Torsional behavior of steel fiber reinforced concrete beams

Torsion of structural members and the behavior of steel fiber reinforced concrete became the area of interest of many researchers in the past and it is still newsworthy. In this study, 12 reinforced concrete (R/C) beams with Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete (SFRC) were tested to observe the failure under torsional moments. The volumetric steel fiber content, fiber aspect ratio, and the longitudinal reinforcement were the variables of the investigation. Unit torsional angle of twist versus torsional moment (torque) response of each specimen was monitored during the experiments, and the effect of above variables on this response was critically investigated. It was observed that not only the torque capacity of R/C beam is modified by the addition of Steel Fiber Reinforcement (SFR) but also the energy absorption capacity is significantly affected by the SFR addition. Besides, an empirical equation relating the torque to twist for SFRC beams is proposed and tested against the test data.