Effectiveness and response of replacing steel reinforcements with steel fibers reinforced in Steel Fiber Steel Reinforced Concrete(SFSRC) beams: Experimental and analytical study

To investigate the equivalence between steel fibers and conventional reinforcements in Steel Fiber and Steel-Reinforced Concrete (SFSRC) composite systems under consistent steel content conditions, eight SFSRC beams were categorized into three types based on their reinforcement configurations and subjected to four-point bending tests. The responses were analyzed considering failure mode, load-deflection behavior, peak load, ductility, energy consumption, and damage extent. The findings indicated that the substitution of longitudinal reinforcement with an equivalent volume of steel fiber led to approximately 55% improvement in ductility, accompanied by a 30% reduction in load-bearing capacity. When stirrups were replaced with steel fibers of the same volume, a reduction of approximately 5% in flexural performance was observed, while enhancements in plastic displacement, energy absorption, and ductility were recorded. The replacement of the steel reinforcement cage with steel fiber resulted in a 37% decline in the flexural strength, while the energy dissipation, ductility, and plastic deformation capacity increased significantly.