-

Shear moment analysis of reinforced

high strength concrete beams containing
steel fibres
Mahmoud Imam, Lucie Vandewalle, and Fernand Mortelmans
Can. J. Civ. Eng. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by UNIV CHICAGO on 07/20/13

Abstract: This paper concerns the incorporation of steel fibres in singly reinforced high strength
concrete beams without stirrups failing under the combined effect of flexure and shear. A new equation
for predicting the shear strength of reinforced high strength concrete beams is developed. This equation
shows a good correlation with own test data of 16 reinforced high strength concrete beams with and
without steel fibres and numerous published experimental data for beams with concrete compressive
strength up to 140 MPa. The flexural capacity of reinforced high strength concrete beams is also
investigated. The existing ACI method for predicting the flexural strength of steel fibre concrete
composites is slightly modified to be applicable for high strength concrete. Based on the proposed
equations, an analytical model is developed for predicting the relative flexural capacity, i.e., the ratio of
the moment with shear interaction to the pure flexural moment.
Key words: high strength concrete, steel fibre, shear strength, flexural strength, stirrups, web
reinforcement.

Resume : Cet article traite de l'inttgration de fibres d'acier a des poutres de bCton i haute resistance i
For personal use only.

armature unique, sans que les Ctriers ne ckdent sous l'effet combine de la flexion et du cisaillement.
Une nouvelle Cquation permettant de prCvoir la rCsistance au cisaillement des poutres de bCton arm6 i
haute resistance a CtC dCveloppCe. Cette Cquation permet d ' o b s e ~ e rune bonne concordance avec les
donntes d'essai de seize poutres de bCton arm6 a haute resistance, avec et sans fibres d'acier, ainsi
qu'avec les nombreuses donnCes expCrimenta1e.s tirCes des diverses publications pour les poutres ayant
une resistance 2i la compression atteignant 140 MPa. La capacitt en flexion des poutres en bCton arm6 i
haute rCsistance a Cgalement CtC analysCe. La mCthode de I'ACI permettant de prCvoir la resistance a la
flexion de composites de bCton avec fibres d'acier a CtC ICgkrement modifiCe afin de pouvoir l'appliquer
au bCton 2 haute rCsistance. Compte tenu des Cquations proposCes, un modkle analytique a CtC ClaborC
afin de prCvoir la capacitC en flexion relative, c'est-a-dire le rapport du moment avec interaction du
cisaillement au moment flCchissant pur.
Mots cl4s : bCton i haute rCsistance, fibre d'acier, rCsistance au cisaillement, resistance i la flexion,
Ctriers, armatures d'efforts tranchants.
[Traduit par la rkdaction]

1. Introduction shear strength of fibrous high strength concrete beams with-

Recently, some investigations on the shear strength and flex-
ural capacity of high strength concrete beams have been
reported (Ashour et al. 1992; Elzanaty et al. 1985; Gabriels-
son 1993; Kim et al. 1993; Mphonde and Frantz 1984;
Remmel and Konig 1993; Shuaib et al. 1986). Very few of
them, however, dealt with high strength concrete beams con-
taining steel fibres. An equation for predicting the ultimate
Received February 28, 1994.
Revised manuscript accepted July 13, 1994.
M. Imam, L. Vandewalle, and F . Mortelmans. Department
of Civil Engineering, Catholic University of Leuven, de
Croylaan 2, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium.
Written discussion of this paper is welcomed and will be
received by the Editor until October 3 1 , 1995 (address inside
front cover).
out stirrups is proposed. The following aspects were consid-
ered in the proposed equation: (i) incorporating the fibre
effect, F, together with the longitudinal steel ratio, p, as one
term; (ii) using Bazant's law for size effect, which considers,
in addition to the effect of relative beam size, the effect of
aggregate size; and (iii) verifying the new equation by
several test results compiled from the literature. The pro-
posed equation shows a good agreement between the pre-
dicted and the experimental shear strength values.
The ACI approach (ACI Committee 544, 1988) for
predicting the flexural capacity of normal strength fibre con-
crete composites may require a little modification to be
applicable for high strength concrete beams. In this paper,
the existing ACI method is reviewed and a slightly modified
equation is developed to predict the flexural capacity of steel
fibre high strength concrete beams. The modification is
mainly in the tensile stress intensity, a,, and the neutral axis
depth, c, as shown in Fig. 5. On the basis of the proposed

