Flexural behaviour of polypropylene fibres reinforced concrete beams

الملخص EN

The flexural behaviour of polypropylene fibre reinforced concrete I-beams- with and without stirrups-was evaluated in this study.

The main studied factors were the volume ratio of polypropylene fibre, the stirrups ratio and the surface type of polypropylene fibre.

All beams had the same dimensions and longitudinal reinforcement and tested under two third point loads.

The results showed that polypropylene fibres were effective in reducing the cracks’ width and crack propagation.

Also, the increase in fibre volume ratio, however, after a certain limit, did not necessarily improve the flexural behaviour of polypropylene fibre reinforced concrete beams.

The results also showed that while polypropylene fibres had only slight effect on the beam stiffness, (cracking moment and ultimate moment), combining polypropylene fibres and stirrups improved the behaviour of reinforced concrete beams and changed its failure mode.

In addition, analysis of the results showed that the cracking and ultimate moment of polypropylene fibre reinforced concrete beams can be calculated using the same methods used in conventional reinforced concrete beams.