Experimental investigations on behaviour of shear deficient reinforced concrete beams under monotonic and fatigue loading

Abstract

In the present study, investigations were carried out on reinforced concrete(RC) beams under monotonic and fatigue loading. Experimental study consists of the evaluation of the response of RC beam without and with the shear deficiency. Both types of specimens were tested under monotonic loading using four point bending set up. Under monotonic loading shear deficient RC rectangular beams clearly depicted the shear failure pattern and confirmed the expected response. Further, shear deficient RC beams were investigated under fatigue loading and three different load ranges were adopted. Using the results obtained from the study, fatigue characterisation of shear deficient reinforced concrete beams is carried out and the influence of load range during fatigue load is studied. It is found that fatigue remaining life of the RC component significantly depends on the applied load range. It is also observed from the present study that the responses of the structures change considerably under the fatigue loading than that under monotonic loads. So, any interpretation of structural behaviour parameters of RC structures from responses obtained from static loading would leadto erroneous design. The study would help in understanding the fatigue behaviour of RCstructural components in various stress range which is very common in bridges.