An Investigation on Shear Behavior of Prestressed Concrete Beams Cast by Fiber Reinforced Concrete

Failure due to shear is brittle in nature, and inherent lesser concrete tensile strength is a main contributing factor. During loading before the shear reinforcement could start functioning, cracking in concrete starts. Use of fibers in concrete had proven improved impact on tensile strength of concrete. Active reinforcement role initiates after concrete cracking starts. This paper investigates into the shear behavior of fiber reinforced, pretensioned concrete I-section beam specimens. A total of six beam specimens were cast. Two types of fibers, steel fibers and polypropylene fibers were used in five different proportions. For comparison, one control specimen was also cast without inclusions of fibers in concrete. Concrete mix ratio, prestress force, shear span-to-depth ratio and shear and flexural reinforcement details were kept constant in all specimens. Specimens were subjected to four-point loading to ensure that all specimens fail due to excessive shear force. During tests, deflections and strains were also measured. It was concluded that shear strength of beams was improved using steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) as compared to polypropylene fiber reinforced concrete (PPFRC). SFRC beam containing 0.65% fiber depicted 50.71% improvement in ultimate failure load, 67% improvement in first cracking load and 36% improvement in ultimate deflection as compared to control beam.