Evaluation of Shear Design Procedures Adopted in the Industry for Reinforced Concrete

Abstract

Application of reinforced concrete as a construction material was first found in the middle of the 19th century. Over the last one and half centuries it has became a popular and widely accepted construction material. Its applications span from in small domestic structures to large structures like massive dams, bridges, offshore platforms provide evidence for its potential. Shear design is an important area of the reinforced concrete designing process. This study reviews the shear designing approached for reinforced concrete beams. From the beginning the shear behavior of reinforced concrete beams was mysterious. The first analytical model to explain the shear behavior of a reinforced concrete beam was postulated in 1899 by a Swiss engineer called Ritter and a German engineer called Morsch (1902). They independently introduced the Truss Model to use in shear design. Since then various theories have been put forward to explain the shear behavior of reinforced concrete beams. But, still none of them seems to have resolved the issue by producing results relating theory to experiment to a higher degree of accuracy when compared to flexural design.