Performance of concrete beams reinforced with basalt fibre composite rebar

Basalt fibre reinforced polymer (BFRP) rebar is an emerging green construction material. In this research, performance of concrete beams reinforced with BFRP rebar has been evaluated. Full-scale tests on eight large-scale concrete beam specimens reinforced with either BFRP rebars or steel rebars were undertaken. The test data were analysed to evaluate the performance of BFRP rebar reinforced concrete beams in shear and flexure. It was found that at a low reinforcement ratio, BFRP rebar reinforced beams exhibited more flexural and shear cracking than counterpart steel rebar reinforced concrete beams. It was also found that BFRP reinforced beams exhibited acceptable deformability according to CSA S6-14. Cracking moments were found to be 30-50% higher for steel rebar reinforced specimens, compared to BFRP rebar reinforced specimens. The study also found that shear failure can govern the design of BFRP rebar reinforced concrete beams containing BFRP stirrups, and that Vc is 30-40% less for BFRP reinforced beams. The CSA S806-12 standard was found to be conservative in predicting Vc. However, ACI 440.1-15 standard was found to be unconservative, but in some cases accurately predicted Vc.