Abstract:
Recent research has shown that steel fibres significantly increase the shear capacity and ductility
in reinforced concrete (RC) beams. Utilization of this structural capacity in RC beams has however,
been limited by lack of design guidelines. Conventional methods applied in normal design are not
applicable in this case. Furthermore there exists no unified expression for the complete
characterization of shear strength and ductility in beams. Fundamentally, steel fibres contribution
should be considered based on stress transfer mechanism, augmented by concrete and dowel action of
the main reinforcements in a unified manner. This paper proposes a unified analytical model in which
the complete behavior of steel fibre reinforced concrete beams is characterized. Verification of the
model was found to be in agreement with the experimental results tested by the authors. Non linear
behavior as well as increase in strength observed in the fibrous beams was predicted well.
