Bearing capacity of reactive powder concrete reinforced by steel fibers

Steel fiber-reinforced reactive powder concrete (SFR-RPC) improves the behavior of steel fiber post-tensioned anchorage zones by enhancing the fiber’s tensile strength. As part of this study, nine SFR-RPC prismatic blocks, each with a central longitudinal duct, were subjected to pressure testing to simulate the anchorage zone. The pressure testing results indicate that cracking loads are close to failure loads. Although expansion occurred in the middle of the blocks at failure, integrity was maintained for all of specimens. A local SFR-RPC wedge zone, ahead of the bearing plate, was weakened by a duct. A comparison of the SFR-RPC samples, with and without ducts, shows a weakening effect indicating there was a change in the cracking load and a decrease of bearing capacity for SFR-RPC without a duct. As part of this paper, a simple expression to determine SFR-RPC bearing capacity is proposed. The expression is verified by experimental results and considers the steel fiber enhancement and weakening effect.