Deformation behavior of reinforced concrete beams under service loading conditions

Abstract

The paper presents the results of an experimental study conducted on model-size reinforced<br>concrete beams aiming at quantifying the effect of cracking under various types of loading on theirdeflec-tion<br>responses. A central, third-points, uniformly distributed, and a combination of a central and<br>uniformly distributed loads are considered. The test results indicate that, at the same level of maximum<br>moment, the effective moment of inertia is significantly affected by the type of loading: A general model<br>is proposed for estimating the effective moment of inertia of reinforced concrete beams under any arbi-trary<br>symmetrical loading. The accuracy of the model is checked by comparing with test results available<br>in literature.