Numerical modeling of the cracking behavior of a steel fiber-reinforced concrete beam on grade.

In this paper, a finite element model to analyze the cracking process of a steel fiber-reinforced concrete ( SFRC) beam on grade, loaded in two points, is presented. Already validated in the past, the numerical model used is a probabilistic explicit cracking model. The motivation of the present work is to evaluate the influence of the degree of redundancy of the mechanical system on the mechanical behavior of the beam (bearing capacity and cracking process). The main conclusion of this work is that for analyzing and properly designing SFRC structural members on grade, the only relevant tool is the finite element method using a cracking model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]