Experimental and finite element analysis of steel-concrete bond behavior

The steel-concrete bond behavior is a very important functional property in the modeling and design of reinforced concrete structural members. In this thesis, the experimental and numerical analyses are presented. In the experimental part, the column test specimens with and without steel bars were cast vertically. In the production, deformed steel bars and self-compacting concrete mixtures with artificial lightweight aggregates were used. The bond strength was assessed at four different levels of the column specimens (one at the top, two in the middle, and one at the bottom). Moreover, the bond-slip relationship was determined by the pull-out test. Some fresh and mechanical properties of the concrete mixtures used in the column were also evaluated. In the numerical part of the study, the nonlinear finite element analysis was conducted to examine the bond behavior of the specimens obtained from the reinforced concrete columns at various depths. The nonlinear analysis was performed through finite element discretization using ANSYS program. Bond-slip response, stress distribution, crack, and crushing patterns were determined. The results obtained from the experiments and those from finite element analysis were discussed and compared with each other. It was observed that the finite element simulation outcomes were in good agreement with the experimental ones.