ABSTRACT
262The chapter presents some results of an experimental study on the fracture behavior of steel fiber-reinforced high strength concrete (SFRHSC) beams. The fracture energy and ductility factors of SFRHSC beams are obtained by carrying out three point bend tests on notched beams. Presence of steel fibers is known to enhance the ductility of concrete. Instead of the very small softening branch of the load–deflection curve observed in plain high strength concrete (HSC) beams without fibers, larger softening branch of the load–deflection curve occurs in SFRHC. The fracture energy and ductility factors are found to be high in SFRHSC. The ductility decreases as the size of the specimen increases which is an indication of reduction of energy absorption. The compressive strength of SFRHSC is observed to be about 95 MPa with a tensile strength of about 7.2 MPa. The energy absorption is found to be very high in SFRHSC in comparison with HSC. The softening branch of the load–deflection curve in the post peak behavior, which indicates ductility, is found to be comparatively longer in the case of SFRHSC.
