Shear Strength of Reinforced Concrete Beams

The stress distribution at failure and the failure modes of reinforced concrete beams with and without web reinforcement failing by shear-compression have been investigated. Stress redistribution which takes place at the diagonal tension cracking load is caused by internal local rotation, which increases the width of the diagonal tension cracks. The crack width is proportional to the distance from the center of rotation at the apex of the diagonal tension crack. The ultimate strength of beams failing by shear-compression is dependent on the location of the diagonal tension crack within the compression zone, and the shear span ratio. The diagonal tension crack is located at the center of the compression zone.