CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

4. SHEAR IN BEAMS

4.1 Fundamentals

Stresses in an uncracked elastic beam and shear failure

Consider first the homogeneous, elastic, uncracked elastic beam. The shear stresses, v , on
elements 1 and 2 in Fig. 4.1(a) can be calculated as

VQ
v (4.1)
Ib

where V =shear force on the cross section; I =moment of inertia of the cross section; Q
=first moment about the centroidal axis of the part of the cross-sectional area lying farther
from the centroidal axis than the point where the shear stresses are being calculated; width of
the member at the section where the stresses are being calculated. Elements 1 and 2 as shown
in Fig. 4.1(a) are subjected to combined normal stresses due to flexure f and shearing
stresses v . Equal shearing stresses exist on both the horizontal and vertical planes. The shear
stress distribution on the section of the beam is shown in Fig. 4.1(bmjk,m ). The largest and
smallest normal stresses acting on such an element are referred to as principal stresses as
shown in Fig. 4.1(c).

Figure 4.1 Normal, shear and principal stresses in a homogeneous uncracked beam.

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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

The principal compressive stress trajectories are shown in Fig. 4.2(a). The cracking pattern in
a test beam is shown in Fig. 4.2(b). Two types of cracks can be seen. The vertical cracks
occurred first due to flexurall stresses. These start at the bottom of the beam where the
flexural stresses are the largest. The inclined cracks are due to combined shear and flexure.
These are commonly referred to as inclined cracks, shear cracks, or diagonal tension cracks.
Such a crack must exist before a beam can fail in shear. Several of the inclined cracks have
extended along the reinforcement toward the support, weakening the anchorage of the
reinforcement. Fig. 4.2(c) shows the shear failure of a test beam.

(a) Principal compressive stress trajectories in an uncracked beam

(b) Crack pattern from a test beam

(c) shear failure

Figure 4.2 Principal compressive stress trajectories, inclined cracks and shear failure.

Average shear stress between cracks

Consider now a cracked beam as shown in Fig. 4.3. Flexural cracks (near vertical) and
inclined cracks can be seen in Figs. 4.3(a) and 4.3(b). The average shear stress between the
cracks of Fig. 4.3(c) of the figure can be calculated as follows. The tensile forces in the rebar
on each side of the crack can be written as

M M  M
T and T  T 
jd jd

or

M
T 
jd

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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

where the lever arm jd is assumed to be constant. For the moment equilibrium of the
element

M  V x

and

M V x
T   (4.2)
jd jd

Figure 4.3 Calculation of average shear stress between cracks

If the shaded portion of the beam in Fig. 4.3(b) is isolated as shown in Fig. 4.3(c), the force
T must be transferred by horizontal shear stresses on the top of the shaded element. The
average value of these stresses below the top of the crack is

V x
T jd V
v   (4.3)
bw x bw x bw jd

The distribution of horizontal and vertical shear stresses is shown in Fig. 4.3(d). Because the
vertical shear stresses on an element are equal to the horizontal shear stresses on the same
element, the distribution of vertical shear stresses will be as shown in Fig. 4.3(d). This
assumes that about 30 percent of the shear is transferred in the compression zone. The rest of
the shear is transferred across the cracks. In 1970, Taylor reported tests of beams without web
reinforcement in which he found that about 25 percent of the shear was transferred by the
compression zone, about 25 percent by doweling action of the flexural reinforcement, and

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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

about 50 percent by aggregate interlock along the cracks.

