Bridge steel fiber reinforced concrete specimens under high loading rates

Due to its inherent properties, concrete exhibits brittle failure once it attains its peak compressive and tensile strengths. As concrete is weak in tension, it is usually reinforced with steel bars to resist tensile stresses produced by the applied loading in its superstructure and infrastructure. However, over the last few decades, steel fibers have also been used in preparing concrete for the construction of structural components. Based on some published studies, it has been observed that the use of steel fibers significantly decreases the brittleness associated with concrete and causes an increase in peak compressive and tensile strengths. Furthermore, it was also observed that its behavior significantly differs under increasing compressive loading rates when compared under static loads. However, these studies have been unable to identify the causes of this change in behavior under increasing loading rates; therefore, in this study, a detailed numerical investigation has been carried out using non-linear finite-element analysis software, ABAQUS. It was found that the behavior exhibited by steel fiber reinforced concrete specimens under high rates of compressive loading represents a structural response rather than material behavior.