@article{8a236a624e324161983c364b1b44e089,
title = "Improving the shear design of steel-bar reinforced ultra high performance fibre reinforced concrete beams using mesoscale modelling",
abstract = "Understanding the failure mechanisms of steel-bar reinforced ultra high performance fibre reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) beams is crucial to improving their design but challenging because of the contrast between beam size and fibre size. We develop a 2D mesoscale finite element model with the fibres explicitly resolved to bridge this gap by simulating the damaging and fracturing processes of the beams. To make fibre distribution in the model mechanically representative, we propose a method to project the fibres from 3D to 2D. The continuum damaged plasticity model is used as the constitutive law for the UHPC matrix, and the zero-thickness cohesive elements with softening constitutive law are used to model the nonlinear bond-slip behaviour of the fibre- and bar-matrix interfaces. The models are validated against experimental data obtained from 3 and 4-point loading tests by comparing the simulated and measured fracturing processes, crack patterns and the load-displacement curves. The validated models are then used to analyse the sensitivity of the shear strength of the beams to fibre content, shear span-to-depth ratio, as well as shear and longitudinal reinforcement ratios in the beam, from which a shear strength equation is proposed to improve the design of reinforced UHPFRC beams. The improvement of the new equation over the AFGC equation is demonstrated against experimental data measured from 32 beams with various material properties.",
keywords = "Ultra high performance steel fibre reinforced concrete, cohesive elements, damage plasticity model, meso-scale finite element model, parametric analysis, shear design",
author = "Yuming Zhang and Zhenjun Yang and Hui Zhang and Neil Tsang and Xiaoxian Zhang",
note = "Copyright {\textcopyright} and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. ",
year = "2023",
month = mar,
doi = "10.1177/13694332221137174",
language = "English",
volume = "26",
pages = "724--740",
journal = "Advances in Structural Engineering",
issn = "1369-4332",
publisher = "SAGE Publications",
number = "4",
}