Mechanical performance and interfacial bond behavior of high‐strength steel wire cloth embedded in concrete incorporating basalt fiber‐reinforced polymer minibars: Experimental and analytical investigation

This study investigates the mechanical and interfacial behavior of high‐strength steel wire cloth (HSSWC) embedded in fiber‐reinforced concrete containing steel fibers (SFs), short chopped basalt fibers (SCBFs), and basalt‐fiber‐reinforced polymer (BFRP) minibars. Nine concrete mixtures were designed, and their workability, compressive strength, flexural strength, thin‐plate tensile response, and HSSWC‐concrete bond performance were evaluated. Pull‐out tests were conducted with HSSWC embedment depths of 20, 25, and 30 mm. The results showed that SCBFs produced the greatest reduction in workability, whereas BFRP minibars had a comparatively limited adverse effect. Fiber incorporation improved specimen integrity, crack control, and mechanical performance. Among the mono‐fiber mixtures, the specimen containing 0.45 vol% BFRP minibars exhibited the highest compressive and flexural strengths. In the thin‐plate tensile tests, fibers delayed crack localization, promoted distributed cracking, and enhanced cooperative load transfer between the concrete matrix and HSSWC. Pull‐out tests indicated that fiber reinforcement increased pull‐out stiffness, maximum pull‐out force, nominal average bond strength, and energy absorption capacity, and that the effectiveness of BFRP minibars showed clear dosage sensitivity. Increasing the embedment depth improved the overall pull‐out resistance but reduced the nominal average bond strength due to an increasingly nonuniform interfacial shear‐stress distribution. Overall, BFRP minibars and the SF‐BFRP minibar hybrid system showed a favorable balance between mechanical enhancement and workability, indicating their potential as alternative reinforcement strategies in applications where both mechanical performance and construction adaptability are important. The nonmetallic nature of BFRP reinforcement may provide an additional material‐selection advantage for corrosion‐sensitive applications, although durability was not directly evaluated in the present study. A hierarchical nominal average peak bond strength model was developed by modifying the Chu‐Kwan model for the HSSWC interface and extending it to mono‐BFRP minibar concrete using compressive‐ and flexural‐strength ratios. The validation‐group mean absolute percentage error was 5.82%, indicating satisfactory predictive accuracy within the investigated range. The current model is limited to the mono‐SF and mono‐BFRP minibar systems and does not account for fiber‐interaction effects in the hybrid‐fiber systems. Extension of the model to hybrid‐fiber HSSWC‐concrete interfaces requires additional experimental data covering broader fiber combinations and dosage levels.