Re-examination of shear design provisions for high-strength longitudinally reinforced concrete beams

Abstract

The lack of information regarding the shear behaviour of high-strength longitudinally reinforced concrete beams without shear reinforcement (HRCBW) impedes design engineers from using the full yield strength of the material. In this work, current shear design provisions for HRCBW were re-examined based on the probability density function (PDF), confidence interval and confidence level. Based on the principal shear mechanism of beam and arch actions, a probabilistic shear capacity model for HRCBW was developed based on Bayesian theory and the Markov chain Monte Carlo method, taking into account both aleatory and epistemic uncertainties. Statistical characteristics (e.g. mean, standard deviation, distribution type) of the shear capacity of HRCBW were determined by the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test and statistical analysis. The accuracy and applicability of three major shear design provisions for HRCBW (ACI 318-19, BS EN 1992-1-1:2004 and fib Model Code 2010) were re-examined based on the PDF, confidence interval and confidence level.