Shear Strength of Concrete Deep Beams under Fatigue Loading

This paper presents an experimental investigation involving 12 reinforced concrete deep beams subjected to fatigue loading. Three different arrangements of web reinforcement were considered, namely: without web reinforcement, with vertical web reinforcement only, and with inclined web reinforcement. The tests revealed that the arrangements of web reinforcements have significant influence on the structural response of deep beams under fatigue loading. With load repetitions, the midspan deflection and maximum crack width increased, while the shear strength decreased. The investigation also showed that the relevant ACI equations can be applied to deep beams under fatigue or repeated loading once the properties of the concrete and the reinforcement are adjusted to take account of the effect of fatigue loading.