Flexural strength of ultra-high performance concrete beams with stainless steel wire mesh: experimental and finite element analysis

The addition of a stainless steel wire mesh (SSWM) at the bottom of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) was proposed for improving the flexural strength of UHPC and solving the problem of low initial cracking performance. A method combining experiments and numerical simulations was used to study the ability of the SSWM to enhance the flexural strength of UHPC and evaluate its cracking resistance. The wire diameter, mesh size, number of steel wire mesh layers, and length of the SSWM were the geometric parameters considered in the experiments. The experimental results showed that the flexural strength of UHPC is improved by SSWM, and the load-deflection curve, ductility, strain distribution, and failure mode of UHPC were assessed. The flexural strength and failure modes of UHPC were evaluated accurately using a numerical model. The wire diameter, mesh size, number of steel wire mesh layers, and wire mesh length parameters were analyzed using the model. The relationship between the flexural strength and the geometric parameters was obtained through an in-depth study of the parameter analysis results using multiple linear regression.