EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF MOMENT REDISTRIBUTION IN RC CONTINUOUS BEAMS WITH T-CROSS SECTION CONSIDERING CENTRAL LOADED SUPPORT

This paper investigates experimentally the relation between tensile reinforcement of sagging and hogging region on the performance of the reinforced concrete continuous T-beams and their effect on the moment redistribution. Four two-span RC continuous beams were manufactured and tested up to failure, three of them were designed with a loaded central concrete column. This research provides an insightful and comprehensive description of the carrying capacity, deformation, ductility index, and moment redistribution of the continuous beam with the different steel reinforcement ratio at critical zones. The results show that the load-carrying capacity of continuous beams depends mainly on the longitudinal reinforcement at sagging region rather than that of the hogging region. The sagging reinforcement improves the ductility and the serviceability of the continuous beams at the allowable deflection and the permissible crack width. The moment redistribution ratio depends on the ratio between the sagging reinforcement and the hogging reinforcement areas, especially after the yielding loads. At the hogging and sagging regions with equal reinforcement areas, the moment redistribution values were reduced in comparison to the other tested beams.