ENGG 135

Design of Reinforced Concrete

Structures

Shear in RC Beams

Required Reading: Wight Chapter 6

 Shear in Linear-Elastic Beams
●
Uncracked homogeneous concrete beam
without reinforcement
Point on the neutral axis
Zero shear

a a
Max shear τmax
 Shear in Linear-Elastic Beams
●
Point located at the neutral axis of the beam is critical
because it has zero normal stress and maximum
shear stress, it’s thus in a state of pure shear

t
tmax
A'(0,tmax)

B'(-tmax,0) B(tmax,0)
90º f
45º
A(0,-tmax)
f = -= = --tmax f = -= = -tmax
 Shear in Linear-Elastic Beams
t
●
Using Mohr’s Circle
you can obtain the A'(0,tmax)
“principal stresses,” B'(-tmax,0) B(tmax,0)
which occur on a 90º f
set of axes rotated
A(0,-t)
45°
●
You get “diagonal
tension” and
45º
“diagonal
compression” f = -= = --tmax f = -= = -tmax
stresses on the
inclined axes
 Diagonal Tension Cracks
●
Concrete is weak in tension
so it may not be able resist
the diagonal tension stress
(assuming it doesn’t fail in
bending first)
●
Tension cracks are likely to
develop perpendicular to the
direction of the diagonal
tension (at 45°)
● This will occur as soon as τmax
exceeds fr which is usually
very low (about 10% to 15%
of f'c, as we saw before)
 Shear in RC Beams
●
Now consider an RC
beam with bending
reinforcement only

d
●
Aspect ratio a/d > 3 a a
to 4 (the parameter a
is the “shear span”)
●
As the load P
increases, flexural
cracks appear first
on the tension side
of the beam
 Shear in RC Beams
●
Flexural cracks propagate
up as you increase the load
●
As they propagate up they
become inclined
●
Once they reach the
neutral axis, they have
have a 45° inclination
●
When they reach the
compression side of the
beam (point 1) they further
flatten out
●
Beam fails when the cracks
reach the top and the beam
splits
Modes of failure of
short shear spans, a/d
= 1.5 to 2.5. (Adapted
from [6-5].)
 Shear Design
●
What was illustrated in the previous slides is a
much simplified picture of a very complex problem
●
It’s very difficult to analyze the shear resistance of
RC accurately, based on first principles
●
In reality, mechanisms such as aggregate interlock
and dowel action are involved in shear resistance
●
The textbook describes several analytical models
that try to capture various complex effects
●
We won’t cover this; instead, we’ll follow the
simplified approach used in ACI 318, which is
based on experimental information
 Shear Design
●
Failure due to
diagonal tension is
brittle; i.e., it
occurs suddenly,
with no advanced
warning
●
So we need to
provide shear
reinforcement
across the
diagonal tension
cracks to prevent it
 Shear Design
●
Total shear strength is the sum of the shear
strength of the concrete plus the strength of the
shear reinforcement
φVVn = φV(Vc+Vs)
where
– φV = 0.75
– Vc = nominal shear strength of concrete
– Vs = nominal strength of shear reinforcement
Shear Strength of Concrete Vc
This term is an approximation of the d/a ratio

Preferred formula
Shear Strength of Concrete Vc
 Strength of Shear Reinforcement Vs
●
We place vertical or inclined
shear reinforcement at
spacing s across the 45°

d
diagonal tension crack
●
For vertical stirrups
Vs = Av fy d / s
where
– Av = area of shear reinf.

d
– s = spacing of shear reinf.
– fy = yield stress of shear reinf.
(sometimes less than grade 60)
 Strength of Shear Reinforcement Vs
●
We place vertical or inclined
shear reinforcement at spacing s
across the 45° diagonal tension

d
crack
●
For inclined reinforcement
(usually bent bars)
Vs = Av fy (sinα+cosα) d / s
where
– α = inclination angle

d
– Av = area of shear reinf.
– s = spacing of shear reinf.
– fy = yield stress of shear reinf.
(sometimes less than grade 60)
 Stirrups