Can. J. Civ. Eng. 22: 462-470 (1995). Printed in Canada / Imprimt au Canada
 equations for the ultimate shear strength and the full flexural Table 1. Properties and results of tested beams.
capacity, a shear-moment interaction analytical model is
developed to predict the relative flexural capacity of steel f' P f,' v,* Failure
fibre high strength concrete beams without stirrups. Discus- Group Beam ald (%) (%) MPa MPa typet
sion and analysis of test results are not the main objective of I B14 1.75 0.0 1.87 109.5 5.696 S
this paper, since they are mentioned elsewhere (Imam et al. B9 2.5 0.0 1.87 108.5 1.863 S
1994). Also, the enhancement of flexural ductility of high B8 3.5 0.0 1.87 111.0 1.593 S
strength concrete beams by using steel fibres is beyond the B10 4.5 0.0 1.87 111.5 1.457 S
scope of this research. This investigation was undertaken and
limited to meet the following objectives:
(1) to derive a new equation for predicting the ultimate shear
strength of fibrous high strength concrete beams;
Can. J. Civ. Eng. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by UNIV CHICAGO on 07/20/13

(2) to develop a modification for the ACI method to predict

the full flexural capacity of singly reinforced high
strength concrete beams containing steel fibres; and
(3) to present a new shear-moment interaction model for
predicting the diagonal failure of both high strength con-
crete and fibrous high strength concrete beams without
stirrups.

2. Experimental program
Sixteen very high strength concrete beams (3600 X 350 X -

200 mm) with and without steel fibres were tested under
different combinations of shear force and bending moment.
The beams were singly reinforced and without shear (web)
For personal use only.
* The ultimate shear strength, v,, is given by v, = V,lbd, where V ,
is the maximum shear force.
Failure types: S, shear failure; F, flexural failure; and SF,
combination of shear and flexural failure.

reinforcement. The cylinder compressive strength of con-

crete was about 110 MPa. Table 1 and Fig. 1 present details
concerning the test program. ure. At the end of each load increment, deflections, strains,
The materials used in this study were portland cement and crack development of the beam were recorded. The
type P50, 015 natural river sand with a fineness modulus of measured data of strains, deflections, and cracks are not
2.6, stone (porphyry) with sizes 217 and 7110, silicafume presented here for the sake of conciseness and because they
with a specific surface 18.0 m21g, and superplasticizer with are beyond the scope of this paper as mentioned previously.
a dosage 3.2 - 3.8 % by weight of the cement and silicafume
content. Table 2 shows the concrete mix proportions. High 3. Ultimate shear strength
strength deformed steel bars with diameters 22 and 28 mm
Generally, addition of steel fibres to high strength concrete
were used. The average yield strength of the longitudinal
beams increases the ultimate shear strength and transforms
steel was 550 MPa. Fibres used were hooked-end steel
the failure mode into a more ductile one. Test results pre-
(Fig. 2) with a length of 60 mm, a diameter of 0.8 mm, and
sented in Table 1 show that adding 0.75 % of steel fibres to
an aspect ratio of 75. The fibres were joined together by
beams in group I transformed its mode of failure from shear
water soluble glue to ensure good dispersion in the concrete.
to flexure (group 11). Figure 3 illustrates the effect of fibres
The beams were cast in a steel mould and compacted by
for transforming the failure mode from sudden dangerous
internal vibrator until full compaction was attained. Cylin-
shear failure (B8) to ductile flexure one (B4). Several analyt-
ders 150 X 300 mm for testing compression were cast from
ical and empirical models concerning the shear problem in
each mix. All test specimens were cast and cured under the
normal strength concrete with and without steel fibres were
same conditions. The beams and cylinder specimens were
reported in literature (Al-Ta'an and Al-Feel 1990; Bazant
demolded after 2 days and kept wet and covered by polyethy-
and Sun 1987; Chung 1992; Fenwiek and Paulay 1968; Kani
lene sheets until 24 h before testing.
1964; Swamy and Mangat 1974), whereas this aspect of
The beams were simply supported and subjected to a two-
study is rarely mentioned for high strength concrete and steel
point load. The distance between the two supports was kept
fibre high strength concrete. Bazant and Sun (1987) proposed
constant at 3250 mm, while the distance between the two
an equation for predicting the ultimate shear stress, v,, of
loads was changeable according to shear span to depth ratio,
reinforced normal strength concrete beams as
a/d. Five dial gages were used to measure the vertical deflec-
tions of the beam: one at mid-span, one at each quarter point,
and one at each support. The horizontal strains were also
measured at 16 different sections of each beam side. At each
section, the strains were measured at three different levels:
at the level of the steel reinforcement, at 175 mm from the
beam bottom, and at 10 mm below the upper surface of the +
where $ = [ l d m ] / J 1 +
d/(25da) is the size effect
beam. The two loads were applied to the beams by two factor; da is the maximum aggregate size (mm); d is the
735-kN (75-t) hydraulic jacks in 6- 10 increments up to fail- effective depth of the beam (mm); vu is the ultimate shear
 Can. J. Civ. Eng. Vol. 22, 1995

