EffectofaxialrestraintonmechanicalbehaviorandaveragecrackspacingofreinforcedconcreteflexuralmembersOriginalResearchArticle

Abstract Thisstudywasperformedtoverifytheeffectofaxialrestraintonthemechanicalbehaviorandaveragecrackspacingofreinforcedconcrete(RC)flexuralmembers.ExperimentsformechanicalbehaviorhavebeenperformedonaxiallyrestrainedandunrestrainedRCbeams.And,theaveragecrackspacinghasalsobeeninvestigatedinotherRCbeamtestsundertheaxiallyrestrainedcondition. Thetestresultsshowthatthecapacityoftheaxiallyrestrainedbeamwashigherthanthatoftheunrestrainedbeam.Forrestrainedflexuralmembers,axialdeformationwasrestrained,deformationcapacitywasdecreased,plasticbehaviorwasdelayed,andpossibilityofcompressivefailurewasincreasedduetotheaxialrestraintforce. Themajorvariablesaffectingtheaveragecrackspacingweresteelstress,axialforce,circumferenceofreinforcingbar,andeffectivetensionareaofconcrete.However,theeffectofconcretecompressivestrengthwasminimal.ApredictionequationutilizingtheidentifiedvariableswasproposedfordeterminingtheaveragecrackspacingoftheaxiallyrestrainedRCflexuralmembers.