Beam action and arch action
In the derivation shown previously, it was assumed that the beam was prismatic and the lever
arm jd was constant. The relationship between shear and bar force can be rewritten as

dM d Tjd 
V 
dx dx

which can be expanded as

dT d  jd 
V jd  T (4.4)
dx dx

Two extreme cases can be identified. If the lever arm, jd , remains constant, as assumed in
normal elastic beam theory, then

d  jd 
0
dx

dT
V jd (4.5)
dx

Where dT / dx is the shear flow across any horizontal plane between the reinforcement and
the compression zone. For beam action to exist, this shear flow must exist. The other extreme
occurs if the shear flow, dT / dx , equals to zero.

dT
0
dx

d  jd  d  jd 
V T C (4.6)
dx dx

This occurs if the shear flow cannot be transmitted, because the steel is unbonded, or if the
transfer of shear flow is disrupted by an inclined crack extending from the load to the
reactions as shown in Fig. 4.4. In such a case, the shear is transferred by arch action rather
than beam action, as illustrated below. In this member, the compression force C in the
inclined strut and the tension force T in the reinforcement are constant over the length of the
shear span.

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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

(a) Flow of forces (b) Arch action in a deep beam

Figure 4.4 Arch action

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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

4.2 Behavior of Beams without Web Reinforcement

Failure modes
The moments and shears at inclined cracking and failure of rectangular beams without web
reinforcement are plotted in Fig. 4.5 as a function of the ratio of the shear span a to the depth
d. The beam cross section remains constant as the span is varied. The maximum moment (and
shear) that can be developed of the cross section is plotted as a horizontal line in Fig. 4.5(b).
The shaded areas in the figure show the reduction in strength due to shear. Web reinforcement
is provided to ensure that the beam reaches the full flexural capacity, M n .

Figure 4.5 Effect of a/d ratio on shear strength of beams without stirrups

The figure suggests that the shear spans can be divided into three types: short, slender, and
very slender shear spans. The term deep beam is also used to describe beams with short shear
spans (a/d=0 to 2).

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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

(1) Very short shear spans, with a / d from 0 to 1, develop inclined cracks joining the load
and the support. These cracks, in effect, destroy the horizontal shear flow from the
longitudinal steel to the compression zone, and the behavior changes from beam action to
arch action. Here, the reinforcement serves as the tension tie of a tied arch and has a
uniform tensile force from support to support. The most common mode of failure in such
a beam is an anchorage failure at the ends of the tension tie. Common failure modes of a
deep beam is shown in Fig. 4.6.

Figure 4.6 Modes of failure of a deep beam.

(2) Short shear spans with a / d from 1 to 2.5 develop inclined cracks and, after a
redistribution of internal forces are able to carry additional load, in part by arch action.
The final failure of such beams will be caused by a bond failure along the tension
reinforcement (Fig. 4.7a), or by crushing of the compression zone over the top of the
crack (Fig. 4.7b). Because the inclined crack generally extends higher into the beam than
does a flexural crack, failure occurs at less than the flexural moment capacity.

Figure 4.7 Modes of failure of short shear spans

Note that, for short and very short beams, a major portion of the load capacity after
inclined cracking is due to load transfer by the compression struts. If the beam is not
loaded on the top and supported on the bottom, these compression struts will not form and
failure occurs at, or close to, the inclined cracking load.

(3) In slender shear spans, those having a / d from about 2.5 to about 6, the inclined cracks

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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

disrupt equilibrium to such an extent that the beam fails at the inclined cracking load.

(4) Very slender beams, with a / d greater than about 6, will fail in flexure prior to the
formation of inclined cracks.

Fig 4.5(b) can be replotted in terms of shear capacity as shown in Fig. 4.5(c). The shear
corresponding to a flexural failure is the upper curved line. If stirrups are not provided, the
beam will fail at the shear given by the "shear failure" line. This is roughly constant for a / d
greater than about 2. This is recognized in design by ignoring a / d in the equations for the
shear at inclined cracking.

