Experimental Study on Effects of Fatigue Loading History on Bond Behavior between Steel Bars and Concrete

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental investigation on the influence of fatigue loading history on bond behavior between steel bars and concrete. Reinforced concrete specimens were subjected to fatigue loadings with different amplitudes and cycles before undergoing eccentric pull-out tests. Tests revealed that all specimens failed with the splitting of the concrete cover. With increased loading cycles, the concrete in front of transverse ribs usually becomes denser at the beginning. Meanwhile, the initial bond stiffness and the bond strength increased, while the slip corresponding to the peak bond stress decreases. With the further increase of loading cycles, the bond strength begins to decrease after it reaches a critical value. This study determined that for specimens subjected to repeated loading with a larger amplitude, fewer cycles are needed for the bond strength to go up to the critical bond strength.