Flexural behavior of high-strength steel bar reinforced UHPC beams with considering restrained shrinkage

Despite the excellent mechanical properties of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC), UHPC beams with a conventional reinforcement ratio consistently demonstrate limited ductility. Therefore, this study aims to enhance the ductility of reinforced UHPC beams by regulating the tensile interaction between steel fibers and reinforcement. Six UHPC beams with varying fiber volume fractions and reinforcement ratios were tested under flexure. The effect of restrained shrinkage on flexural behavior was emphatically investigated. A cracked section analysis was also implemented to predict cracking behaviors of UHPC beams and was verified by experimental results. The test results revealed an increase in the ductility of UHPC beams with an increasing reinforcement ratio, while a decrease was observed with an increasing fiber volume fraction. The contribution of UHPC tensile capacity decreased significantly with the increase in the reinforcement ratio because of the restrained shrinkage. The stiffness and crack control capacity of reinforced UHPC beams reaches a plateau when the sum of reinforcement ratio and fiber volume fraction exceeds 3.1%. Increasing the fiber content is more effective than increasing the reinforcement ratio in limiting crack development, whereas the converse is true for improving the flexural capacity.