Fatigue Behavior of Reinforced Concrete T-Beam

Abstract

Equi-amplitude fatigue loading experiments on five reinforced concrete T-beams were conducted to observe the fatigue damage development. Three stages of fatigue damage were seen in the experiments. The damage rapidly developed early and late periods of the experiment but was relatively stable in between. The beam failed because of the brittle failure of the steel bars. The number of cracks, and the width and height also follow three stages: rapid development, stable development, and failure. The growth of almost all of the cracks stopped at the time of beam failure, except one or two main cracks that continued to grow. The deflection of the test beam and strain of the steel bars and concrete increased rapidly early in the fatigue cycles, with increasing fatigue cycles, whereas they were relatively stable in the middle stage but increased rapidly near the failure point. Finally, the