Shear Capacity of Reinforced High-Strength Concrete Beams without Web Reinforcement

Abstract

Three series of reinforced concrete (RC) beams without web reinforcement were tested to determine their diagonal cracking shear strengths and ultimate shear capacities. Within each series, the shear span to depth ratio was held constant at 3.0, 3.5, or 4.0 while the characteristic compressive strength of concrete was varied from 36 to 194 MPa in otherwise identical specimens. Test results indicated that the ratio of uniaxial compressive strength to tensile strength of the concrete was proportional to concrete brittleness. According to the JSCE code and the ACI code, the shear strength of RC beams increases with increasing concrete strength. However, test results showed that, the JSCE code and the ACI code for predicting shear strength were not safe.