Shear behavior of steel or basalt fiber reinforced concrete beams without stirrup reinforcement

The paper presents the results of a comprehensive investigation aimed at studying the shear behavior of basalt or steel fiber-reinforced concrete (BFRC or SFRC) beams, as well as analyzing the possibility of using basalt or steel fibers as a minimum shear reinforcement. Two-span reinforced concrete beams with the cross-section of 8×16 cm and length of 200 cm and diversified spacing of stirrups were tested. Steel stirrups or alternatively steel or basalt fibers were used as a shear reinforcement. Steel fiber content was 80 and 120 kg/m³ and basalt fiber content was 2.5 and 5.0 kg/m³ . The shear behavior and/or bending capacity of SFRC and BFRC beams were studied. The result indicated that fibers can be safely used as a minimum shear reinforcement.