The flexural and shear behavior of SIFCON concrete beams with steel and GFRP bars

Abstract

The SIFCON concrete reinforced with glass-fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars can provide a construction system with high durability and strength. Slurry infiltrated fibrous concrete (SIFCON) is a new type of conventional fiber reinforced concrete. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the flexural and shear behavior of the SIFCON concrete beams reinforced with GFRP bars were evaluated under four-point bending and three-point shear tests. The parameters investigated were material type of longitudinal reinforcement (steel and GFRP), transverse reinforcement type (steel and mesh) and mesh reinforcement spacing (25 mm and 12 mm). For this purpose, a total of twelve SIFCON concrete beams with steel and GFRP bar as longitudinal reinforcement measuring 150x150x800 mm were cast. Moreover, stirrup and mesh reinforcement as transverse reinforcement are another main parameter of this study. The test results showed that the effects of longitudinal and transverse reinforcement type and mesh spacing on the strength, crack propagation, and energy dissipation capacity of RC beams under bending and shear were experimentally investigated. The use of steel longitudinal reinforcement in both four-point and three-point tests increased the bending moment and shear strength compared to beams with GFRP. Moreover, although the use of mesh reinforcement in reinforced concrete beams under four-point bending reduced the strength, it increased the strength in beams with GFRP. In the samples under the shear force, the use of mesh reinforcement in the steel reinforced group increases the shear strength, but the use of mesh reinforcement in the GFRP group decreases the shear strength.