Influence of fiber reinforcement on compressive, flexural and shear responses in pre-stressed concrete beams: An experimental investigation

Inclusion of fiber reinforcement significantly influences the load-deformation response of pre-stressed concrete beams, more specifically the flexural and shears behavior. Although significant studies have been performed in the past on fiber reinforced ordinary concrete beams, investigation on pre-stressed concrete beams is rather limited. The current work involves conducting extensive laboratory model tests wherein the inter-relationship between the proportion of fiber reinforcement and the flexural and shear behavioural trends of pre-stressed concrete beams. The fibers used are two types: steel and macro-synthetic. The fibers at selected proportion by volume is included in the concrete members and a series of tests including compressive strength, fracture behaviour analysis, shear resistance testing and flexural behaviour testing. The experimental results indicated that addition of fibers increased the compressive strength from 4.2% to 23.8%, flexural strength from 6.9% to 14.5%, and restriction to shear cracks in terms of width and extent. A set of important conclusions were drawn from the entire work.