Bond Behavior between High-Strength Rebar and Steel-Fiber-Reinforced Concrete under the Influence of the Fraction of Steel Fiber by Volume and High Temperature

Abstract

Steel-fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) is a composite material made by randomly distributing short steel fibers in normal concrete (NC). In this study, central pull-out tests of 32 specimens were performed to investigate the bond behavior between high-strength rebar and SFRC under the influence of the fraction of steel fiber by volume (Vf = 0%, 0.5%, 1.0% and 1.5%) and temperature (T = 20, 200, 400 and 600 °C). The results show that in NC specimens, splitting failure occurs below 400 °C, while split-pullout failure occurs above 600 °C. Split-pullout failure occurs in all SFRC specimens at each tested temperature. The bond strength between rebar and SFRC was found to decay significantly between 400 and 600 °C. The effect of Vf on the improvement in bond strength was more obvious between 400 and 600 °C than between 20 and 400 °C. The positive contribution of steel fibers to bond behavior is the construction of a rigid skeleton with coarse aggregates that can play a bridging role and effectively retard the expansion of concrete cracks. This improves the bond strength between rebar and SFRC at high temperatures. The bond–slip curve can be divided into five stages, namely the initial micro-slide phase, slip phase, splitting failure phase, stress drop phase and residual pull-out phase. A model of the bond–slip relationship between rebar and SFRC considering temperature and Vf was developed by modifying the existing model of the bond–slip relationship between rebar and NC. The model calculation results agree well with those of testing.