Flexural Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Beams with TRC Tension Zone Cover

This research makes a further contribution to the existing knowledge regarding textile-reinforced concrete (TRC) structural members, and the proposed component combines the advantages of TRC and reinforced concrete (RC). This concrete member was experimentally studied and its analytical formulae were derived. Test results of the flexural experiment study indicated that the beams with the TRC layer had some increases in the first crack load, the yield load, and the ultimate moment capacity, compared with the ordinary RC beams, and furthermore the ultimate moment capacity had significant increases with the increase of the reinforcement ratio of textile. A considerable reduction in the crack width and spacing was also observed for the beam with a TRC layer, and thus the postcracking stiffness of the beam was improved. Furthermore, this concrete member has satisfactory flexural ductility. For a single reinforced concrete beam with a rectangular cross section, two types of limit failure states are presented with respect to different reinforcement ratio of textile, and for each state, the relationship between the reinforcement ratio of textile and the reinforcement ratio of steel bar is derived. The calculation methods for the ultimate moment capacity for three failure modes and the midspan deflection during the entire loading process are also presented. A comparison between the calculated and the experimental results reveals a satisfactory agreement and verifies the feasibility of the formulae.