Stress analysis of cracked reinforced and prestressed concrete thin-walled beams and shells

Abstract

Summary This paper proposes a method for the stress analysis of thin-walled reinforced and prestressed concrete beams under the combined effect of axial force bending moments and ‘bimoments’. The assumption that plane surfaces remain plane is not applicable to beams of this type. The distribution of strains and stresses in an uncracked thin-walled beam follows closely the theory developed by Vlasov. This theory is extended here to the problem of the stress distribution in a cracked section of a reinforced concrete beam. The analysis is limited to beams of an ‘open cross-section’ working in the elastic range of internal stresses. Results of model tests at Southampton have substantiated the validity of this theory.