This paper investigates the ability of steel fibers to enhance the short-term behavior and flexural performance of realistic steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) structural members with steel reinforcing bars and stirrups using nonlinear 3D finite element (FE) analysis. Test results of 17 large-scale beam specimens tested under monotonic flexural four-point loading from the literature are used as an experimental database to validate the developed nonlinear 3D FE analysis and to study the contributions of steel fibers on the initial stiffness, strength, deformation capacity, cracking behavior, and residual stress. The examined SFRC beams include various ratios of longitudinal reinforcement (0.3%, 0.6%, and 1.0%) and steel fiber volume fractions (from 0.3% to 1.5%). The proposed FE analysis employs the nonlinearities of the materials with new and established constitutive relationships for the SFRC under compression and tension based on experimental data. Especially for the tensional response of SFRC, an efficient smeared crack approach is proposed that utilizes the fracture properties of the material utilizing special stress versus crack width relations with tension softening for the post-cracking SFRC tensile response instead of stress-strain laws. The post-cracking tensile behavior of the SFRC near the reinforcing bars is modeled by a tension stiffening model that considers the SFRC fracture properties, the steel fiber interaction in cracked concrete, and the bond behavior of steel bars. The model validation is carried out comparing the computed key overall and local responses and responses measured in the tests. Extensive comparisons between numerical and experimental results reveal that a reliable and computationally-efficient model captures well the key aspects of the response, such as the SFRC tension softening, the tension stiffening effect, the bending moment-curvature envelope, and the favorable contribution of the steel fibers on the residual response. The results of this study reveal the favorable influence of steel fibers on the flexural behavior, the cracking performance, and the post-cracking residual stress.
Keywords: constitutive analysis; finite element (FE) analysis; flexural behavior; numerical analysis; reinforced concrete; residual stresses; smeared crack model; steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC); tension softening; tension stiffening.