Test and prediction of shear strength for the steel fiber–reinforced concrete beams

The ultimate load capacities of steel fiber–reinforced concrete beams were determined by experiments conducted on steel fiber–reinforced concrete beams under the action of a two-point symmetrical concentrated load. Accordingly, failure modes and experimental data were obtained for 19 sets of test beams with varying concrete strength, longitudinal reinforcing bars, shear span ratio, and steel fiber volume content to determine their effects on steel fiber–reinforced concrete beam behavior. An optimization model reflecting the contributions of all tested factors to the shear capacity of a steel fiber–reinforced concrete beam is then derived and its accuracy is demonstrated by a comparison against the test results.