Internal forces in a beam without stirrups

The forces transferring shear across an inclined crack in a beam without stirrups are illustrated
in Fig. 4.8. Shear is transferred across line A-B-C by
(1) Vcy : shear in the compression zone
(2) Vay : vertical component of the shear across the crack by aggregate interlock.
(3) Vd : dowel action of the longitudinal reinforcement.
Sliding resistance: Vd  Vay

Considering the D-E-F portion of the beam below the crack and summing moments about the
reinforcement at point E shows that Vd and Va cause a moment about E that must be
equilibrated by a compression force C1' . Horizontal force equilibrium on section A-B-D-E
shows that T1  C1  C1' . As the crack widens, Va decreases, increasing the fraction of the
shear resisted by Vcy and Vd . The dowel shear, Vd , leads to a splitting crack in the concrete
along the reinforcement. When this crack occurs, Vd drops, approaching zero. When Va
and Vd disappear, so do Vcy' and C1' , with the result that all the shear and compression are
transmitted in the width AB above the crack. Eventually, this region crushes or buckles
upward.

Figure 4.8 Internal forces in a cracked beam without stirrups

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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

Factors affecting the shear strength of beams without web reinforcement

The shear strength of a beam without shear reinforcement is affected by the following
principal variables.

(1) Tensile strength:

The inclined cracking load is a function of the splitting tensile strength of the concrete f ct .
The stress state in the web of the beam involves the biaxial principal tension and the
compression stresses, as shown in Fig. 4.1(c). A similar biaxial state of stress exists in a
split-cylinder tension test (Fig. 4-9). As discussed earlier, the flexural cracking that
precedes the inclined cracking disrupts the elastic-stress field to such an extent that
inclined cracking occurs at a principal tensile stress roughly half of f ct for the uncracked
section.

(a) Split-cylinder test (b) Simplified force system (c) Stresses

Figure 4.9 Stress state in a split cylinder test specimen.

(2) Longitudinal reinforcement ratio,  w :

When the steel ratio,  w is small, flexural cracks extend higher into the beam and open
wider than would be the case for large values of  w , as such, inclined cracking (the
precursor to failure) occurs at a smaller applied load, resulting in a lower shear strength as
shown in Fig. 4.10. ACI writes that the shear strength of the concrete is

Vc  0.53 f c' bw d (kgf/cm2), Vc  0.17 f c' bw d (MPa) (4.7)

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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

Vc  0.53 f c' bw d

Figure 4.10 Effect of reinforcement ratio on shear capacity of beams without stirrups.

(3) Shear span-to-depth ratio, a / d .

The shear span-to-depth ratio, a / d or M / Vd affects the inclined cracking shears and
ultimate shears of shear spans with a/d less than 2 as shown in Fig. 4.5(c). Such shear
spans are "deep" shear spans. For longer shear spans, a / d has little effect on the shear
stregnth and can be neglected.

(4) Size of beam and coarse aggregate size

An increase in the overall depth of a beam web reinforcement results in a decrease in the
shear at failure for a given f c' ,  w , and a / d . The width of an inclined crack depends on
the product of the strain in the reinforcement crossing the crack and the spacing of the
cracks. With increasing beam depth, the crack spacings and the crack widths tend to
increase. This leads to a reduction in the maximum shear stress that can be transferred
across the crack by aggregate interlock (Fig. 4.11). As the size (diameter) of the coarse
aggregate increases, the roughness of the crack surfaces increases, allowing higher shear
stresses to be transferred across the cracks (Fig. 4.11).

In beams with at least the minimum required web reinforcement, the web reinforcement
holds the crack faces together so that the shear transfer across the cracks by aggregate
interlock is not lost. As a result, the reduction in shear strength due to size is not observed
in beams with web reinforcement

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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

Figure 4.11 Effect of beam size and aggregate size on shear strength

(5) Axial Forces.

Axial tensile forces tend to decrease the inclined cracking load, while axial compressive
forces tend to increase it (Fig. 4.12). As the axial compressive force is increased, the onset
of flexural cracking is delayed, and the flexural cracks do not penetrate as far into the
beam. Axial tension forces directly increase the stress, and hence the strain, in the
longitudinal reinforcement. This causes an increase in the inclined crack width, which, in
turn, results in a decrease in the maximum shear stress that can be transmitted across the
crack. This reduces the shear failure load. The opposite is true for axial compressive
forces.

