Steel fiber as replacement of minimum shear reinforcement for one-way thick bridge slab

•An alternative solution to the use of minimum shear reinforcement in thick slab.•Performance evaluation of SFRC thick slab with and without prestressing.•The effect of stirrups, fibers and prestress on the shear and ductility performance.•A procedure for predicting shear resistance of SFRC thick beam.

This paper evaluates the possibility of replacing minimum shear reinforcement by steel fibers in both prestressed and non-prestressed thick concrete slab. Due to brittle behavior of plain concrete in tension, shear failure of thick slab is generally catastrophic. The use of minimum shear reinforcement is recommended in many instances to avoid such failure. This paper presents an alternative solution realising that the use of optimum steel fibers can give ductility performance equivalent to the slab with minimum shear reinforcement. To evaluate the effect of steel fibers on shear performance, eight full-scale tests are carried out. The influence of fibers on shear performance is evaluated and its potential to replace the minimum transverse steel of thick slab is discussed. Finally a procedure for predicting the shear capacity of such slab is presented.