Experimental Research on Tension Lap Splice in Reactive Powder Concrete Beams Exposed to Repeated Loading

Abstract

This research is a part of an experimental study to examine the effect of lap splicing tension steel bars reactive powder concrete (RPC) beams under repeated loads. Eight RPCbeams whose tension steel bars were spliced at mid-span for a length equals 20 times the bar diameter and one RPC beam without lap splice were casted and tested. These beams were simply supported and tested up to failure under the action of two point repeated loads. The studied parameters were: the steel fiber volumetric ratio (1.5%,1.75% and2%), diameter of tension steel bars (12mm, 16mm and 20mm) and the repeated loading regime in which three types of loading were used depending on the minimum to maximum ratio of the applied load. The first loading regime with ratio of 0% with 0 kN for the minimum load while the maximum was the load beyond that causes yielding of steel bars and this is determined from the previous monotonic load test. The second type with 27% ratio (30 kN for the minimum and 105-110 kN for the maximum). The last type was with 20% ratio (the minimum12 kN and the maximum 60 kN).It should be mentioned that 10mm bar diameter was used to the top reinforcement and stirrups for all beams. The mid-span deflection as well as cracks propagation were recorded for each beam throughout the test. The main results showed that the adopted spliced length of tension steel bars was sufficient in monotonic load but insufficient under the action of high number of cycles of the repeated load. In addition, there were beams of splice failure that having low steel fiber ratio or larger diameter of tension steel bars.