Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Bond-Slip Behavior of High-Strength Reinforced Concrete at Service Load

A bond mechanism at the reinforcement-concrete interface is one of the key sources of the comprehensive functioning of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. In order to apprehend the bond mechanism, the study on bond stress and slip relation (henceforth referred as bond-slip) is necessary. On this subject, experimental and numerical investigations were performed on short RC tensile specimens. A double pull-out test with pre-installed electrical strain gauge sensors inside the modified embedded rebar was performed in the experimental part. Numerically, a three dimensional rib scale model was designed and finite element analysis was performed. The compatibility and reliability of the numerical model was verified by comparing its strain result with an experimentally obtained one. Afterwards, based on stress transfer approach, the bond-slip relations were calculated from the extracted strain results. The maximum disparity between experimental and numerical investigation was found as 19.5% in case of strain data and 7% for the bond-slip relation at the highest load level (110 kN). Moreover, the bond-slip curves at different load levels were compared with the bond-slip model established in CEB-fib Model Code 2010 (MC2010). Overall, in the present study, strain monitoring through the experimental tool and finite element modelling have accomplished a broader picture of the bond mechanism at the reinforcement-concrete interface through their bond-slip relationship.