Study on shear resistance of steel fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete beams

Experimental investigation on the shear bearing capacity of a series of steel fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete beams with or without fiber reinforcement has been carried out. The load-deflection curves, load-concrete principal strain curves and the load-stirrup strain curves were measured and evaluated to analyze the effect of fiber content and shear span ratio as well as stirrup ratio on the shear resistance of steel fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete beam. Based on the experimental data, the formulas regarding the shear capacity of steel fiber reinforced concrete beams in the Chinese Guideline CECS38: 2004 and RILEM TC 162-TDF were compared. The results show that the steel fiber can significantly enhance the deformability and shear capacity of beams without stirrups and improve the failure mode. The partial substitution of stirrups by steel fiber demonstrates a stronger shear resistance. The computed results according to RILEM TC 162-TDF accord with the experimental results better than that obtained from CECS38.