A structural engineer is poised to be the first to use steel fibers as structural reinforcing in the lateral-force-resisting system of a concrete-framed high-rise in a seismic zone. The application, designed to reduce reinforcing-steel congestion in shear-wall link beams and, perhaps, in shear walls themselves, is based on recent successful performance tests of SFRC link beams at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Shear walls in high seismic regions are typically heavily congested. Link beams, which occur above wall openings, are especially challenging; they require large diagonal bars that are known to be difficult and time-consuming to place.