An investigation into the shear strength of SFRC beams with opening in web using NFEM

Making a transverse opening in concrete beams in order to accommodate utility services through the member instead of below or above of that, sometimes may be necessary. It is obvious that inclusions of an opening in a beam decreases its flexural and shear strengths. Fabricated steel bars are usually used to increase the capacity of the opening section, but details of reinforcements around the opening are dense and complex resulting in laborious pouring and setup process. The goal of this study was to investigate the possibility of using steel fibers in concrete mixture instead of complex reinforcement detailing order to strengthen opening section. Nonlinear finite element method was employed to investigate the behavior of steel fiber reinforced concrete beams. The numerical models were validated by comparison with experimental measurements tested by other investigators and then used to study the influence of fiber length, fiber aspect ratio and fiber content on the shear performance of SFRC slender beams with opening. Finally, it was concluded that the predicted shear strength enhancement is considerably influenced by use of steel fibers in concrete mixture but the effect of fiber length and fiber aspect ratio wasn\'t significant.