When estimating the load carrying capacity of concrete structures, the static system is often simplified to act as a beam or a column. Here, a beam could represent the deck of a bridge or the floor in a building. For such structures, the shear capacity is often governing for the load carrying capacity. The shear failure mechanism of reinforced concrete beams can be sudden and usually occurs without warning. Through time, this sudden failure mechanism has caused the collapse of several structures with sometimes disastrous consequences.
Great efforts have been made to develop more reliable models for determining the shear capacity of reinforced concrete beams. However, in a recently published scientific paper from The University of Southern Denmark it was shown that some of these highly recognised models overestimate the shear capacity of some relatively simple concrete beams. Furthermore, the literature lacks studies on influence of small amounts of shear reinforcement on the shear behaviour of reinforced concrete beams.
Therefore, the objective of this research project is to investigate the shear failure mechanism of reinforced concrete beams. In addition, how adding small amounts of shear reinforcement influences the shear transferring mechanisms contributing to the shear capacity. This includes the influence of shear reinforcement on the shear behaviour of reinforced concrete beams when compared to beams without shear reinforcement.