Steel Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Beams—Part II: Strength, Ductility and Design

Several international codes of practice contain provisions that allow designers to rely on steel fibers to bridge cracks and resist tension. A designer must first have confidence in the constitutive relationships of the material prior to adopting this form of reinforcement at the ultimate and serviceability limit states. In an accompanying paper, expressions were presented and derived that systematically and rationally describe steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) at the material constitutive level, as well as at the serviceability limit state (namely for evaluating crack widths, crack spacings and deflections of one-way members under load). In this paper, a description of the behavior of SFRC beams at the ultimate limit state (in shear and flexure) is provided. Following this, a detailed design example incorporating interpretation of material test results and evaluation of serviceability and strength provisions is provided to highlight the benefits associated with the use of this novel form of reinforcement in reinforced concrete structures. Keywords: design; flexure; shear; steel fiber; steel fiber-reinforced concrete.