Cement &Concrete Composites 12 (1990) 211-218
Behaviour of Fibre Reinforced Concrete Deep
Beams
A. K. Sachan & C. V. S. Kameswara Rao
HB Technological Institute, Kanpur 208002, India
(Received 20 January 1990; accepted 30 March 1990)
Abstract
This paper describes an experimental investigation
to study the strength and behaviour of steel fbre
reinforced concrete deep beams. In total 14 beams
were tested. The effects of fibre content, percentage
reinforcement and type of loading were studied.
The ultimate load-carrying capacity, mode of
failure and load-deflection behaviour are reported.
A simple model is proposed to predict the load-
carrying capacity of the beams.
Keywords: Deep beams, fibre reinforced concrete,
steel fibres, ultimate strength, deflection, cracking,
shear strength, structural engineering, beams (sup-
ports), composite structures.
INTRODUCTION
Several structural elements behave as deep
beams; walls of bunkers, load-bearing walls in
buildings, plate elements in folded plates and pile
caps are typical examples. Simple beam theory
based on Navier's hypothesis is not applicable to
deep beams as it does not include the effect of
shear and the effect of stresses on planes parallel
to the neutral plane. A consequence of these is
that plane sections do not remain plane and
perpendicular to the neutral plane after deforma-
tion. The nature of the resulting non-linear bend-
ing stress distribution and the location of the
neutral axis are found to depend on the depth-to-
span ratio, and on the types and position of load-
ing and supports.
Early work on deep beams focused attention
on calculating stresses based on the theory of
elasticity, the pioneering work being that by
Dischinger, 1 who investigated stresses in continu-
ous deep beams on infinite supports. In 1951
211
Cement & Concrete Composites 0958-9465/90/$3.50 © 1990 Elsevier Science Publishers Ltd, England. Printed in
Great Britain
Chow et al. 2 analysed the stresses in single-span
deep beams. Their work is significant as it brought
to light the fact that in the case of square deep
beams the maximum bending stresses are much
greater than those predicted by simple beam
theory. Also, the shear stress distribution was
observed to differ considerably from the para-
bolic stress distribution obtained by simple beam
theory. In the case of deep beams with span-to-
depth ratio /> 2, the magnitude of the maximum
bending stress and also the nature of shear stress
distribution were found to be in fairly good agree-
ment with those obtained from simple beam
theory. The work of Chow et al., 3 K a l m a n Zeff, 4
Kaar, 5 Saad & Henry, 6 Ray, 7 Iyengar & Vara-
darajan, 8 and Iyengar & Chandrasekhara9 must be
mentioned among the theoretical investigations
into the analysis of deep beams based on the
theory of elasticity.
The behaviour of reinforced concrete beams
cannot be readily assessed on the basis of the
analysis of the theory of elasticity. The non-linear
nature of concrete together with the cracking due
to low tensile strength make the behaviour of re-
inforced deep beams more complex than can be
predicted by theoretical studies of linear homo-
geneous elastic material.
In 1968 Ramakrishnan & Ananthanarayana~°
conducted an experimental investigation of the
ultimate strength and behaviour of 26 single-span
beams. Expressions for ultimate load using split-
ting strength as a failure criterion were developed
and the predictions agreed closely with experi-
mental results in the case of beams failing by
diagonal tension. Dayaratnam & Kameswara
Rao ~1reported an extensive investigation in which
tests on cantilever and simply supported beams
were carried out.
The elastic stiffness and ultimate capacity of
reinforced concrete deep beams, with percentage
212 A. K. A'achan, ('. ~': S. K a m e s w a r a R a o
of reinforcement as a variable parameter, were
described by Kameswara Rao and Dayaratnam.~2
Experiments were conducted on 13 beams and
the ultimate capacity of the experimental models
was compared with three different idealised
models of deep beams. Kumar ~,j4 and Kong &
Singh ~ reported investigations which contributed
widely to the prediction of ultimate loads, failure
patterns and deflections of deep beams. Kong et