●
Standard stirrups with 90°
and 135° hooks are most
common
●
Closed ties used in
seismic design
● For these cases Av is 2
times area of stirrup bar
●
Why? Because stirrup
crosses the 45° crack
twice
 Shear Design Procedure
●
Given parameters
● fy (of stirrups), f’c, bw, d (of beam), Vu (from SFD
envelope)
● Compute Vc = 2 (√f’c) bwd
●
Case 1
When Vu < φVVc /2, then no shear reinforcement is
required
●
Case 2
When φVVc /2 ≤ Vu < φVVc , then minimum shear
reinforcement is required
 Shear Design Procedure
●
Case 2
– When φVVc /2 ≤ Vu < φVVc , then minimum shear
reinforcement is required
– Select Av and choose maximum spacing such
that s ≤ min{d/2, 24”}, which ensures there’s at
least one stirrup across the 45° crack
– Check s ≤ Av fy / {0.75(√f’c)bw} where 0.75(√f’c)
can’t be less than 50 psi
 Shear Design Procedure
●
Case 2
– Note that slabs, footings, joists and shallow
rectangular or T-beams with h ≤ min{10”, 2.5hf,
0.5bw} don’t require shear reinforcement even if
they fall under Case 2
 Shear Design Procedure
●
Case 3a
– When φVVc ≤ Vu then shear reinforcement is
needed
– Compute required Vs = Vu/φV - Vc
– If required Vs ≤ 4(√f’c)bwd then select Av and
choose spacing such that s ≤ Avfyd / Vs
– Check s ≤ min{d/2, 24”}, which ensures there’s at
least one stirrup across the 45° crack
– Check s ≤ Av fy / {0.75(√f’c)bw} where 0.75(√f’c)
can’t be less than 50 psi
 Shear Design Procedure
●
Case 3b
– When φVVc ≤ Vu then shear reinforcement is
needed
– Compute required Vs = Vu/φV - Vc
– If 4(√f’c)bwd < Vs ≤ 8(√f’c)bwd then select Av and
choose spacing such that s ≤ Avfyd / Vs
– Check s ≤ min{d/4, 12”}, which ensures there’s at
least two stirrups across the 45° crack
– Check s ≤ Av fy / {0.75(√f’c)bw} where 0.75(√f’c)
can’t be less than 50 psi
 Shear Design Procedure
●
Case 3c
– When φVVc ≤ Vu then shear reinforcement is
needed
– Compute required Vs = Vu/φV - Vc
– If required Vs > 8(√f’c)bwd then there’s no
solution because the cross-section is just too
small and failure would be brittle
– We need to increase the size of the cross-
section
 Shear Design Procedure
●
Other Design
Considerations
– Place the first stirrup 2”
from the face of the
support
– If the shear force
introduces compression
into the support, the
critical section for Vu
may be taken at a
distance d away from
the face of the support
 Shear Design Procedure
● Textbook shows other cases where critical section for Vu is at
the face of the support
 Shear Design Procedure
●
The shear force
envelope for uniform
live load looks
somewhat different
from that for uniform
dead load
●
You have to move the
live load around so
that you have the
largest possible shear
force everywhere
 Example 1
● Given: f’c=5,000 psi and fy=60,000 psi (for stirrups)
●
Find: Shear reinforcement along the beam
 Example 2
● Given: f’c=4,000 psi and fy=40,000 psi (for stirrups)
●
Find: Shear reinforcement along the beam

WD=4.18 k/ft (including self-weight), wL=0

 Other Shear Design Topics
●
There is much more to shear in RC than we have
discussed here
●
You need to be aware that you know only a minute
amount about shear design and shear behavior
●
We don’t have time to discuss the following important
aspects
– Deep beams (very small shear span to depth ratio)
– Corbels and brackets (these elements are treated
by shear friction theory)
– Punching shear in slabs
 Punching Shear in Slabs and
Footings

●
When slabs are supported by individual
columns, or when footings support individual
columns, the columns may punch through the
slab or footing
●
The thickness of the slab or footing must be
large enough to safeguard against this
punching through
 Punching Shear in Slabs and
Footings
●
Nominal strength for
h/b ≤ 2
Vn = 4(√f’c) b0d
where b0 is the effective
perimeter taken a
distance d/2 away from
the column face
● Ensure that Vu ≤ φVVn Column with cross-section h x b
otherwise use a thicker
slab or drop panel if this
equation is violated