PSI - Issue 39

8

Author name / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2019) 000–000

Andrea Pranno et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 39 (2022) 688–699

695

Fig. 5. Comparison between numerical and experimental results in terms of load versus deflection curves for the three considered UHPFRC mixtures (a) and deformed configurations giving a measure of the crack mode opening displacement (b).

3.2. Steel bar reinforced nano-enhanced UHPFRC beam specimens Here, after the calibration process of the cohesive parameters reported in Section 3.1, the structural response of steel bar-reinforced UHPFRC beams reinforced with graphene nanoplatelets has been investigated in terms of the load deflection curves and cracking patterns. The related geometric configuration, loading conditions, and constraints are depicted in Figure 6 and they are taken from the experimental tests performed on normal RC beams found in Gao et al. (2004).

Fig. 6. Geometric configuration, loading conditions and constraints of the four-point bending test performed on the steel-bar reinforced UHPFRC beams.

In Figure 5, firstly the load versus mid-span deflection curves has been reported for plain steel bar-reinforced RC beams (dotted line) and compared with the experimental results by Gao et al. (2004) (scatter points) to validate the accuracy of the model in predicting the mechanical behavior in steel bar-reinforced plain concrete beams.