aL ~' have reported the results of a study on 35
simply supported deep beams. The effects of
seven different types of web reinforcement on
deflections, crack widths, crack patterns, failure
modes and ultimate loads in shear were studied. It
was found that the effectiveness of the various
types of web reinforcement depends on the span-
to-depth ratio and shear span-to-depth ratio.
Shanmugam & Swaddiwudhipong ~7 carried out
an experimental investigation to study the
ultimate load behaviour of steel fibre reinforced
concrete deep beams. A total of 18 beams consist-
ing of plain concrete and fibre reinforced beams
were tested. The ultimate load-carrying capacity
of the beams and their failure modes were
reported. It was observed that the addition of steel
fibres results in increased failure loads and
changes in modes of failure. Shear strength of
continuous deep beams was reported by Manicka
Selvam & Natarajan. ~s Twelve two-span continu-
ous beams with four different span-to-depth ratios
were tested to failure under symmetrical loading
and their behaviour was studied. Based on the test
data an empirical relation was suggested for
estimating the shear capacity of beams. Tests of
seven simply supported and 17 two-span beams
were reported by Rogowsky et al. j'~ It was
observed that horizontal web reinforcement had
no effect on the capacity of beams.
The following section describes an experi-
mental investigation in which 14 deep beams were
tested to failure. The aim of the work was to study
the effects of fibre percentage, main reinforce-
ment percentage and the types of loading on the
load-deflection behaviour, collapse load and
failure modes of deep beams.
EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAMME
The details of beams cast in the investigation are
given in Fig. 1. Portland pozzolana cement and
good-quality fiver sand of fineness modulus 3.06
and specific gravity 2.65 were used in preparing
the test specimens. T h e coarse aggregate was hard
granite of maximum size 20 ram, fineness
modulus 6.19 and specific gravity 2.68. High-
yield-strength steel was used as main reinforce-
ment, having yield strength 432"5 N / m m :~.
Details of test specimens
A concrete mix of 1:2.5 : 1"2 (by weight) with 0"6
water-cement ratio was used for casting the
beams. The volume percentage of fibres was
varied from 0 to 2%; the percentage of main re-
inforcement was also varied, from 0 to 0-89%.
Three 150-ram cubes, three beams 100
m m × 100 mm × 400 mm and three cylinders 150
mm × 300 mm were cast along with the beams
and were tested on the day of the corresponding
beam test.
The deep beams were of size 100 mm × 300
mm × 800 mm. The beams were supported over a
600-mm span, giving a span-to-depth ratio of 2. In
all, 14 beams were cast and tested for two types of
loading. The percentage of main reinforcement
and fibre percentage were the main parameters.
Complete details of the main reinforcement and
fibre percentage provided in all the beams are
given in Table 1 and shown in Fig. 1.
For convenience of identification the beams
were designated to give the type of load to which
they were subjected, the amount of main re-
inforcement and the fibre percentage provided.
Thirteen beams were subjected to a central con-
centrated load and one beam to two point loads
causing a pure moment span of 200 mm. All the
beams belonging to the first load condition are
identified as DB1 and the number succeeding
DB 1 indicates the number of 8-mm diameter bars
used for main reinforcement. The last two
numbers indicate the fibre percentage. Thus, DB 1
305 indicates a deep beam under one point load
with three 8-mm diameter bars and 0.5% steel
fibre. Similar notation is used for the beam tested
with two point loads.
Two 6-mm diameter bars were provided at the
top to facilitate proper placing of the stirrups.
Layers of welded mesh were used at load points
to prevent local failure of beams. All the beams
were cast in a horizontal position on the ground.
Test procedure
The test set-up is shown in Fig. 2. Strains over the
depth of the cross-section were measured at
different load levels with an extensometer of 75
m m gauge length. The central deflection was
measured with a dial gauge.
 Fibre reinforced concrete deep beams 213

BLOCK & ROLLER

F:~V -2 - 6 m m ~
-HIO0
2-6ram ¢ - ~
--6 mm ¢ ~ - 6 m m ~1.--~-
300 0 150c/c
0150c/c

S-Cram ~ - 2-8 mm ~ -
El
0B1510 DB 1300 DB 1200
, I00 L. 600 _, 1 0 0 j
I- -I - - r -, DB 1305 DB1205
DB 131 0 DB 1210
DB 1320 DB 1220

L-
200 d
I- -I

1oo
q_ F:Z;q
2 - 6 mm ~

300 "~6 turn

(3 150 c/C
3-8mm~ u
~r

D B 2310
,300,_ 600 _1100 i

Fig. 1. Details of test specimens (all dimensions in mm).

Table I. Details of test specimens and test results

Sample Beam Fibre Main fcu fct °mr Load (kN) Pc.i/ Peal/ Failure mode
no. designation volume, reinforce- (N/mm:) (N/mm 2) (N/mm e) observed
vf ment Observed Predicted Pob~ Pob~
(% vol.) diameter, Pobs
A ~t (mm) Pcalc a Pcalc b

1 DB 1 000 0"0 0 20"9 2"33 4'36 50 219"60 43"60 -- 0"87 Flexural

2 DB1 005 0"5 0 24"5 2"72 5"60 50 249-95 56"00 -- 1'12 Flexural
3 DB1 010 1"0 0 32"6 3"28 8"08 75 280"30 80"80 -- 1"08 Flexural
4 DB1 020 2"0 0 25-5 4"00 11'48 80 341"00 114"80 -- 1'43 Flexural
5 DB1 200 0"0 2-8 20"9 2"33 4'36 125 219"60 119"00 -- 0'95 Flexural
6 DB1 205 0"5 2-8 24-5 2"72 5'60 155 249"95 129"60 -- 0'84 Flexural
7 DB1 210 1"0 2-8 32"6 3"28 8'08 165 280"30 142.00 -- 0'89 Flexural
8 DB1 220 2"0 2-8 25"5 4"00 11"48 230 341"00 151"80 -- 0"66 Flexural
9 DB1 300 0"0 3-8 20"9 2"33 4"36 180 219-60 146"00 1"22 0'81 Shear
10 DB1 305 0"5 3-8 24"5 2"72 5"60 200 249"95 157"30 1"25 0"79 Shear
11 DB1 310 1"0 3-8 32"6 3"28 8"08 240 280"30 176"30 -- 0'73 Flexural
12 DB1 320 2"0 3-8 25"5 4"00 11"48 270 341"00 177"70 -- 0"66 Flexural
13 DB2 310 1"0 3-8 32"6 3"28 8"08 270 280"30 264"40 1-04 0"97 Shear
14 DB1 510 1"0 5-8 32"6 3"28 8"08 270 280'30 230"80 1"04 0"85 Shear

"Calculated using eqn (5).

bCalculated using model suggested by Roberts & Ho. 22
214 A. K. Sachan, C. V. S. Kameswara Rao

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS into components P' and p" as shown in Fig. 3.

The component P' can be visualised to cause
Experimental results obtained from the investiga- splitting of the beam along the line AB connecting
tion and the ultimate failure loads of all the test the load point B and the support point A. If a,p
specimens are summarised in Table 1. The table
also shows the comparison of experimental failure
95
loads with those predicted theoretically. For the
+ vf = O0
calculation of ultimate loads of beams falling
vf = 0 5 %
in shear, a simple model is proposed below.
The model generalises the one suggested by ~=- vf = 1 0 %

Ramakrishnan & Ananthanaryana1° for re- --o- vt = 2 0 %

inforced concrete deep beams and fibre rein-

forced concrete deep beams. z 60
Consider a beam of span S and depth d, sub-
jected to a total load P. The load can be resolved
£

t%r°t1 t a c t, he e .~ 40
x
Q~

60 "5
E
Test speciman
300 D 20

V-B ocks with

60 rot er

250

Reaction girder j / "

~~ -Lower compression plate
of the testing machine 0
I
0.5
I
I0
Percentage of main reinforcement
Fig. 4. Variation of ultimate flexural strength with main
I
15

Fig. 2. Details of test set-up. reinforcement and fibre content.

-"" SpiIt cylinder

~ ~ I
///
/

p,i P
2
r7

T
d

1
I. . . . S
1
d
"q
I-
Fig. 3. Split cylinder model.
 Fibre reinforced concrete deep beams 215

Fig. 5. Details of failure patterns.

216 A. K. Sachan, C. V. S. Kameswara Rao

denotes the splitting tensile strength, then, refer- fraction vf is given by

ring to Fig. 3,
o,p = ~,,, + (0.41) (v~) ~d~ 3~ (3)
2P'
.....

O,p - :r b L
(1)
where
where r = interface bond strength between fibres and the
b = thickness of the beam, surrounding concrete

L = length AB as shown in Fig. 3 (2) A good approximation to the value of r is 4N/

mm 2 for the mix used in this programme. 2~ If L ' is
P ' = P/(2 sin 0) the shear span, then the length L is given by
In the case of fibre reinforced concrete with L = L' sec 0 (4)
fibres of length If randomly oriented, the fibre
efficiency factor may be taken as 0"41 and the From eqns (1)-(4) one can write
average pull-out length as 0.5 If 20,21 If o0 denotes
the tensile strength of the basic mix, the splitting
tensile strength of a mix with fibres of volume
P=~bL'tanO
[ "
0"41:~dt.~vfr+a.
1 (5)

.... 50 KN . . . . 100 KN

DB1300 DB1305 DB1310

300
250
\..\!
\!
200
E
E 150
t-
---
(3.
100
o 50
0
, ,
I
\',',, I ~ I I I
"/, ,
I /~y I i I 1 I

-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 -6 -L -2 0 2 4
Compress ion Tens o n Compression Tension Comp ress ion Tension
Strain (xl0 "/-*)
DB1320 DB1210 DB1510
N N
30 \
25(
200
\..i "\\i\.!
E
E 150 \"i
_c~ 10(
o 50
0 I I I 4vI M
rill , I I ~,l f J I I

-6 -L -2 0 2 4 6 -6 -4 -2 0 2 z~ 6 -6 -4 -2 0 2 &
Compression Tensi on Compression Tension Compress ion Tension
Strain (xl0 -4)
Fig. 6. Variation of strain along depth of specimens: . . . . ,50kN; .... ,100kN.
 Fibre reinforced concrete deep beams 217

The above equation gives a simple expression 35O p : 0.54%

to predict the strength of beams failing in shear. X First vertical crack
For the calculation of ultimate loads of beams fail- 300 -.-o-- DB 1320
ing in a flexural mode, the model suggested by DB 1310
Roberts & Ho 22 is found to be adequate.
250 DB 1305
Ultimate moment behaviour
It can be seen from Fig. 4 that the ultimate flexural
strength of beams increases with increase in fibre 200
Z
percentage as well as with increase in main re-
r-"
inforcement. From Fig. 4 it can be observed that if • - 150
the main reinforcement is the same, flexural
strength increases with increase in fibre percen- J
o

i
tage. It can also be seen from Fig. 4 that for the 100
same fibre percentage, flexural strength increases
with increase in main reinforcement. It was
observed that the addition of steel fibres increases 5O
the shear strength capacity of beams. From Table
1 it can be seen that the beams DB1 300 and DB1 I I I I I I I I I I I f

305 failed in shear, but beam DB1 310 failed in 0 1 2 3 Z, 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

flexure. It is also observed that keeping the fibre Deflections (inmm)
percentage constant and increasing the main re-
Fig. 7. Load-deflection curves corresponding to various
inforcement the beam fails due to shear, as in the fibre percentages.
case of beam DB 1 510. Failure patterns for the
beams are shown in Fig. 5. In the case of beams
DB1 300 and DB1 305, the calculated flexural 350 vf : 1.0%
moment capacity works out to be less than the x First vertical crock
experimentally observed failure load, as can be --o- DB 1510
seen from Table 1. 30[
--a- DB 1310
Strain distribution DB 1210
Strain measurements were taken at each stage of 25[ , u
A --a- D B ~
loading along the centre line. The strain observa-
tions are shown in Fig. 6 for some beams at loads z 200
,,e"
of 50 kN and 100 kN. The strain distributions c
indicate that the strains vary, in general, non-
linearly over the depth of the cross-section. ° 15o
_.1

Load and deflection behaviour

100
Typical load-deflection relations of the beams are
shown in Figs 7 and 8, together with the first-
crack loads. The deflection behaviour is almost 50
linear up to first cracking, beyond which non-
linearity begins. The larger deflections at collapse
I I I I I I
for fibre reinforced concrete beams, as compared
with those of plain concrete beams, indicate the 0 2 z, 6 8 10 12
post-cracking ductility imparted by the fibres. Detlection (in ram)
Figure 7 also shows the stiffening effect of tensile Fig. 8. Load-deflection curves corresponding to various
reinforcement in the beams. percentages of main reinforcement.