Figure 4.12 Effect of axial force on shear strength

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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

4.3 Behavior of Beams with Web Reinforcement

Inclined cracking causes the shear strength of beams to drop below the flexural capacity. The
purpose of web reinforcement is to ensure that the full flexural capacity can be developed. Fig.
4.13 shows the internal forces in a cracked beam without web reinforcement.
Assume jd

0.5 jd
o
M2
M1 jd

Section 2 Section 1

Figure 4.13 Internal forces in a cracked beam with stirrups.

The shear transferred by tension in the stirrups, Vs does not disappear when the crack opens
wider. The loading history of such a beam is shown qualitatively in Fig. 4.14. The
components of the internal shear resistance must equal the applied shear, indicated by the
upper 45 degree line. Prior to flexural cracking, all the shear is carried by the uncracked
concrete. Between flexural and inclined cracking, the external shear is resisted by
Vcy  Vd  Vay . Eventually, the stirrups crossing the crack yield, and Vs stays constant for
higher applied shears. Once the stirrups yield, the inclined crack opens more rapidly. As the
inclined crack widens, Vay decreases further, forcing Vcy and Vd to increase at an
accelerated rate, until a splitting (dowel) failure occurs, the compression zone crushes due to
combined shear and compression, or the web crushes.

In design practice, the nominal shear strength of a beam with shear reinforcement is
calculated as

Vn  Vc  Vs (4.8)

where Vs is the shear transferred by tension in the stirrups and Vc is the shear transferred
by the concrete and is equal to Vcy  Vd  Vay .

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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

Figure 4.14 Distribution of internal shears in a beam with web reinforcement.

Tension shift
Refer to Fig. 4.13. When the inclined crack widens, Vd and Va gradually approach zero. If
we take point o in Fig. 4.13 for moment equilibrium, assuming the inclined crack has a 45
degree angle and the resultant force of stirrups Vs is located at 0.5 jd from section 1,

M 1  T2 jd  0.5 jdVs  M 2  jdV

Solving for T2

M2 M  V 
T2   V  0.5Vs  2   1  0.5 s  V
jd jd  V 
1   V  
T2   M 2  1  0.5 s  jdV  (4.9)
jd   V  

If stirrups take all the shear forces, which means V = Vs

1
T2   M 2  0.5 jdV  (4.10)
jd
Longitudinal reinforcement at section 2 has a tension force larger than that corresponding to
the section moment M 2
.
Or to be conservative, take Vs =0 (assuming no stirrups)

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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

1 M
T2   M 2  jdV   1 (4.11)
jd jd
Longitudinal reinforcement at section 2 has a tension force corresponding to moment at
section 1.

ACI 318 12.10.3: Reinforcement shall extend beyond the point at which it is no longer
required to resist flexure for a distance equal to d or 12db, whichever is greater.

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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

4.4 Equilibrium Truss Model for Shear

A beam subjected to a concentrated load 2V at midspan is shown in Figure 4.15(a). Since the
reaction is V , the shear force is a constant V throughout one-half of the beam, and the
moment diagram is a straight line. The distance between the tension and compression
resultant forces is denoted as d v herein, which equal to jd mentioned previously.

When a beam element of length d v is isolated and the moment on the left face is defined as
M, then the moment on the right face is M - Vd v . The shear forces on both the left and right
faces are equal to V .

A model of the isolated beam element is shown in Figure 4.15(b). The top and bottom
stringers (longitudinal reinforcement) are separated from the main body of the beam element,
so that the mechanism to resist shear can be separated from the mechanism to resist moment.
The stringers are resisting the bending moment and the main body is carrying the shear force.