Fig. 1. Details of test beams.

Can. J. Civ. Eng. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by UNIV CHICAGO on 07/20/13

Table 2. Concrete mix proportions.

Mix (kg/m3 of concrete)
Material Without fibre With fibre
Cement type P50
Silicafume
Superplasticizer
Sand 015
Porphyry 217
Porphyry 7/10
Water
Dramix steel fibre 6010.8
For personal use only.

Waterl(cement + silicafume) ratio

Superplasticizer/(cement + silicafume) (%)
Slump (mm)
Consistometer (V.B.) (s)

Fig. 2. Shape of used steel fibre.
strength (MPa); f,'is the compressive strength of concrete
(MPa); ald is shear span to depth ratio; and p = A,lbd is the
longitudinal steel ratio.
The principles of the nonlinear fracture mechanics for
diagonal shear failure were used to predict the size effect fac-
tor, $. This factor shows that, in addition to the effect of
relative beam size, d/d,, there is also an effect of the maxi-
mum aggregate size, d,. Equation [I] is based on the
assumption of the simultaneous occurrence of both arch
action and beam action mechanisms of shear resistance.
Other basis is the equilibrium of forces in the shear span of
the beam at the ultimate state. The success of Bazant's equa-
tion for predicting the shear stress, v,, especially in the field
of normal strength concrete, encouraged the authors to
develop an extension and modification to quantify the effect
of fibre contribution in high strength concrete beams.
In addition, the new term w is incorporated to represent
the combined effect of both fibre (F) and reinforcement bars
(p). To verify the new equation and to extend its application,
test results of high strength concrete and steel fibre high
strength concrete are compiled from eight different refer-
ences (Ashour et al. 1992; Elzanaty et al. 1985; Gabrielsson
1993; Kim et al. 1993; Mphonde and Frantz 1984; Remmel
and Konig 1993; Shuaib et al. 1986; Shin et al. 1994). The
compressive strength is ranging from 53 to 140 MPa, the
fibre content is varying from 0.0 to 1.5 %, and the shear span
to depth ratio, a/d, from 1.5 to 6.0. A statistical analysis was
performed on the own test results as well as the available
experimental data, and a proposed formula for predicting the
ultimate shear strength, v,, of steel fibre high strength con-
crete beams is given as
where v, and f,'are in MPa; w = p ( l + 4F) is the rein-
forcement factor; F = (LflDf)Vfdfis the fibre factor; Lf, Df,
and Vf are the length, diameter, and volume fraction of
fibres respectively; df is the fibre efficiency factor, which
has a value of 1.0 for hooked fibre, 0.9 for deformed fibre,
 Imam et al.
Fig. 3. Transformation of failure mode from sudden danger
shear failure to more ductile flexure one by the effect of fibres.
Can. J. Civ. Eng. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by UNIV CHICAGO on 07/20/13
For personal use only.
and 0.5 for smooth fibre; and all other parameters are as
defined previously. '
Although one fibre type (hooked) was investigated herein,
the value of d f was proposed for different fibre types
according to the test results of bond strength of various fibre
types as reported in literature (Naaman and Najm 1991;
Narayanan and Darwish 1987; Soroushian and Bayasi 1991).
The ultimate shear strengths of 115 beams were calculated
and compared with the corresponding measured strengths.
Table 3 gives a summary for such a comparison; Fig. 4
shows the calculated values of v, using [2] versus the
experimental values (=V,lbd; V, is the shear force). The
mean values of the calculated to the experimental shear
strength ratio are 0.95 and 1.22 for beams without fibres (86
beams) and beams with fibres (29 beams) respectively. The
corresponding values of the standard deviation are 0.23 and
0.41, i.e., coefficients of variation of 24.2 % and 33.4%. For
the total beams, the calculated to the experimental shear
strength ratio is 1.02 with a standard deviation of 0.31
(coefficient of variation = 30.6 %).
Tables of experimental data collected from literature for
verification of the proposed equation for ultimate shear
strength may be purchased from the Depository of
Unpublished Data, Document Delivery, CISTI, National
Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, ON KIA OS2,
Canada.
Fig. 4. Measured and calculated ultimate shear strength.
s Beams without fibre
+ Beams with fibre
No.ofdata= 115
log-log scale
Measured v, ( M P ~ )
It can be noted that the relatively few available data of
fibre concrete beams show a higher coefficient of variation.
This may be ascribed to the highly nonhomogeneous
behaviour of fibre concrete and the large differences in the
strength and elastic properties of its components. The large
number of parameters involved to investigate the shear
problem in addition to the limited knowledge of the exact
behaviour of fibre concrete composites have made test results
ambiguous and their interpretation difficult. However, the
number of tested beams of fibre concrete as well as the avail-
able test data in literature is still relatively small. Much large
testing programs should be conducted to obtain more
accurate relations and a statistical significance among the
various parameters.
Few data with a wide dispersion of shear strength, v,, at
a/d = 1.0 have been reported in literature. The anchorage
condition of reinforcing bars as well as the width of the plates
under the loading point and above the supporting point may
be of great influence on the shear strength of the beam at
such small values of a/d. Therefore, in the absence of such
details, all values of v, at a/d = 1.0 were excluded.
It can be noted that for high strength concrete beams with-
out fibres (F = 0.0), p can be written in place of w in [2].
This leads to an equation in a quite similarity with Bazant's
equation, [I]. The significant difference is that the power of
f,'in the proposed equation is 0.44 instead of 0.5 in [I]. This
difference is rational, since a correlation between the shear
strength and the tensile strength is usually assumed and
because the tensile strength of nonfibrous concrete increases
only underproportionally with the increase of compressive
strength (Imam et al. 1993b; Remmel and Konig 1993).
4. Flexural capacity
One of the most desirable benefits of adding steel fibres to
concrete is to increase its flexural ductility and shear
 Can. J. Civ. Eng. Vol. 22, 1995

Table 3. Comparison of test data with calculated values.

v,, calculated
No. V , measured
of f,'
Reference data (MPa) (%) a/d Average Deviation

(I) without fibres

Beams
1. Test results
2. Kim et al. 1993
3. Shuaib et al. 1986
4. Remmel et al. 1993
5. Mphonde and Frantz 1984
Can. J. Civ. Eng. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by UNIV CHICAGO on 07/20/13

6. El-Zanaty et al. 1985

7. Gabrielsson 1993
8. Shin et al. 1994

(II) Beams with fibres

1. Test results 8 108-112 0.75 1.75-4.5
2. Ashour et al. 1992 15 92-101 0.5-1.5 2.0-6.0
3. Shin et al. 1994 6 80.0 0.5- 1.0 2.0-4.5

Total
* Values are for a total of 86 high strengthconcrete beams without fibres.
Values are for a total of 29 high strength concrete beams containing steel fibres.
For personal use only.

Fig. 5. Rectangular reinforced fibre concrete beams at ultimate moment.

