Failure Behavior and Tension Stiffening of RC Tension Members

철근콘크리트 인장부재의 인장강성 및 파괴거동에 관한 연구

The tension stiffening effect is defined as the increase in stiffness in reinforced concrete member due to the stiffness provided by concrete between cracks. If this is disregarded in analysis of reinforced concrete members, especially at the level of service loads, member stiffnesses may be underestimated considerably. This paper presents on the failure behavior and tension stiffening of RC tension test with main variables such as concrete strength, rebar diameter and strength. The tension stiffening was analyzed from the load-displacement relationship by ACI code and the proposed by Collins & Mitchell. In summary, the effect of tension stiffening decrease rapidly as the rebar diameter increase, rebar strength increase, and concrete strength increase. The effect of tension stiffening on RC member is the biggest near the behavior of concrete cracking and decrease as the load close to the breaking point. Thus, the tension stiffening should be considered for the precise analysis near the load of concrete cracking.