Influence of PVC Fiber Reinforcement on Shear Strength in Concrete Beams

Abstract

This study adopted the investigation of the effect of a material that can be used as an alternative to steel reinforcement of shear in reinforced concrete beams, as the most susceptible to corrosion to which reduces the time service of the concrete structures and increase the maintenance costs is the steel reinforcement of shear for the closeness of surface of concrete. Therefor non-corroding material is needful for concrete structures and PVC fiber reinforcement is chosen. Experimentally nine reinforced concrete beams have been tested to determine the effect of PVC fiber reinforcement on the concrete beam resistance load, the load of cracks, deflection achieved and distribution with dimension of cracks. Three volume fraction ratios were taken for PVC fiber reinforcement (0, 0.25 and 0.5), which were identical to the shear reinforcement used in this research (0,0.29 and 0.54). All the concrete beams were tested with in on one program by applied a center load from the top in the middle to the failure load and the results were impressive. The specimens containing the PVC fiber reinforcement percentages achieved a remarkable increase in the crack and ultimate load of the concrete beams before and after cracks with direct effect in changing the failure type. While the deflection achieved due to the increase in PVC fiber percentage is more than the allowable deflection in the ACI Code equations of the reinforced concrete beams and more of these if the use of PVC fiber and steel reinforcement of shear together. A smaller measurement of the maximum cracks width was achieved by using advanced percentages of PVC fiber and shear reinforcement (0.5 and 0.54) respectively.