0.85 f;
-t E, =O.OOS -kA-
2
=a72

Neutral

Strain diagram Simplified stress diagram

strength. Numerous investigations dealing with the incorpor-
ation of steel fibres in normal strength concrete can be found
in literature. Very few of those, however, dealt with adding
steel fibres to high strength concrete beams. Several investi-
gators have developed methods to predict the flexural
strength of fibre concrete composites by assuming different
stress distributions with appropriate values of stress intensity.
A method for predicting the flexural capacity of singly
reinforced concrete beams containing steel fibres is reported
by ACI Committee 544 (1988). This method is based on the
data and assumptions for normal strength concrete. The basic
design assumptions are shown in Fig. 5 , and the equation is
0.772(Lf/Df)vfFb,is the tensile stress in MPa of fibrous
concrete; Lf, Df, and Vf are the length, diameter, and
volume fraction of fibres respectively; Fbeis the bond
efficiency of fibre, which varies from 1.0 to 1.2 depending
on fibre characteristics; E, is the modulus of elasticity of
fibrous concrete; E, is the tensile strain; E, is the compres-
sive strain; f,' is the compressive strength of concrete in
MPa; f, is the yield strength of reinforcing bars in MPa; and
As is the area of tension reinf~rcement.~
The enhancement of flexural strength in fibre concrete -
at low volume fraction - is mainly due to the fibre pull-out
resistance across cracks. Equation [3] is based on a value of
2.3 MPa for fibre pull-out bond strength; this value should

Derivation of the proposed equation for flexural capacity of

where a ' , b, c, d, and h are distances as indicated in Fig. 5; steel fibre high strength concrete beams can be found in an
e = [ES(fibres) f 0.0031[c/0.0031; Es (fibres) = ctfEc; ct = appendix placed in the Depository (see footnote 1).
 Imam et al.
be higher for high strength concrete, especially for concrete
containing superplasticizers. An average value of 4.15 MPa
for fibre bond strength was recommended by Al-Ta'an and
Al-Feel (1990). This value was derived from a wide range
of mix proportions, aggregate sizes, and fibre geometries
that are likely to be met in practice. Naaman and Najm
(1991) reported some values for fibre bond strength in their
considerable study for bond-slip mechanism of steel fibre in
concrete. These values are ranging from 1.0 to 9.8 MPa
according to the concrete strength, fibre characteristics, and
the containment or not of additives in the concrete. Gener-
ally, the average bond between fibre and concrete increases,
Can. J. Civ. Eng. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by UNIV CHICAGO on 07/20/13
as the concrete strength increases. In addition, mixes con-
taining superplasticizers show significant higher fibre pull-
out strength as reported by Naaman and Najm (1991). There-
fore, the value of tensile stress of fibrous concrete, a,, in the
ACI approach (a, = 0.772(Lf/Df)VfFbeMPa) should be
adapted. In the present work, an average value of 2.OF MPa
(where F = (LflDf)Vfdf)is assumed for the tensile stress of
fibrous high strength concrete. This assumption is based on
the previous reported values of fibre bond strength and the
test results of tensile strength of fibrous high strength con-
crete (Imam et al. 1993a).
Another parameter which affects the flexural moment is
the ratio between the depth of concrete stress block, a ' , and
the depth of neutral axis, c. According to ACI Committee
For personal use only.
318 (1989), the factor 0(= a'lc) should be taken as 0.85 for
concrete strength f,' up to and including 30 MPa. For
strengths between 30 and 55 MPa, /3 should be reduced at
