Experimental and theoretical study on flexural behavior of high strength concrete encased steel beams with steel fibers

In this study, the flexural behavior of high strength concrete encased steel beams with steel fibers (HSCSBSF) under bending is investigated. The experiments of four HSCSBSF including one HSCSBSF without steel fiber (0% volume ratio of steel fiber) are carried out to investigate the effect of the volume ratio of steel fiber on the flexural behavior of HSCSBSF. All specimens fail by the yielding of reinforcement in tension zone and the crushing of concrete in compression zone. Due to the positive effect of steel fiber on the internal bonding strength of concrete, HSCSBSF with higher volume ratio of steel fiber shows higher cracking load. The bearing capacity (bending capacity) of HSCSBSF increases by 34.3% when the volume ratio of steel fiber varies from 0% to 2%. Compared with HSCSBSF with 0% volume ratio of steel fiber, the flexural stiffness of HSCSBSF with higher volume ratio of steel fiber is obviously improved and the ductility coefficient (the ratio of the displacement at failure load to the displacement at the yield load) of HSCSBSF with 2% volume ratio of steel fiber increases by 25%. Based on the material test of concrete, a value for the influence coefficient of steel fiber on the tensile strength of concrete is suggested. A model for predicting the bearing capacity of HSCSBSF is then derived from theoretical analysis of HSCSBSF. A good agreement between the proposed model and various test data is made.

Automated summary

The flexural behavior of high strength concrete encased steel beams with steel fibers (HSCSBSF) under bending is investigated in this study. Results show that the volume ratio of steel fiber has a significant impact on the flexural behavior of HSCSBSF. The addition of steel fiber improves the cracking load, bending capacity, flexural stiffness, and ductility of HSCSBSF.