The shear flow q in the main body is assumed to be distributed uniformly along the four sides
of the main body. Equilibrium of the main body in the longitudinal, transverse and diagonal
directions gives the following three equations:

V  N cot  r (4.12)
V  nt dv tan  r (4.13)
V  ( d h)dv sin  r cos  r (4.14)

where  d =diagonal concrete stress; N  =longitudinal steel force; nt =transverse steel force
per unit length, At f t / st , where At =cross-sectional area of one transverse steel bar,
ft =stress in the transverse steel bars, and st =spacing of transverse steel bars; h =width of
concrete strut; and  r is angle between the direction perpendicular to the diagonal concrete
strut to horizontal.

Assuming yielding of the longitudinal and transverse steel, then N  = N y , nt = nty , and V
= Vy . Multiplying Eqs. (4.12) and (4.13) to eliminate  r gives

V y  d v ( N y / d v ) nty (4.15)

Combining Eqs. (4.12) and (4.13) to eliminate V, we have

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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

N y / d v
tan  r  (4.16)
nty

As shown in Fig. 4.15(c), under this combined bending and shear, the moment M creates a
tensile force M / d v in the bottom stringer and an equal compressive force in the top stringer.
The shear force V induces a total tensile force of V tan  r in the longitudinal steel. Due to
symmetry, the top and bottom stringers should each resist one-half of the tensile force
(V / 2) tan  r . The combined forces in the top and bottom longitudinal steel are shown in Eqs.
(4.17) and (4.18), respectively. In the transverse direction, the shear force V will produce a
transverse force nt d v in the transverse steel in a beam element with a length equal to d v .

M V 
N bl     tan  r (4.17)
dv  2 

M V 
N tl      tan  r (4.18)
dv  2 

It can be seen that the tensile force in the bottom longitudinal reinforcement will be increased
due to shear. In contrast, the compressive force in the top longitudinal reinforcement will be
decreased due to shear. Let’s take an example in the following section to show how shear
affects the forces in the longitudinal steel.

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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

(a) (b)

(c)
Figure 4.15 Equilibrium in beam shear: (a) isolation of beam element; (b) model for beam
element; and (c) forces resulted from combined shear and moment

Shown in Fig. 4.16 is an example of a beam under shear and moment. To simplify the
calculation, we have the following assumptions: (1) angle of concrete strut (diagonal)
tan  r  5 / 3 (  r is close to 60 ); (2) spacing of stirrups s  d v / 3 ; and (3) half-span
length l / 2  4  d v tan  r    20 / 3 d v  20s . The force in on stirrup Ft is nt s . From Eq.
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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

(4.13), we know V  nt d v tan  r . Therefore,

V V
Ft  nt s  s
d v tan  r 5

Forces in the bottom stringers (bottom longitudinal reinforcement) are contributed by the
bending moment and the shear force. Since the bending moment varies linearly along the
length of a beam subjected to a midspan load, the force caused by bending should have a
triangular shape in one half-span as shown by the solid line AB in Fig. 4.16(c). Adopting the

length of one half-span as  20 / 3 d v , the maximum stringer force at midspan is

V  l / 2  d v  5 Ft  20 / 3 d v / d v  100 / 3 Ft .

Since the shear force V is a constant along the beam, the stringer force due to shear should
also be a constant and equal to V / 2  tan  r   5Ft / 2  5 / 3   25 / 6  Ft . The sum of the
two stringer forces due to bending and shear is then represented by the dotted line CD, which
is displaced vertically from the solid line by a distance of  25 / 6  Ft . In actuality, of course,
the stirrups are not uniformly smeared, but are concentrated at discrete points with spacing s.
Therefore, the stringer force contributed by shear should change at each stirrup and should
have a stepped shape as indicated. Each step of change should introduce a stringer force of
Ft tan  r . For the main region of the beam, tan  r  5 / 3 and each step is  5 / 3 Ft . When
the midspan is approached, however, tan  r gradually decreases, and the last five steps in
the local region decrease in the following sequence:  9 / 6  Ft ,  7 / 6  Ft ,  5 / 6  Ft ,  3 / 6  Ft ,
and 1/ 6  Ft . This stepped curve near the midspan can be approximated conservatively by a
horizontal dotted line DB, which is commonly used in design. Using the same logic, the
forces in the top stringer are plotted in Fig. 4.16(d). It can be seen that the compressive force
in the top stringer due to bending is reduced by the tensile forces due to shear. This
phenomenon is referred to as tension shift as mentioned in the previous section.

