Influence of reinforcement type on macrocrack propagation under sustained loading in steel fibre-reinforced concrete

To meet the growing challenges of sustainability, it is necessary to control and anticipate the cracking problems of structures un- der sustained loadings. At the structural level, very little informa- tion is available regarding the combined effect of SFRC and rein- forcement under sustained exural loading. This paper presents the results of four exural creep tests on large steel bre-rein- forced concrete beams reinforced with bres only or in combina- tion with unbonded/bonded prestressing strands or traditional re- inforcing bars. The main objective was to assess the in uence of the reinforcement type on crack propagation, crack openings and compliance evolution in SFRC under sustained loading. The re- sults show that the driving mechanism behind crack propagation is the same for all beams, regardless of reinforcement type, and is therefore governed by type of bre concrete