FATIGUE BEHAVIOR OF BUTT-WELDED REINFORCING BARS IN REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS

Fatigue tests were conducted on 23 reinforced concrete beams which contained single-V-butt-welded reinforcement. Most of the beams were reinforced with one no. 7 intermediate grade billet-steel reinforcing bar. Four beams, however, were reinforced with additional reinforcement to obtain an indication of the effect of variation in percentage of reinforcement and total bar perimeter. The majority of the tests were conducted with the load varying from zero to maximum, however, some of the tests of beams with one no. 7 reinforcing bar were conducted at a load range of one-half maximum to maximum. S-N diagrams for the beams were obtained and the results are compared with the results of tests on 60 deg singly-V-butt-welded bars tested axially. From a study of these results, methods for estimating the fatigue life of reinforced concrete beams with buttwelded reinforcement were obtained. (Author) Report on Civil engineering studies. Pub. in Journal of the American Concrete Institute. Proceedings v62 n2 p169-92 Feb 1965(Copies not available to DDC or Clearinghouse customers) Sponsored by Illinois Division of Highways and Bureau of Public Roads, U. S. Department of Commerce.