Tension stiffening of steel-fiber-reinforced concrete

Abstract

In this paper, the mechanical behavior of steel-fiber-reinforced concrete was investigated to analyze the influence of steel fibers on tension stiffening. Using tension tests, the tension stiffening coefficient was evaluated through the load versus strain responses obtained from strain gages fixed to reinforcement steels. Moreover, an empirical model is proposed to estimate the tension stiffening coefficient of steel-fiber-reinforced concrete from reinforcement strains. From the test results, it was verified that the addition of steel fibers to concrete reduced the reinforcement steel strains and the crack width and increased the stiffness of cracked concrete, mainly in concretes reinforced with high volumes of fibers.