Towards an efficient shear reinforcement for rectangular concrete beams

Abstract

In order to provide shear resistance to reinforced concrete beams subjected to flexure and shear, a new type of shear reinforcement to be known as 'WAVE REINFORCEMENT' is examined experimentally and analytically. The experimental study is based on five beams incorporating wave reinforcement and/or vertical stirrups. It is aimed at resolving the acceptability and efficiency of wave reinforcement. The analytical study is aimed at verifying the adoptability of truss analogy for the design of wave reinforcement. within the limitations of test programme, it is now confirmed that the wave reinforcement is acceptable as an alternate type of shear reinforcement and is also more efficient, functionally and economically than the vertical stirrups which are presently popular. It is also verified that the truss analogy can be safely used for the design of wave reinforcement. Again the compression field theory applied to a beam with wave:reinforcement gives a good agreement between the predictions-and-test data. Detailing methods for the wave rein~orcement and recommendations for computing the shear strength provided by them are proposed.