*Article* **Tensile Behavior of Self-Compacting Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete Evaluated by Different Test Methods**

**Xinxin Ding 1,\*, Changyong Li 1, Minglei Zhao 2, Jie Li 2,\*, Haibin Geng <sup>1</sup> and Lei Lian <sup>3</sup>**


**Abstract:** Due to the mechanical properties related closely to the distribution of steel fibers in concrete matrix, the assessment of tensile strength of self-compacting steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) is significant for the engineering application. In this paper, seven groups of self-compacting SFRC were produced with the mix proportion designed by using the steel fiber-aggregates skeleton packing test method. The hooked-end steel fibers with length of 25.1 mm, 29.8 mm and 34.8 mm were used, and the volume fraction varied from 0.4% to 1.4%. The axial tensile test of notched sectional prism specimen and the splitting tensile test of cube specimen were carried out. Results show that the axial tensile strength was higher than the splitting tensile strength for the same self-compacting SFRC, the axial tensile work and toughness was not related to the length of steel fiber. Finally, the equations for the prediction of tensile strength of self-compacting SFRC are proposed considering the fiber distribution and fiber factor, and the adaptability of splitting tensile test for self-compacting SFRC is discussed.

**Keywords:** self-compacting SFRC; axial tensile strength; splitting tensile strength; notched section; axial tensile toughness; prediction
