Shear and flexural behaviour of prestressed and non-prestressed plain and SFRC concrete beams

The present study aims at improving the shear and flexural strength of the concrete by the addition of steel fibres. Also the study investigates the effect of prestressing on the shear and flexural strength of concrete. In this research work, 20% of fly ash (class-C) is added as a replacement of binder to its weight and 1.5% steel fibres by weight of concrete. Based on the experimental results, it can be seen that the load carrying capacity of steel fibre increased by 30-50% than the plain beam for non-prestressed. And load carrying capacity is increased approximately by 30-90% than the plain prestressed concrete beam. The use of steel fibres in a concrete mix was found to increase the crack resistance of the beams. Crack width was not more than 6 mm and 3 mm in case of the non-prestressed and prestressed steel fibre reinforced concrete beams respectively. Hence, based on experimental results it can be concluded that prestressed steel fibre reinforced concrete beams help to improve the shear strength, flexural strength, and crack resistance.