Experimental Investigation on the Shear Crack Development of Shear-Critical High-Strength Reinforced Concrete Beams

Abstract

The main propose of this work is to investigate the shear crack development and suggest the design formulas that can ensure serviceability and reparability for shear-critical high-strength reinforced concrete (HSRC) beam members based on the experimental data of ten full-size simple-supported beam specimens. According to the experimental results, the design formulas that can ensure the serviceability and reparability are recommended for shear-critical HSRC beam members. Additionally, relationship between shear stresses of member and widths of shear cracks are also built for the quantitative analysis of shear crack development. Based on the crack development of each specimen, the average ratio of the residual total shear crack widths to the residual maximum shear crack width for the HSRC beam specimens is approximately 4.5; then, in the crack-based assessment, this work recommends setting the ratio as 4.0 to estimate residual maximum shear cracking. Additionally, the ratio of maximum peak shear crack width to residual maximum crack width, it can be increased by shortening stirrup spacing and increasing stirrup strength, and its overall average value is 2.44. This work suggests the applicable value of a HSRC shear-critical beam to be 2.5. Besides of the post-earthquake damage assessment, these results can also be used to build the performance-based design for HSRC structures.