a rate of 0.008 for each 1 MPa of strength in excess of
30 MPa, but should not be taken less than 0.65 for con-
crete strengths greater than 55 MPa. Hence, the factor 0can
be assumed with a constant value of 0.65 for high strength
concrete (f,' > 55 MPa). It is worth noting that the strain in
the steel fibres ( E , (fibre);
Fig. 5) is limited to the value that
produces 2.OF MPA stress, and it does not increase because
the fibres slip and pull out ( E , (fibre) = 2.0FIEs (fib,e),where
E, (fibre) = 200(10)3 MPa). Consequently, a modified equa-
tion for predicting the flexural moment of high strength con-
crete beams containing steel fibres is proposed on the base
of the following assumptions:
a, = 2.OF (MPa)
F = (Lf lDf)Vfdf (as defined in [2])
The equilibrium of forces in Fig. 5 yields the following
equation:
where
(b and d in mm, fy and f,' in MPa, and M f l in N . mm); p =
A,lbd is the longitudinal steel ratio; and F is as defined
before.
In the derivation of [4], a value of 1.16 is assumed for the
ratio between the total depth, h, and the effective depth d.
This average value is chosen to meet most of the practical
construction conditions. In fact, the ratio hld has a negligible
influence on the value of M,. For example, the increase of
h/d from 1.05 to 1.25 (which seem to be the extreme values
of such a ratio) results in an increase of Mn with only 2.07%
(f,' = 100 MPa, f, = 500 MPa, p = 0.02, and F = 0.5).
It can also be seen that in the case of nonfibrous concrete
(F = 0.0), equation [4] can be written as
The above formula [6] is typically the original equation of
ACI Building Code for nonfibrous reinforced concrete
beams (ACI 318RM-83, Sect. 10.3.1). Therefore the pro-
posed equation [4] is, in fact, an extension of the ACI equa-
tion to predict the full flexural capacity of both high strength
concrete and steel fibre high strength concrete beams with
rectangular cross section.
5. Relataive flexural capacity
Studies on beams without web reinforcement have shown
that the beam may fail without attaining its full flexural
capacity. The beam may reach failure under a bending
moment about half its nominal flexural capacity, Mn. In such
a case shear failure is dominant. The reduction of flexural
capacity due to the influence of shear has to be taken into
account for design purposes. Several analytical models in
this aspect of study have been reported for nonfibrous con-
crete (Fenwiek and Paulay 1968; Kani 1964; Shuaib et al.
1986). However, less attention was given to fibrous
concrete.
On the base of [2] and [4], a shear-moment interaction
model is developed to predict the relative flexural capacity of
steel fibre high strength concrete beams without stirrups. The
internal ultimate resisting moment, M u , is equated to the
external moment, Vua. By means of [2], the ultimate
moment, Mu, is given as
[I] Mu = 0 . 6 b d 2 # G [f,'"'. (f) + 275 is ]
Figure 6 shows the effect of fibre factor, F (=
(LflDf)Vfdf),on both Mn and Mu as formulated in [4] and
[S]. It can be observed that for a given p, Mu is strongly
affected by increasing F, whereas Mn is slightly affected.
This means that the improvement of shear capacity by the
effect of fibres is more significant than the improvement of
nominal flexural capacity. For example, adding 1.0% (by
volume) of hooked steel fibres with an aspect ratio of 75
to high strength concrete beams (f,' = 100 MPa, f, =
500 MPa, p = 0.02, a/d = 2.5) results in an increase of Mu
by 113.0%, whereas the increase of M , is limited to 8.4 %.
In other words, steel fibres can successfully replace the shear
reinforcement, but it is senseless to use steel fibres as a com-
 Can. J. Civ. Eng. Vol. 22, 1995

