SHEAR BEHAVIOR OF DOUBLY REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS WITH AND WITHOUT STEEL FIBERS AFFECTED BY DISTRIBUTED CRACKS

Abstract

The present study is aimed at investigating the shear behavior of reinforced concrete beams with doubly reinforced rectangular cross-section, with and without steel fibers, affected by distributed cracks. The influence of the distributed cracks was mathematically quantified with the help of a crack density parameter. Monotonic loading tests were conducted on the RC beams and their failure indicated a mixed mode between both diagonal tension and diagonal compression failures. Due to the reinforcement layout, the effect of the longitudinal compression reinforcement on the shear carrying capacity should be taken into account. The distributed cracks were shown to have less influence on the peak load of doubly reinforced concrete beams.