Effects of shear transfer on the directions of principal strain field in cracked concrete with hooked steel fibers

Abstract

This paper investigates the post-cracking behavior of steel fiber rein- forced concrete (SFRC) panels from an analysis perspective based on a smeared, fixed crack approach. The analysis results show that the addition of hooked steel fibers improves the average tensile stress of the concrete and, when added beyond 1% by volume, limits the amount of crack-shear slip in the concrete effectively. The analysis reveals that experimentally observations of smaller angles of inclination of concrete principal strain than those of concrete principal stress at intermediate load levels is due to this limited crack slip. Finally, the analysis identifies that hooked steel fibers tends to be less effective than transverse reinforcement in confining shear cracks, thereby resulting in a lower shear transfer capacity. © RILEM 2012.