Fig. 6. Fibre effect on both ultimate and nominal flexural Fig. 7. Effect of F and a/d on the relative flexural capacity.
moments (hooked fibre; aspect ratio = 75). 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Fibre Volume, Vf (%) 1.o

,
,

____----
Can. J. Civ. Eng. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by UNIV CHICAGO on 07/20/13

Shear Failure t + Flexural Failure

\/F 0.5
I
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Shear Span to Depth Ratio ( A / ( / )
Fibre Factor, F
Fig. 8. Effect of p and a/d on the relative flexural capacity.
For personal use only.

plementary reinforcement of longitudinal bars. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

The upper value of Mu is the full flexural capacity, M f l , 1 .o
and the lowest value of Mu for most of the reported tested
beams is in the vicinity of 0 . 5 M f l .The solid lines in Fig. 6
present the border of the beam strength. This border consists
of two parts. In the first part, steel fibres are not influential
enough to increase the beam strength up to its full flexural
capacity. Hence, in this part Mu < Mfl and shear failure is
expected. In the second part, fibres are effective enough to
provide a beam without stirrups with full flexural capacity
and safe in shear (Mu = M n ) . The point at which the two
parts meet indicates the minimum percentage of fibres that is
capable to increase the beam strength up to 100% M f l . It
seems better to present the relation between Mu and Mfl as
dimensionless quantities. So, 1.0 represents the full flexural
capacity of the beam. Hence, dividing [8] by [4] gives the
relative flexural capacity of both the high strength concrete
and steel fibre high strength concrete beams without stirrups.

