Cracking and deformation of RC beams strengthened with Reactive Powder Composites

A reinforced concrete beam without cracking under serviceability imit state has been developed. A part of the tension zone in the reinforced concrete beam was fortified with Reactive Powder Composite (RPC). Flexural load tests on the beam were carried out in this study. The cracking moment of the beam reinforced with RPC could be estimated by the elastic theory, provided that the stress due to the restraint of reinforcing bar against the autogenous shrinkage of RPC must be taken into consideration. After the generation of cracking, RPC has little effect on the deformation of beam reinforced with RPC due to the increase of bending moment. However, the flexural capacity of beam fortified with RPC is larger than that of the reinforced concrete beam without RPC and increases with the increase in the reinforced area of RPC.