Shear Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Deep Beams with Various Horizontal to Vertical Reinforcements and Shear Span-to-Effective Depth Ratios

Abstract

This paper presents the test results on the shear behavior of reinforced concrete deep beams with six steel reinforcement configurations. They were designed in accordance with the method given in the ACI 318-11. The specimens were subjected to the single concentrated loading at mid-span. The horizontal to vertical reinforcement ratios and shear span-to-effective depth ratios were the variables studied. The shear span-to-effective depth ratios of the beam specimen were between 1.5 to 2.0. The strut-and-tie model was used for the analysis. The test results indicated that the first diagonal cracking load and the failure mode were controlled by the horizontal to vertical reinforcement ratios and the shear span-to-depth ratios. The tests consistently gave the strength values slightly less than those calculated by using the ACI model. A modified ACI model for strut-and-tie was thus proposed and was found to accurately fit the experimental results.