0.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Shear Span to Depth Ratio ( a / d )

The relative flexural capacity, MuIMfl,is in fact a good
indicator of the shear problem in reinforced concrete beams
without stirrups. As shown in [9], the value of MuIMfl is
affected by a combination of a large number of parameters
( p , F, a / d , f,', f,, and d,). However, the investigation of the
interaction effect between the different involved parameters
gives the opportunity to determine the suitable type and the
optimum quantity of different materials which makes MuIMfl
equal 1.O, and hence the problem of shear can be overcome.
Figures 7 and 8 present the combined effect of P, F, and
a / d in the case off,' = 100 MPa, f, = 500 MPa, d =
300 mm, and d , = 14 mm. It can be seen that, the reduction
of the relative moment occurs mainly between two boundary
values of a / d . For P = 0.02 and F = 0.52, the region of
diagonal failure disappeared completely, i.e., the relative
moment equal 1.0 (Mu=Mfl). As p increased and F
decreased, the reduction moment region deepens rapidly
with a wider range of the two limited values of a / d , e.g., for
P = 0.02 and F = 0.0, the relative moment decreases to
about 0.58 at a / d = 2.26.
The flexural moment, M f l , is directly proportional to the
yield strength, f,, whereas Mu is not influenced by fy at all.
 Imam et al.
Therefore, the relative strength MuIMfl decreases as fy
increases. For instance, increasing fy from 400 to 500 MPa
( P = 0.03, F = 0.3,ald = 2.5, f , ' = lOOMPa, andd, =
14 rnm) results in a decrease of MuIMflwith 17.9% . On the
contrary, the increase off,' from 80 to 120 MPa leads to an
increase of MuIMflwith 5.9% (p = 0.03, F = 0.3, ald =
2.5, fy = 400 MPa, and d, = 14 mm). Finally, the relative
strength, MuIMfl, is slightly affected by the change of the
maximum aggregate size, d,.
6. Conclusions
Can. J. Civ. Eng. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by UNIV CHICAGO on 07/20/13
1. A new equation is proposed to predict, with a good
accuracy, the ultimate shear strength of high strength con-
crete beams containing steel fibres. The effect of relative
beam size in addition to the effect of maximum aggregate
size was taken into account. The proposed equation is veri-
fied by experimental data of 115 tested beams with a wide
range of compressive strength (53 - 140 MPa).
2. The existing ACI approach for predicting the full flex-
ural capacity of fibrous concrete composites is reviewed and
adapted to apply to both high strength concrete and steel fibre
high strength concrete beams without web reinforcement.
3. Inclusion of steel fibres in high strength concrete beams
without stirrups provides significant improvement of shear
resistance and tends to increase the ultimate strength, Mu, in
For personal use only.
order to reach the nominal flexural capacity, Mfl. Steel
fibres can successfully replace the shear reinforcement,
whereas the use of steel fibres as a complementary reinforce-
ment of longitudinal bars does not have a considerable effect.
4. An analytical model is developed to predict the relative
flexural capacity, M,IMfl, i.e., the ratio of moment with
shear interaction to the pure flexural moment. The new
model indicates very well the region in which a reduction of
beam strength, due to shear effect, occurs, and how this
region can be vanished by the significant effect of steel
fibres.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful for the help of the assistant staff in
Reyntjens Laboratory, Catholic University of Leuven.
Bekaert international trade and Addiment have contributed
materials to this research, and their contributions are greatly
appreciated.
References
ACI 3 18RM-83. 1983. Commentary on building code
requirements for reinforced concrete. American
Concrete Institute, Detroit, Mich.
ACI Committee 318. 1989. Building code requirements
for reinforced concrete with commentary (ACI
318-89). American Concrete Institute, Detroit, Mich.
ACI Committee 544. 1988. Design considerations for
steel-fiber reinforced concrete. ACI 544.4R-188,
American Concrete Institute, Detroit, Mich.