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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

Figure 4.16 Forces in stirrups and longitudinal reinforcement of a beam

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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

4.5 ACI 318 Shear-Failure Limit States

Beams without web reinforcement

Slender beams without web reinforcement will fail when inclined cracking occurs. For this
reason, the shear strength of such members is taken equal to the inclined cracking shear. In
ACI code, four variables, f c' (as a measure of tensile strength of concrete),  w , a / d (or
M / Vd ), and N (axial force) are used in determining the shear failure limit state of beams.
Beam size and coarse aggregate size are not considered.

(1) For simplified calculation.

 For members subject to shear and flexure only.
Vc  0.53 f c' bw d (kgf/cm2) = 0.17 f c' bw d (MPa) (4.19)
 For members subject to axial compression.
 Nu   Nu 
Vc  0.53  1   f c' bw d (kgf/cm ) = 0.17 1 
2
 f c' bw d (MPa) (4.20)
 140 Ag   14 Ag 

(Fig. 4.12)
where N u =the factored axial compression load (positive in compression); and Ag
=the gross area of the concrete cross-section.
 For members subject to axial tension, Vc shall be taken as zero.
(2) For more detailed calculation.
 For members subject to shear and flexure only,
 Vd
Vc   0.50 f c'  175  w u  bw d  0.93 f c' bw d (kgf/cm2) (4.21)
 Mu 
 Vd
Vc   0.16 f c'  17  w u  bw d  0.29 f c' bw d (MPa) (4.22)
 Mu 
where Vu d / M u should not be taken greater than 1.0. Fig. 4.17 shows the comparison
between the above equation and test results.

Figure 4.17 Test results and ACI shear strength equation.

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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

 For members subject to axial compression, M m is substituted for M u in the above

equation.
4h  d
M m  M u  Nu (4.23)
8
where Vu d / M u is not limited to 1.0. Vc should not be taken greater than that from
the following equation. Or, when M m is negative, the following equation should be
used.
Nu 0.29 N u
Vc  0.93 f c' bw d 1  (kgf/cm2) = 0.29 f c' bw d 1  (MPa) (4.24)
35 Ag Ag
 For members subject to significant axial tension,
 N   0.29 N u 
Vc  0.53 1  u  f c' bw d (kgf/cm2) = 0.17 1   f c' bw d (MPa) (4.25)
 35 Ag   Ag 
(Fig. 4.12) but not less than zero, where N u is negative for tension.

Note that the equilibrium truss model in the previous section can not reflect shear strength of
concrete Vc .

Inelastic concrete shear strength model

It has been well known from test results that Vc will decrease under cyclic loading as the
ductility of the member increases. Priestley et al. (1994), Aschheim et al. (1992), and Sung et
al. (2005) have proposed equations to estimate the degradation of Vc . Here the method
proposed by Sung et al. (2005) will be introduced. The shear strength of concrete subject to
inelastic cyclic loading can be estimated by

Vc  0.53  k  F  fc' Ae (kgf/cm2) (4.26)

where Ae  80% Ag ; k , within plastic hinge regions, depends on member ductility  as

defined by Eq. (4.27); for regions other than plastic hinges, where the member maintains
elastic response, k maintains 1; and F is N u /140 Ag term corresponding to Eq. (4.20)
and N u / 35 Ag corresponding to Eq. (4.25).

max  
k 0 (4.27)
max  1

where  is ductility factor defined by Eq. (4.28).


