Ductility and strength assessment of HSC beams with varying of tensile reinforcement ratios

Nine rectangular-section of High Strength Concrete(HSC) beams were designed and casted based on the American Concrete Institute (ACI) code provisons with varying of tensile reinforcement ratio as (${\rho}_{min}$, $0.2_{{\rho}b}$, $0.3_{{\rho}b}$, $0.4_{{\rho}b}$, $0.5_{{\rho}b}$, $0.75_{{\rho}b}$, $0.85_{{\rho}b}$, $_{{\rho}b}$, $1.2_{{\rho}b}$). Steel and concrete strains and deflections were measured at different points of the beam's length for every incremental load up to failure. The ductility ratios were calculated and the moment-curvature and load-deflection curves were drawn. The results showed that the ductility ratio reduced to less than 2 when the tensile reinforcement ratio increased to $0.5_{{\rho}b}$. Comparison of the theoretical ductility coefficient from CSA94, NZS95 and ACI with the experimental ones shows that the three mentioned codes exhibit conservative values for low reinforced HSC beams. For over-reinforced HSC beams, only the CSA94 provision is more valid. ACI bending provision is 10 percent conservative for assessing of ultimate bending moment in low-reinforced HSC section while its results are valid for over-reinforced HSC sections. The ACI code provision is non-conservative for the modulus of rupture and needs to be reviewed.