Review of BS 8110, EC2, and the Improved EC2 shear resistance models for stirrup in reinforced concrete beams

The majority of beams used in construction have shear reinforcement provision.However, there exists a disparity in the results of the shear capacity guaranteed by the available shear design provisions.This is so because of the complex nature of the reinforced concrete shear mechanism.This study compares the BS 8110, EC2, and the Improved EC2 shear resistance models to ascertain the differences in their predictive ability when compared to experimental results.The EC2 is the most conservative at low level of shear reinforcement, i.e., shear reinforcement 𝜌 𝑤 𝑓 𝑦𝑤𝑚 ≤ 1.3 𝑀𝑃𝑎, and at 𝜌 𝑤 𝑓 𝑦𝑤𝑚 ≤ 2 𝑀𝑃𝑎 for mean value and design value predictions respectively.From the parametric trendline chart, the Improved EC2 predicts a higher shear capacity for lightly reinforced concrete beams than the EC2 shear model.A demerit point of 76 and 187 obtained respectively for the mean and design shear capacities of the BS 8110 shows that it is the most reliable of the three models in predicting the shear strength of stirrup-reinforced concrete beams.