Simulation of Four-Point Bending Fracture Test of Steel-Fiber-Reinforced Concrete

Abstract

To investigate the influence of addition amount and length of steel fibers on the bearing capacity of a concrete beam, this study simulated the crack propagation process of a concrete beam in a four-point bending experiment. The extended finite element method (XFEM) using the ABAQUS software was adopted. Additionally, stress distribution trends for the concrete under loading and load–displacement curves at the stressed points were obtained. The simulation results for a concrete beam with different amounts and lengths of steel fibers were compared and analyzed, and conclusions were drawn. The experiment shows that the flexural performance of the concrete improves with increases in the length and amount of steel fibers, but the reinforcement effects produced by different amounts and lengths of steel fibers are different. When the steel fiber content is 1.5% and the length is 20–25 mm, the reinforcement effect in the concrete is significantly improved, and its flexural strength is nearly doubled.