Test study on the impact resistance of steel fiber reinforced full light-weight concrete beams

In order to investigate the dynamic impact resistance of steel fiber reinforced full light-weight concretes, we implemented drop weight impact test on a total of 6 reinforced beams with 0, 1 and 2%, steel fiber volume fraction. The purpose of this test was to determine the failure modes of beams under different impact energies. Then, we compared and analyzed the time-history curves of impact force, midspan displacement and reinforcement strain. The obtained results indicated that the deformations of samples and their steel fibers were proportional to impact energy, impact force, and impact time. Within reasonable ranges of parameter values, the effects of impact size and impact time were similar for all volumetric contents of steel fibers, but they significantly affected the crack propagation mechanism and damage characteristics of samples. Increase of the volumetric contents of steel fibers not only effectively reduced the midspan displacement and reinforcement strain of concrete samples, but also inhibited crack initiation and propagation such that cracks were concentrated in the midspan areas of beams and the frequency of cracks at supports was reduced. As a result, the tensile strength and impact resistance of full light-weight concrete beams were significantly improved.