Strength and Performance of Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete Post-Tensioned Flat Plates

Load testing was performed on a one-third scale model steel fiber reinforced concrete post-tensioned flat plate. The specimen had nine 10ft x 10ft x 3in. bays along with a 2ft-6in. overhang. Distributed loading was applied with a whiffle tree loading system at each bay and overhang section. Throughout the test, crack widths, crack locations, deflections, concrete strains, and reinforcing bar strains were monitored. The post-tensioned flat plate was designed to just meet the maximum allowable stress requirements of ACI 318.

Minimal quantities of hairline cracks were observed after stressing the slab, and up through service-level loads, the cracks grew slightly in length and width. The slab behaved elastically through service-level loading. As factored-level loading was approached, the slab began to behave inelastically as indicated by both the load-deflection plots and the load-strain plots. A total ultimate load of 282psf (174psf of applied load) was reached when concrete crushing occurred. A 0.20in. wide full-length crack was observed running on the bottom surface of the slab between column lines 1 and 2, and a full-length crack was observed at column line 2 on the top surface of the slab. These two cracks were the leading contributors to the slab's failure.

The performance of the SFRC post-tensioned flat plate indicated that considerations should be made to remove requirements for negative moment reinforcement in post-tensioned flat plates when SFRC is used. Also, the requirements for positive moment reinforcement should be modified. Additionally, the SFRC post-tensioned flat plate exhibited excellent levels of ductility. More experimentation should be conducted to determine if the maximum tensile stress in ACI 318 can be increased for post-tensioned flat plates with SFRC.