Shear Behavior of Reactive Powder Concrete Beams with and without Coarse Aggregate

This paper presents an experimental investigation consists of casting and testing in shear seven rectangular simply supported reinforced concrete beams. Two of the tested beams are made with reactive powder concrete (RPC) without coarse aggregate and five with reactive powder concrete with coarse aggregate which is called modified reactive powder concrete (MRPC). Experimental results have generally shown that coarse aggregate had a positive effect on shear behavior of MRPC beams and higher ultimate loads (Pu) are obtained with the increase of steel fibers volumetric ratio (Vf) and longitudinal steel ratio (ρ). Results also showed that using relatively high steel fiber ratio of 2% changes the mode of failure from brittle shear to ductile flexural one. It is, therefore, concluded that RPC and MRPC beams can be made without transverse shear reinforcement bars (stirrups).