SUMMARY AND C O N C L U S I O N S beams. It is also observed that the failure of fibre

reinforced concrete beams was more ductile and
The addition of steel fibres to concrete results in a gradual compared with the failure of plain and
significant increase in ultimate strength of deep reinforced concrete beams. Calculation of
218 A. K. Sachan, C. V. S. Kameswara Rao
ultimate load on the basis of a model suggested in
this investigation, for beams failing in shear, is in
good agreement with the experimental observa-
tions.
REFERENCES
1. Dischinger, E, Beitrang zur Theorie der Halbscheibe
und des Wandrtigen Balkens. Publications International
Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering, 1
(1932) 69-93.
2. Chow, L., Conway, H. D. & Morgan, G. W., Analysis of
deep beams. Journal of Applied Mechanics, Trans.
ASME, 18 (2) (June 1951 ) 163-72.
3. Chow, L., Conway, H. D. & Winter, G., Stresses in deep
beams. Trans. ASCE, 118 (1953) 686-708.
4. Kalman Zeff, Design of deep beams with height to span
ratio more than one. M.S. Thesis, University of
Colorado, Boulder, 1956.
5. Kaar, P. H., Stresses in Centraly Loaded Deep Beams.
PCA Research and Development Laboratories Bulletin
D-18, 1957.
6. Saad, A. & Henry, A. N., Gravitational stresses in deep
beams. Structural Engineer, 39 (6) (June 1961 ) 185-8.
7. Ray, D. P., A study of reinforced deep beams. In Proc.
Seventh Congress on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics,
Bombay, 1961, pp. 144-56.
8. Iyengar, K. T. S. & Varadarajan, K. N., Analysis of single
span deep beams using an orthogonal function
approach. In Annual Report. Department of Civil and
Hydraulic Engineering, Indian Institute of Science~
Bangalore, India, 1962.
9. Iyengar, K. T. S. & Chandrasekhara, K., Gravitational
stresses in single span deep beams. Building Science, 2
(1967)173-9.
10. Ramakrishnan, V. & Ananthanarayana, Y., Ultimate
strength of deep beams in shear. J. American Concrete
Institute, 65 (2)(February 1968) 87-98.
11. Dayaratnam, R & Kameswara Rao, C. V. S., Study on
Deep Reinforced Concrete Beams. Research Report,
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of
Technology, Kanpur, India, 1969.
12. Kameswara Rao, C. V. S. & Dayaratnam, E, Effect of
reinforcement on ultimate strength of deep beams. Inter-
national Symposium on Bearing Walls, Warsaw. June
1969, Paper No. 15.
13. Kumar, P., Collapse load of deep reinforced concrete
beams. Magazine of Concrete Research, 28 (94) (March
1976) 30-6.
14. Kumar, R, Short term deflections of deep beams. J.
American Concrete Institute, 75 (8) (August 1978)
381-3.
15. Kong, E K. & Singh, A., Diagonal cracking and ultimate
loads of lightweight concrete deep beams. J. American
Concrete Institute, 69 (8) (August 1972) 513-21.
16. Kong, E K., Robins, P. J. & Cole, D. E, Web reinforce-
ment effects on deep beams. J. American Concrete b~-
stitute, 67 (12)(December 1970) 1010-17.
17. Shanmugam, N. E. & Swaddiwudhipong, S., The
ultimate load behaviour of fibre reinforced concrete
deep beams. Indian Concrete J., 58 (8) (August 1984)
207-11.
18. Manicka Sclvam, V. K. & Natarajan, S., Shear strength of
continuous deep beams. Indian Concrete J.. 59 (11)
(November 1985) 305-8.
19. Rogowsky, D. M., MacGregor, J. G. & Ong, S. Y., Tests
of reinforced concrete deep beams. J. American Con-
crete b~stitute, 83 (4)(July-August 1986) 614-23.
20. Kameswara Rao, C. V. S., Effectiveness of random fibres
in composites. Cement and Concrete Research, 9 (4)
(July 1979) 685-93.
21. Swamy, R. N., Mangat, P. S. & Kameswara Rao, C. V. S.,
Mechanics of fibre reinforcement of cement matrices. In
Fibre Reinforced Concrete, SP-44. American Concrete
Institute, 1974, pp. 1-28.
22. Roberts, T. M. & Ho, N. L., Shear failure of deep fibre
reinforced concrete beams, lnternat. J. Cement Com-
posites and Lightweight Concrete, 4 (3) (August 1982)
145-52.