Al-Ta'an, S.A., and Al-Feel, J.R. 1990. Evaluation of
shear strength of fibre-reinforced concrete beams.
Cement and Concrete Composites 12. Elsevier Science
Publishers Ltd., London, England. pp. 87 -94.
Ashour, S., Hasanain, G., and Wafa, F. 1992. Shear
behavior of high-strength fiber reinforced concrete
beams. ACI Structural Journal, Proceedings, 89(2):
176- 184.
Bazant, Z., and Sun, H. 1987. Size effect in diagonal
shear failure: influence of aggregate size and stirrups.
ACI Material Journal, Proceedings, 84(4): 259-272.
Chung, W. 1992. Analytical model for diagonal tension
failure of reinforced concrete members under static
loads. Ph.D. thesis, North Carolina State University,
Raleigh, N.C.
Elzanaty, A., Nilson, A., and Slate, F. 1985. Shear-
critical high-strength concrete beams. Department of
Structural Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca,
N.Y., Report 85-1.
Fenwiek, R., and Paulay, T. 1968. Mechanisms of shear
resistance of concrete beams. ACI Journal,
Proceedings, 94(ST10): 2325 -2350.
Gabrielsson, H. 1993. High performance concrete beams
tested in shear. Comparison between the traditional
approach and the modified compression field theory.
Proceedings of the International Symposium on
Utilization of High Strength Concrete, Lillehammer,
Norway, 20-23 June, pp. 169-176.
Imam, M., Vandewalle, L., and Mortelmans, F. 1993a.
Proportioning and properties of very high strength
concrete with and without steel fibres. Proceedings,
International Conference "Concrete 2000, " Dundee,
Scotland, September, pp. 1693- 1705.
Imam, M., Vandewalle, L., and Mortelmans, F. 1993b.
Indirect tensile strength of very high strength concrete.
Proceedings of the International Symposium on
Utilization of High Strength Concrete, Lillehammer,
Norway, 20-23 June, pp. 1114- 1121.
Imam, M., Vandewalle, L., and Mortelmans, F. 1994.
Shear capacity of steel fiber high strength concrete
beams. Proceedings, ACI International Conference on
High Performance Concrete. Singapore, 15- 18
November, pp. 227 -241.
Kani, G. 1964. The riddle of shear failure and its
solution. ACI Journal, Proceedings, 61(4): 441 -467.
Kim, W., and White, R. 1991. Initiation of shear
cracking in reinforced concrete beams with no web
reinforcement. ACI Structural Journal, 88(3):
301 -308.
Kim, J., Park, Y., and Lee, S. 1993. Shear strength of
reinforced high strength concrete beams. Proceedings
of the International Symposium on Utilization of High
Strength Concrete, Lillehammer, Norway, 20 -23
June, pp. 251-258.
Mphonde, A., and Frantz, G. 1984. Shear tests of high-
and low-strength concrete beams without stirrups. ACI
Journal, Proceedings, 81(4): 350-357.
Naaman, E., and Najm, H. 1991. Bond-slip mechanisms
of steel fibers in concrete. ACI Material Journal,
Proceedings, 88(2): 135- 145.
Narayanan, R., and Darwish, Y. 1987. Use of steel fibers
as shear reinforcement. ACI Structural Journal,
Proceedings, 84(S23): 2 16-227.
Remmel, G., and Konig, G. 1993. The tensile behaviour
of high-strength concrete (HSC) and its effect on the

shear strength of longitudinally reinforced concrete
members. Proceedings of the International Symposium
on Utilization of High Strength Concrete, Lillehammer,
Norway, 20-23 June, pp. 269-276.
Shin, S., Oh, J., and Ghosh, S. 1994. Shear behavior of
laboratory-sized high strength concrete beams
reinforced with bars and steel fibers. SP 142. In Fiber
reinforced concrete developments and innovations.
American Concrete Institute, Detroit, Mich., Special
Publication 142, pp. 181-200.
Can. J. Civ. Eng. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by UNIV CHICAGO on 07/20/13
For personal use only.
Can. J. Civ. Eng. Vol. 22, 1995
Shuaib, A., Khaloo, A., and Poveda, A. 1986. Shear
capacity of reinforced high-strength concrete beams.
ACI Journal, Proceedings, 83(2): 297 - 305.
Soroushian, P., and Bayasi, Z. 1991. Fiber-type effects
on the performance of steel fiber reinforced concrete.
ACI Material Journal, Proceedings, 88(2): 129- 134.
Swamy, R., and Mangat, P. 1974. A theory for the
flexural strength of steel fiber reinforced concrete.
Cement and Concrete Research, 4: 3 13- 325.