [6,9,14,17,18,27,[33][34][35][36][37][38].…”

“…Research on improving the characteristics and operation parameters of compressed [18,19,[28][29][30][31][32][33] and bending elements [6,9,14,17,18,27,[33][34][35][36][37][38] because of fiber reinforcement continues to expand and open new possibilities for their application. At the same time, researchers have studied the behavior of columns and beams made of steel fiber concrete [6,30], ultrahigh strength fiber concrete [36], glass geopolymer concrete with hybrid fibers [29], steel fibers [34,35], basalt fibers [34], hybrid epoxy resin, reinforced with flax or fiberglass [28], and steel fibers from scrap tires [31].…”

“…Finally, the works of the authors involved in the study of polymer composite concrete bending elements (beams) [2,5,8,[11][12][13]15,16,35,[37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50] were of particular interest for the development of this study. To improve the performance of bending elements, researchers studied the following for their reinforcement: fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP), glassreinforced polymers (GFRP), composite polymers, reinforcement with jute-polyester fiber (JPFRP), polymers, reinforcement with basalt fiber (BFRP), carbon (CFRP) and aramid (AFRP) fibers.…”

Steel Fiber-Reinforced Concrete: A Systematic Review of the Research Progress and Knowledge Mapping

“…Concrete reinforcement with fibers is not a substitute for traditional steel reinforcing bars because steel bars and fibers serve distinctive, but both function in improving the concrete performance [ 36 , 37 , 38 ]. Steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) refers to the inclusion of short, discontinuous steel fibers into the matrix of concrete after mixing [ 39 , 40 , 41 ]. Water, aggregates, cement, and steel fibers are the primary components of SFRC [ 42 , 43 , 44 ].…”