Experimental study on flexural behaviour of reinforced reactive powder concrete pole

To investigate the feasibility of using reactive powder concrete (RPC), with high compressive strength, compression and tensile strain, for concrete poles, and to study differences between RPC poles and normal concrete (NC) poles, four RPC poles and three NC poles were designed and manufactured with the same specifications. The failure mode, crack distribution, cross-section strain distribution, deformation performance, cracking moment and flexural strength of the RPC and NC poles were analysed through flexural load tests. The results indicated that the maximum crack width of RPC poles under all levels of loads was significantly smaller than that of NC poles. The cracking moment of RPC poles increases by 27.3%-37.0%, and the flexural strength of the RPC pole increased by 18.7-45.4% compared with those of NC pole. The calculation method for the cracking moment of RPC poles considering the influence of steel fibres, and the calculation formula for the flexural capacity of RPC poles considering the contribution of the tensile force of the RPC in the tensile zone are developed.