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Steel and Composite Structures
  Volume 56, Number 1, July 10 2025 , pages 83-98
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12989/scs.2025.56.1.083
 


Shear behavior of SFRC beams reinforced with FRP stirrups: Experimental and analytical investigations
Wenlong Li, Wei Huang, Zhengyi Kong, Weihua Fan and Ke Zhang

 
Abstract
    The shear properties of eight steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) beams reinforced with glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) stirrups, referred to as GFRP-R-SFRC beams, are reported under four-point loading. Two parameters of the volume fraction of steel fibers (Vf) and the shear span ratio (λ) are considered, and their effects on the failure mode, mid-span deflection, crack width, strains of SFRC and longitudinal rebars, and shear capacity of GFRP-R-SFRC beams are then investigated. As the λ increases from 1.5 to 3.0, the GFRP-R-SFRC beams sequentially experience three failure modes: diagonal compression failure, shear compression failure, and diagonal tension failure. The incorporation of 1.5% steel fibers results in a reduction of the maximum deflection, maximum crack width, rebar strain and concrete strain by 2.3%, 16.8%, 15.7%, and 5.1%, respectively, indicating an enhancement in the post-cracking stiffness of GFRP-R-SFRC beams. Due to the crack-bridging effect of steel fibers, the average strain, maximum strain, and utilization ratio of GFRP stirrups increase with the increase of Vf. The shear capacity of GFRP-R-SFRC beams increases by 25.6% as the Vf increases from 0% to 1.5%, and the enhancement in shear capacity (25.6%) due to the addition of steel fibers shows a similar effect to that observed in conventional SFRC beams (12.7%). However, an increase in λ leads to a decrease in shear capacity, as the failure mode of the beam shifts from a shear-dominated pattern to a flexure-dominated pattern, which is similar with conventional SFRC beams. Considering the positive contribution of steel fibers, a modified computational model is proposed for evaluating the shear capacity of FRP-R SFRC beams. A good agreement between the predicted and experimental results is shown.
 
Key Words
    computational model; GFRP-R-SFRC beams; GFRP stirrups; shear capacity; shear properties; steel fibers
 
Address
Wenlong Li:1)Department of Civil Engineering and Anhui University of Technology, Maxiang Road 59, Maanshan, China
2)College of Information Engineering and Fuyang Normal University, Qinghe East Road 59, Fuyang, China

Wei Huang:College of Information Engineering and Fuyang Normal University, Qinghe East Road 59, Fuyang, China

Zhengyi Kong:Institute for Sustainable Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Weihua Fan:College of Information Engineering and Fuyang Normal University, Qinghe East Road 59, Fuyang, China

Ke Zhang:College of Information Engineering and Fuyang Normal University, Qinghe East Road 59, Fuyang, China
 

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