Punching Shear Capacity of Prestressed Concrete Slabs Made of Lightweight Concrete Mixed with Short Fibers

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine means of creating light and very strong prestressed concrete slabs made of lightweight aggregate concrete mixed with short fibers. The experiments reported in this paper demonstrated that the ratio of short fibers in the mix must be kept to 0.5 vol% or less, in order to obtain the same strength as that demonstrated by lightweight aggregate concrete designed to a standard strength of 50 N/mm². In addition, the results of load testing various slabs confirmed that lightweight PC slabs mixed with 0.5 vol% of short PVA fibers had the same punching shear capacity as PC slabs made from normal weight concrete. The results led to the conclusion that the increase in the shear capacity of lightweight PC slabs mixed with short fibers was caused by the suppression of the progress of cracks in the RC direction and an accompanying tide arch formation in the PC direction.

This paper is the English translation of the authors’ previous work [Kitano, Y., Ito, H. and Suzuki, S., (2020). “Study on lightweight and high strength prestressed concrete slab by using lightweight concrete mixed with short fibers.” Journal of Japan Society of Civil Engineers, Ser. E2 (Materials and Concrete Structures), 76(3), 239-254. (in Japanese)].