 (4.28)
y

where max   u /  y .

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Beams with web reinforcement

As shown in Fig. 4-18(a), a beam with inclined cracks develops compressive and tensile
forces, C and T, in its top and bottom "flanges," vertical tensions in the stirrups, and inclined
compressive forces in the concrete "diagonals" between the inclined cracks. This highly
indeterminate system of forces can be replaced by an analogous truss as shown in Fig. 4.18(b).
This is the equilibrium truss model as presented in section 4.4.

Figure 4.18 Truss analogy.

(1) Failure by yielding of stirrups

This is the failure mode expected for beams designed per ACI code. .

Figure 4.19 Shear resisted by stirrups.

Assuming that all of the stirrups are at yield at failure, the shear resisted by the stirrups
(see Fig. 4.19) is

Av f yt d
Vs  (4.29)
s

This is Eq. (4.13) with At  Av , ft  f y , and  r  45 .

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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

(2) Failure due to web crushing

If the compression stress in the concrete diagonals in the web of a beam exceeds the
crushing stress, the concrete diagonals (web concrete) will crush. The corresponding shear
strength can be derived from Eq. (4.14) by taking h  bw , d v  0.9d and  r  60
(   30 , angle between cracks and horizontal). The compressive strength of concrete  d
in Eq. (4.14) is smaller than f c' due to the softening effect by tensile strain in the
direction perpendicular to the direction of concrete diagonals. The softened concrete
compressive strength is  d =  f c' . The shear strength of Eq. (4.14) becomes

Vn (max)  0.39 f c'bw d (4.30)

The softening coefficient  has been found not only inversely proportioned to  r as
shown in Eq. (2.12), but also inversely proportioned to f c' as shown later by Zhang and
Hsu (1998). Assume a conservative value of   2.13 / f c' (MPa) , we will have the
maximum shear strength.

Vn (max)  0.83 f c' bw d (MPa) (4.31)

From Eq. (4.19), we know Vc  0.17 f c' bw d (MPa). Thus, the maximum Vs is equal to

Vs (max)  0.66 f c' bw d (MPa) (4.32)

which is the maximum shear strength of stirrups by ACI code.

A number of codes other than ACI code limit the shear stress to 0.2 to 0.25 times the
compressive strength of the concrete, which means

Vn (max)
 0.2 ~ 0.25 f c' (4.33)
bw d

(3) Failure due to excessive crack widths at service loads

Wide inclined cracks in beams are unsightly and may allow water to penetrate the beam,
possibly causing corrosion of the stirrups. ACI Code attempts to guard against excessive
crack widths by limiting the maximum shear that can be transmitted by stirrups to that
specified by Eq. (4.32). Testing of a beam with Vs (max) (Eq. (4.32)) showed that the
stirrup stress was 2390 kgf/cm2 at service loads, corresponding to a maximum crack width
of about 0.36 mm.

(4) Failure initiated by failure of the tension chord

The force in the longitudinal tensile reinforcement at a given point in the shear span is a
function of the moment at a section located approximately d closer to the section of
maximum moment. This is called “tension shift” as presented in page 12 of this module.
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CT5203 Behavior of reinforced concrete members Instructor: Yu‐Chen Ou

Thus, ACI requires that flexural reinforcement extend the larger of d or 12 bar diameters
past the point where it is no longer needed (except at the supports of simple spans or at the
ends of cantilevers).

(5) Failure by failure of the stirrup anchorages

Generally, the upper end of the inclined crack approaches very close to the compression
face of the beam, as shown in Fig. 4.20. At ultimate, the stress in the stirrups approaches
or equals the yield strength, f yt , at every point where an inclined crack intercepts a
stirrup. Thus the portions of the stirrups shown shaded in Fig. 4.20 must be able to anchor
f yt .

Figure 4.20 Anchorages of stirrups

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