Bridge Design & Assessment

PSC ULS Design: Shear Behaviour

Dr Colin Caprani
Department of Civil Engineering

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Cracking Behaviour

TYPE I: Flexural cracks; occur

in regions of high moment-to-
SFD shear ratios
TYPE II: Flexural-shear
cracks; occur in regions of
moderate moment-to-shear
ratios (MCFT)
TYPE III: Web-shear cracks;
occur in regions of high shear-
to-moment ratios (generally
near neutral axis)
BMD Dependent of section
geometry

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 Truss Analogy
▪ A concrete beam can be thought of as resisting shear in the same way
a truss acts:
– The bottom truss chord is the tension reinforcement
– The top truss chord is the concrete in the compression zone
– The web tension chords are the shear stirrups
– The web compression chords are the concrete struts
(between cracks)

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 The Compression Strut
▪ Important parameters of the strut are:
– Its angle qv
– The number (spacing) of rebar across the crack
– The distance between tension and compression forces
▪ Resistance comes from:
– Web compression chord
(vertical component)
– Shear in concrete in dv
compression zone
– Stirrups qv

..and prestress!
d v cot q v V*

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 Effect of Prestress
Prestress increases the shear strength compared to RC beams:
▪ Prestress reduces the principal tensile stress and so shear cracks occur
at flatter angles
▪ Flatter crack angles mean that reinforcing stirrups are more effective
(more can cross the crack)
▪ Inclined tendons have a vertical component opposing the applied loads,
increasing the shear strength

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 Capacity Predictions
▪ Provisions for concrete capacity under much debate in the last 50 years
▪ Traditional methods are empirically derived
▪ Recent methods (35 years) are based simplified physical systems

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Accuracy of Predictions

(2004)

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 Understanding Cracked Concrete
▪ Research at the University of Toronto have looked at the behaviour of
cracked concrete macro-, meso- and micro-scopically!

Bentz & Collins (2006)

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 Modified Compression Field Theory
▪ MCFT was developed mainly by
Collins & Vecchio in University
of Toronto.
▪ The main paper is from 1986.
▪ Based on average strains and
stresses over a cracked section.
▪ Equilibrium, kinematics, and
constitutive relations all used.
▪ Full MCFT requires iteration of
15 equations (Response2000)
Bentz et al (2006)
▪ Hence, in 2006 a Simplified MCFT was introduced
– This is the basis for codes in US, Canada, and now Australia

PSC ULS Design 9