Experimental study on crack distribution of RC members with reinforcing bars coated with fiber reinforced cementitious composites

A reinforcing bar coated with Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Composites (FRCC), called "coated rebar," has possibilities of enhancing not only tensile properties but also resistance to rebar corrosion when embedded in concrete members.This study aims to investigate the bond behavior of coated rebars used in RC members.Several FRCC with different strength and ductility, including Ultra High Performance-Strain Hardening Cementitious Composite (UHP-SHCC), were used as the coating materials.Tensile tests for the coated rebars were conducted to evaluate the crack distributions of the coated bars themselves.Flexural load tests were also performed to evaluate the influences of coated rebars on crack distribution in RC beams.As a result, the experimental results demonstrated that the crack distribution of RC beams depends on the cracking ability of the coated rebar.The coated rebar with UHP-SHCC, having excellent cracking ability, shows better crack distribution in the RC beam than those with the other materials in this study.