Steel-concrete bond behavior: An experimental and numerical study

Abstract This manuscript aims to evaluate the steel-concrete bond behavior using experimental and numerical procedures considering pull-out tests, with a C35 concrete (strength class of 35 MPa). The experimental procedure considers steel bars with diameters of 6.3, 8.0 and 10. The numerical procedure considers steel bars with diameters of 6.3, 8, 10, 12.5, 16, 20 and 25 mm. The interface, composed by ribs and concrete, is numerically modeled by an elastic-plastic algorithm. Results indicate that bond strength is nearly independent of the bar diameter in cylindrical specimens. On the other hand, experimental results in the case of cubic specimens present a great dispersion and no clear relation is observed between bond strength and bar diameter. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that the geometry of the pull-out test (cylindrical or cubic) may have an important influence on the characterization of the bond, even if equivalent concrete covers are used, at least in the range of diameters tested.