Flexural Performance of Mill Cut Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete Beam Degraded by Mild Corrosion

Corrosion of steel occurred in the reinforced concrete structures is one of the most significant causes of deterioration and reduction of the loading capacity of the reinforced concrete structures. Applying fiber extended the initiation stage and postponded the crack propagation stage of corrosion process in RC structure. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of utilizing steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) for its application in a chloride environment. To investigate the flexural behavior of the corroded SFRC beam under static loads, the concrete with the water-to-cement ratio of 0.4 containing steel fibers of 0, 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5% were used. The impressed current method was applied to accelerate the corrosion of steel to reach 5% by applying the constant current of 250 mu A/cm(2) within 38 days. The flexural strength of eight beams having an identical section of 150x200 mm and a length of 1400 mm were examined under a four-point bending test. The experimental results showed that the presentation of mill cut steel fibers significantly influenced the flexural performance of the corroded SFRC beams. Corrosion of steel led to a more significant reduction of load capacity of the RC beams, whereas the beam containing the steel fiber remained the ultimate or yield load capacity. Fibers take account for compensating the flexural strength of the structure due to the loss of cross-section of the steel bar by corrosion effect and limit the propagation of the width crack.