INVESTIGATION OF SHEAR BEHAVIOUR OF SLENDER BEAMS USING FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

Abstract

Reinforced concrete (RC) beams may not be able to utilize their maximum flexural strength in the absence of adequate shear reinforcement. While ACI code specifies minimum amount of shear reinforcement in RC beams, the established formulae do not cover all parameters associated with shear strength of RC beams and result in conservative design. Zararis (2003), proposed the empirical formula which incorporates additional factors in calculation of shear strength. This formula yields less conservative yet equally reliable results in terms of shear strength in RC beams. In this project, formulae provided by Zararis (2003) and Kashif (2014) were studied through analytical models using commercial software ABAQUS®, and validated for experimentally tested concrete slender beams with varying amounts of shear reinforcement. Non-linear finite element analysis was carried out to measure the load-displacement behavior and the cracking characteristics in RC beams. The analysis employed a concrete damage plasticity model in ABAQUS software. The parametric analysis was carried out by varying the shear span to depth ratio and the amounts of shear and longitudinal reinforcement in RC beams were kept as same as in the benchmark analysis. Additionally, the sensitivity of results were investigated against the minimum shear reinforcement provisions provided by ACI, Zararis and Papadakis (2001), Zararis (2003) and Kashif (2014).Lastly, an equation for minimum amount of shear reinforcement to attain full flexure capacity has been proposed.