Fatigue of Grouted Sleeve Reinforcing Bar Splices

The reinforcing bar splicing technique investigated herein is the cement grout sleeve splice which has previously shown good structural characteristics in resisting static loads. The unanswered question concerning its reaction to repeated loads stimulated this investigation. The slip characteristics of cement grout sleeve splices subjected to repetitive loadings are investigated in this test program. Reinforcing bar sizes 8 through 11 were tested at splice imbedment lengths of 5 in. Each splice was subjected to 75,000 repetitions of load. These consisted of 25,000 repetitions of load at each of the reinforcing bar tensile stress levels of 20,000, 30,000, and 40,000 psi. The slip of sleeve splices should definitely be considered if the splices are to be subjected to repetitive loading.