Investigation of the Effects of Basalt Fibers on the Flexural Strength of RC Beams without Stirrups

Abstract

Abstract-This research studied the influence of chopped basalt fibers (BFs) on the shear strength of reinforced concrete (RC) beams without stirrups. The beams including one reference and three basalt fiber reinforced concrete (BFRC) beams were tested under concentrated load at mid-span to determine the shear strength. The test parameters are volume fraction of basalt fibers (V f ) and shear span-to-effective depth ratio (a/d) of beam. The deflection of the beam and the cracking pattern were monitored during the test at certain stages of the monotonic loading until failure. It is observed that the contribution of BFs to the strength at the ultimate state decreases as volume fractions of BFs increase from 0% to 1.5%.