SHEAR STRENGTH OF REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS–RELATIONAL DATA BASE

Abstract– Shear capacity of concrete (Vc) in reinforced concrete members depends on a number of influencing parameters including compressive strength of concrete (ƒ􀢉), ratio of tension reinforcement (􀣋), shear span to depth ratio (􀢇 􀢊), size effect or depth factor (ξ), size of the aggregate in relation to the minimum size of the member (aggregate interlock aspects). Over the last several decades, researchers have tested reinforced concrete beams (without web reinforcement) to study these parameters over a range limited by the breadth and depth of their experimental investigations and, on the basis of their experimental results, proposed empirical equations for predicting the shear capacity of concrete in reinforced concrete beams. In this paper a relational database using ACCESS software is developed. The database contains experimental results of 2145 shear critical reinforced concrete beams without web reinforcement. Using the ACCESS shear database developed in this study, an evaluation was conducted to assess the predictive accuracy of shear design equation of Euro Code EC2. The results indicate that the Euro Code EC2 design equations are found to be adequately conservative to predict the shear capacity of reinforced concrete beams over the range of variables considered in this study.