Shear Strength Design

Shear failure in RC beams or PC beams differs from the

flexural failure.
 Beams failure due to shear stresses is abrupt, fails suddenly
without warning.
 The cracks due to shear are wider than flexural cracks.
 It is more difficult to predict.

The shear stress in beams is not caused by direct shear, but it is

resulted from a combination of external loads and moments which
leads to diagonal stresses or flexural shear stresses.

Corbels or brackets are examples of structural members that are

subjected to pure shear.

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 Shear Strength Design
Shear Behavior of Concrete Beams
 Shear behavior of RC and PC beams differs from the shear
behavior of steel beams.
 The concrete is weak in tension.
 A correct shear mechanism determination needs more
investigation.
 Depending on tests results, an empirical correlation of basic
concepts was developed.

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 Shear Strength Design
Failure Modes of Concrete Beams

 Flexural Failure
- vertical cracks in the middle third of the beam span.
- few and fine cracks develop at a load equals approximately half of
the ultimate load, they become wider and deeper as the load increases.
- failure occurs in a ductile manner by yielding of steel.
- in this case, the shear span to depth ratio (l/d) exceeds 5.5.

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 Shear Strength Design
Failure Modes of Concrete Beams

 Diagonal Tension Failure (Flexure Shear)

- few and fine vertical cracks develop at mid span
- no bond between reinforcement and surrounding concrete at support.
- two or three diagonal cracks develop at a distance (1.5-2) d from the
support face in RC beams and at a distance (l/4) in PC beams
- brittle failure.
- in this case, the shear span to depth ratio (l/d) is between 2.5 and 5.5.

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 Shear Strength Design
Failure Modes of Concrete Beams

 Shear Compression Failure (Web Shear)

- few and fine flexural cracks develop at mid span
- no bond between reinforcement and surrounding concrete at support.
- inclined cracks suddenly develop and propagate towards the N.A.
- crushing of concrete in compression region.
- less brittle failure.
- in this case, the shear span to depth ratio (l/d) is 2.5.

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 Shear Strength Design
Shear Design

Simplified method , Vn = Vc + Vs
ACI Requirement, fVn ≥ Vu
fVn ≥ f(Vc + Vs)

Critical Section

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 Shear Strength Design
Critical Section for
Non prestressed beams

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 Shear Strength Design
Prestressed Concrete Beams
Shear Design

 Effect of axial compressive stress due to prestress.

 Tensile flexural stresses are reduced due to prestress, flexural
cracking reduces
 Vertical component of prestress reduces vertical shea
 The resulting principal stresses are smaller than those for RC
beams
Concrete shear strength Vc is smaller of flexural shear or web
shear

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 Shear Strength Design
Prestressed Concrete Beams Shear Design

Net shear force = Vnet = V ‐ Vp

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 Shear Strength Design
Principal Stresses in PC Beams
Principal Tensile Stresses
2
′
𝑓𝑐 𝑓𝑐 2
𝑓𝑡 = − + + 𝜗𝑐
2 2

Where: 𝑉𝑄
𝜗𝑐 =
𝐼𝑏

𝑃𝑒 𝑃𝑒 𝑒𝑐 𝑀𝑇 𝑐
𝑓𝑐 = − ± ±
𝐴𝑐 𝐼𝑐 𝐼𝑐

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 Shear Strength Design
Prestressed Concrete Beams Shear Design

ACI 318‐19 provides two methods for determining Vc

Approximate method given in Section 22.5.6.2 if :
Aps fse ≥ 0.4 (Aps fpu + As fy), Vc shall be calculated in accordance with
Table 22.5.6.2, but need not be less than 2𝜆 𝑓𝑐′ 𝑏𝑤 𝑑

l Is the factor of type of concrete equals 0.75 for lightweight concrete and
1.0 fo normal weight concrete

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 Shear Strength Design
Prestressed Concrete Beams Shear Design
ACI 318‐19 provides two methods for determining Vc:
 Approximate method given in Section 22.5.6.2 if :
Aps fse ≥ 0.4 (Aps fpu + As fy), Vc shall be calculated in accordance with
Table 22.5.6.2, but need not be less than 2𝜆 𝑓𝑐′ 𝑏𝑤 𝑑
 Detailed method given in Section 22.5.6.3
Vc shall be permitted to be the lesser of Vci calculated in accordance with
22.5.6.3.1 and Vcw calculated in accordance with 22.5.6.3.2 or 22.5.6.3.3.
(i) Flexure‐shear strength Vci as given in Eq. 22.5.6.3.1(a) but not less
than (b) or (c)

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 Shear Strength Design
Prestressed Concrete Beams Shear Design
(ii) Web‐shear strength Vcw as given in Eq. (22.5.6.3.2)

Where:
dp need not be taken less than 0.80h,
Vp is the vertical component of the effective prestress.
fpc is the compressive stress in concrete after losses, at the centroid of
the section

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 Shear Strength Design
Shear Design Procedure
1. Determine the factored shear at the critical section, which is at a
distance of h/2 from the face of the support.
Note: fVn ≥ Vu with f = 0.75
2. Calculate the nominal concrete shear strength Vc by
(a) Approximate method :
if Aps fse ≥ 0.4 (Aps fpu + As fy), use Table 22.5.6.2 to calculate Vc.
b) Detailed method:
Determine Vci and Vcw according to ACI-318-19 (22.5.6.3.1 and 22.5.6.3.2)
3. -if Vu ≤ f Vc/2, No shear reinforcement is needed.
-if fVc/2 ≤ Vu ≤ f Vc, provide minimum shear reinforcement.
-if Vu > f(Vc + 8 p) or Vs =(Vu /f)-Vc > 8 p,
revise the section.
4. Design appropriate shear reinforcement for the section if,
fVc ≤ Vu ≤

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 Shear Strength Design
Shear Design Procedure
5. Determine the minimum web reinforcement, which is the larger of:

If fpe ≥ 0.4 fpu a less conservative minimum Av may be used:

6. Determine the required web reinforcement:

7. Determine the maximum spacing of shear reinforcement

• if ,
smax is the least of ( 0.75h and 24 inch)
•if f
smax is the least of (0.375h and 12 inch)
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