Shear Design for Prestressed Beam

The shear design is based on ultimate strength requirements (factored loads). A design,
shear strength at each section along the beam is required; however, calculations will be shown
for the critical section only. Other sections are done the same way.

The beam loads, moments, shears, prestress and eccentricities have previously been
determined either through software or manually and their calculations may not be shown. A
minimum bearing width of 24 in or 2 feet is used (minimum seismic bearing width requirement
is 24 in.). The critical section for shear is at a distance of 5.63 ft or 67.56 in. from the end of the
beam as shown in the following figure. The crack line assumed was at angle of 45 degrees to the
horizontal.

Figure 1 - Critical Section for Shear

Approach

Instead of using forces, shear stresses were used instead; either method should provide
identical results. To get the shear force, the shear stress is multiplied by the total web area or
bwdp. The required design shear at each section of the prestressed beam should be less than or
equal to its shear resistance:

vu ≤ φvn

where vu = shear stress from factored loads

vn = nominal shear strength of section
φ = strength reduction factor (equal to 0.90 for shear) [CA BDS 9.14]
 The shear due to dead load at the critical section is VD = 69.8 kips and due to the live load
and impact is VL+I = 63.7 kips. The ultimate shear at the critical section (5.63 ft from beam end)
is

Vu = 1.3[VD + 1.67VL+I] [CA Bridge Design Practice (BDP) 3.4.12]

= 1.3[69.8 + 1.67(63.7)]
Vu = 229 kips

The design shear stress vu is obtained from

where bw = width of section or web width of flanged section = 16 in.

dp = distance from extreme compression fiber to centroid of prestressing steel
= larger of dp = 65.79 in. or 0.8h = 0.8(72) = 57.6 in.
h = depth of beam = 72 in.

Required Design Shear Strength

The required design shear strength is

vu ≤ φvn

where vn = nominal shear strength and is defined as the sum of the shear resistance of the
concrete and the web reinforcement at the section considered:

vn = vc + vs

where vc = nominal shear strength of concrete

vs = nominal shear strength of shear reinforcement

Shear Strength Provided by Concrete

According to ACI code, vc shall be the smaller of the resistance to flexure-shear cracking,
vci, and vcw, the resistance to web-shear cracking:

Resistance to Flexure-Shear Cracking

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 [Naaman (6.28)]

vci = 234.6 psi > 1.7√f’c = 1.7√5000 = 120.21 psi OK!

where f’c = concrete strength = 5000 psi

VD = shear force due to self weight of member at critical section = 69.8 kips
Mu = moment due to all factored loads at critical section = 1,236.6 kip-ft
∆Mcr = moment in excess of self-weight moment, causing flexural cracking in
precompressed tensile fiber at critical section:

[Naaman (6.29)]

where Sb = beam bottom section modulus = 22,196 in3

P = effective prestressing force after all losses at section = 1,110 kips
Ac = concrete beam cross section area = 1,463 in2
e = eccentricity of prestressing force at critical section = 7.28 in.
MD = moment due to self weight of member at critical section = 69.8 kip-ft

Resistance to Web Shear Cracking

[Naaman (6.30)]

where σg = compressive stress in concrete at the centroid of the critical cross section due to the
effective prestress = P/A = 1110(1000)/1463 = 758.7 psi
Vp = vertical component of prestressing force = P sin φ = 1110(1000) sin (11º) = 212 kips
φ = angle of inclination of prestressing force = 11º

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Thus, vc = vci = 234.6 psi.

Required Area of Shear Reinforcement

For vertical stirrups, the required area of shear reinforcement, using a stirrup spacing of s
= 5.5 in., is:

[Naaman (6.35)]

Where fy = yield stress of steel reinforcement = 60,000 psi

s = spacing of shear reinforcement ≤ 24 in. (common spacing is 3 in.)

Used for the prestressed beam will be the #5 bar at a spacing of 5.5 in. from the beam end
to 11.5 feet from the beam end. From 11.5 feet on to midspan, the spacing is 12 inches or 1 foot.
The other beam half is symmetrical. The actual shear reinforcement area at the critical section is
Av = 0.62 in2 > 0.0104 in2 required. The cover used is 2 inches. OK!

Nominal Shear Strength of Reinforcement

Shear Strength at Critical Section

vu ≤ φvn = φ(vc + vs)

vu = 217.5 psi ≤ φvn = 0.9(234.6 + 422.7) = 591.6 psi

Or

Vu = 229 kips ≤ φVn = 623 kips

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Limitations

Maximum Spacing:

smax < smaller of 0.75h = 54 in. or 24 in.

s = 5.5 in and s = 12 in. < smax = 24 in. OK!

Maximum Shear:

Minimum Web Reinforcement:

fpe = 172.7 ksi > 0.4fpu = 0.4(270) = 108 ksi: [Naaman (6.39)]

General equation for the minimum required area of shear reinforcement: