ABSTRACT
Over the last decades, many efforts were profuse to study experimentally and/or numerically the use of Fibre Reinforced Concrete (FRC) as reinforcement for precast tunnel segments. The promising results achieved drove the designers, in recent years, on the employment of fibres in different segmental lining projects all over the world. From a design perspective, Model Code 2010 was the first comprehensive guidelines considering FRC performance in structural calculations; more recently, the new Eurocode 2 introduce the Annex L for the design of steel FRC structural elements. Tunnel segments are subjected to different loading scenarios occurring during segment manufacturing, installation, and service condition. One of the most critical is the application of high loads on small contact surfaces; this happens during the excavation or in the final stage. The load spreading into the elements leads to tensile stresses (called splitting or bursting stresses) which can provoke a splitting failure if it is not foreseen an adequate reinforcement. The current regulations do not provide direct formulation to calculate the splitting bearing capacity of FRC elements and in the literature just few formulations are available. The aim of this research is contributing to fill this lack of knowledge providing an analytical model to estimate bearing capacity and crack depth for FRC elements when the failure mechanism is due to a splitting collapse. This formulation was validated based on results collected from the literature showing a good approximation of experimental results.
