Research on non-linear structural behaviors of prestressed concrete beams made of high strength and steel fiber reinforced concretes

The flexural behaviors of fully and partially prestressed concrete beams made of high strength and steel fiber reinforced concretes are studied by experiment and non-linear finite element method. Three levels of partial prestress ratio (PPR) are considered, and for each PPR, a pair of two-span continuous beams with box-section are designed. In each pair of the test beams, one is constructed by the high strength concrete completely, and for the other one the steel fiber reinforced concrete is used in the negative moment zone (the mid-support zone). Such structural behaviors as the deflection of beam, the formation and the development of crack, the strain of concrete and reinforcement bar, and the moment redistribution are investigated. A non-linear finite element analysis program is developed and applied. The constitutive behavior of concrete is modeled by the microplane theory. A four-nodal six-DOF (degree of freedom) degenerated shell element is adopted to simulate the structural behaviors of the box-section beam. To obtain the ultimate limit state of the structure, the arc-length method is introduced in the non-linear solution. The analytical results agree well with test ones. The influences of the steel fiber reinforced concrete used in the negative moment zone on the structural behaviors are mainly concerned. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.