Effects of steel fiber addition on the behaviour of biaxially loaded high strength concrete columns

This paper presents the effects of various amounts of steel fibers on the behaviour of eccentrically loaded high strength reinforced concrete columns. A total of 14 both short and slender square section steel fiber and plain high strength reinforced concrete column specimens were constructed and tested to investigate the addition of steel fibers on load–deflection behaviour, ultimate strength capacity, ductility and confinement. The complete nonlinear experimental stress–strain relationships of steel fiber and plain high strength concrete were obtained for different concrete strengths. In the study, a theoretical procedure considering the nonlinear behaviour of the materials is proposed for ultimate strength analysis and load–deflection behaviour of eccentrically loaded columns including slenderness effect. The complete experimental and theoretical biaxial load–deflection curves of the column specimens have been obtained and reported in the paper. The column specimens and some steel fiber columns available in the literature have been analysed for the ultimate strength capacities. Good agreement has been achieved between the analysis and the test results.