Bond Strength of ASTM A615 Grade 100 Reinforcement for Beams

In the past decade, high-strength reinforcement (fy > 60 ksi) has become more prevalent and more widely accepted. Building codes such as ACI 318-14 do not address the use of highstrength reinforcement for proper development and splicing of reinforcement. Furthermore, research on development of high-strength reinforcement is limited. The objective of the study is to develop a suitable expression for the development and splicing of high-strength reinforcement.Of particular interest is evaluating the influence of splice length and confinement on bond strength as well as evaluating the effectiveness of high-strength transverse reinforcement on bond strength. The study tested 22 large-scale concrete beams reinforced with ASTM A615Grade 100 deformed steel bars: 11 specimens without transverse reinforcement within the splice region (unconfined) and 11 specimens with transverse reinforcement within the splice region (confined). Splice lengths varied from 40 bar diameters to 120 bar diameters, which are some of the largest ever tested. The effect of the test variables which were systematically studied, foundthat splice strength is nonlinearly related with splice length and can be represented by a power equation. Furthermore, it was found that high-strength transverse reinforcement does not improve bond strength compared with the use of Grade 60 transverse reinforcement. Considering the test results and review of historical test results, an analytical investigation was conducted which developed a simple expression for estimating the capacity of both unconfinedand confined beams. The results are compared with the current building code design expressions as well as other proposed bond strength equations. The research conducted here provides the basis for development of a design expression that will allow for the incorporation of highstrength reinforcement in future building codes.