Behaviour of Reactive Powder Concrete Columns without Steel Ties

Abstract

In this paper, an experimental and numerical investigation of six steel fibre reinforced reactive powder concrete (RPC) columns with 150 mm square cross sections is reported. The columns were tested in either concentric or eccentric compression with varying initial eccentricities. The RPC mix contained 2% (by volume) of 0.2 mm diameter by 13 mm long straight steel fibres with concrete strengths ranging from 140 to 155 MPa. The columns contained either 4% or 7% of longitudinal reinforcement but no tie reinforcement in the test region. Experimental data on the axial load and lateral and axial deformations was obtained for each test, together with the failure mode. All the columns failed in a controlled manner without observing spalling of concrete cover or buckling of the longitudinal reinforcement to well beyond the peak load. The columns were further modelled using the finite element (FE) software DIANA, the results from which reasonably correlate to test data.