Civil Engineering Department Notes on RC-I

Chapter 3
Limit State Design of Beams for Shear
 Beams resist loads by means of internal moment M and shear force V.
 Longitudinal reinforcements are provided based on bending moment and shear
reinforcements are provided based on shear force.
 Shear force is significantly present in beams where there is a change in bending moment
along the span.
 Shear force is equal to the rate of change of bending moment. i.e. V = dM/dx
 Shear force in beam generally develop in combination with bending moment.

Behavior of Reinforced-concrete Beam without Shear Reinforcements

In reinforced-concrete beam elements, shear force and moment may develop in combination. The
combined action of shear force and moment gives rises to principal tensile and compressive
stresses on principal planes of the elements of beam. When the principal tensile stress exceeds
tensile strength of concrete, formation of cracks takes place along the principal planes which are
perpendicular to principal tension stress trajectories.

In the vicinity of maximum span moment of simple and continuous beams, where shear force is
small and moment is large, the direction of the principal tensile stress is nearly horizontal and is
nearly equal to the flexural tensile stress. For such a section of the beam subjected to moment
only, the state of stresses for an element of beam near to extreme tension fiber is as shown
below. When the principal tensile stress in such case exceeds the tensile strength of concrete,
flexure tension cracks develop along vertical principal plane. Vertical flexure tension crack can
be controlled by the provision of longitudinal tension reinforcement.
Principal plane

fb fb fb t p  fb

Near to the support of simple beams, where the shear force is large and moment is small, the
principal tensile stress is nearly equal to the shear stress and is inclined at approximately 45˚ to
the axis of the beam. It is referred to as the diagonal tension and is responsible for the

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Civil Engineering Department Notes on RC-I

development of inclined cracks. At the level of the neutral axis, longitudinal flexural stress is
absent and shear stresses give rise to a diagonal tension which causes inclined cracks. For such a
section of the beam subjected to maximum shear force and small moment, the state of stresses
for an element of beam at the level of the neutral axis is as shown below. When the principal
tensile stress in such case exceeds the tensile strength of concrete, diagonal tension cracks
develop along principal plane inclined at angle approximately 45˚ to the axis of the beam. But
for a section of continuous beam subjected to both shear force and moment significantly,
diagonal tension cracks develop as an extension of vertical flexure crack and it is known as
flexure-shear crack. Diagonal tension crack can be controlled by the provision of shear
reinforcement.
v v Principal plane cp   v

v v
v
45 0
v tp  v
tp  v
45 0

The different types of crack regions such as region of flexural cracks, diagonal tension cracks
and flexure-shear cracks can be shown as below, for a simply supported beam.

II III I III II

I – Region of flexural cracks

II – Region of diagonal tension crack
III – Region of flexure-shear crack

Shear Strengths of RC beams and Shear Reinforcements

The transfer of shear in reinforced concrete members occurs by the combination of the following
mechanisms.
1) Shear resistance of the un-cracked concrete in compression
2) Aggregate interlock force:- that develop tangentially along the expected crack propagation,
and similar to a frictional force due to irregular interlocking of aggregates along the rough
concrete surface on each side of the crack.
3) Dowel action of the longitudinal reinforcement:- the resistance of the longitudinal
reinforcement to transverse force.

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Civil Engineering Department Notes on RC-I

4) Shear reinforcement resistance from vertical or inclined stirrups (not available in beams
without shear reinforcement)
If the RC beam is without shear reinforcement, the shear resistance along the expected cracking
(ie along ABC as shown in the figure below) =
Sum of shear in compression zone (Vcz) + Vertical component of aggregate interlock force
(Vay) + Force due to dowel action of the longitudinal reinforcement (Vd)
i.e. V = Vcz + Vay + Vd
A
Shear force Vcz
Longitudinal
Reinforcement B
Shear resistance of RC beam
Aggregate interlock without shear reinforcement
force Va

C
Dowel force Vd

Immediately after inclined cracking, it is found that 40 % to 60 % of the shear is resisted by Vay
and Vd.
As the crack widens Vay decreases and much of the resistance is provided by Vcz and Vd. As
Vd gets larger it leads to splitting crack in the concrete along the reinforcement. When this crack
occurs Vd drops to zero.
When Vay and Vd disappear, all shearing forces are to be resisted by the portion AB above the
crack. This may cause crushing of concrete in region AB.
For beams with shear reinforcements, Total shear V to be resisted is
V = Vcz + Vay + Vd + Vs
Where, Vs = Shear to be resisted by the stirrups.
Here, (Vcz + Vay + Vd) = Vc = Shear resisted by concrete
Therefore, total shear to be resisted is
V = Vc + Vs
Stirrups are required to be designed to carry shear above the capacity of concrete.

Types of shear reinforcements

Common types of shear reinforcement are:
 Vertical stirrups
 Inclined stirrups at angle 450 or more from longitudinal axis of beam
 Bent-up bars of longitudinal reinforcement bent at angle of 450 or more from longitudinal
axis of beam
 Combination of 1 or 2 with 3

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Civil Engineering Department Notes on RC-I

Vertical Stirrups

Inclined Stirrups

Crack propagation

Bent up bars

Crack propagation

Crack propagation

Vertical Stirrups: Most commonly used

Inclined stirrups: Cannot be used where beams resist shear reversal such as buildings resisting
seismic loads.
Bent up bars: Almost disappeared. Possess same disadvantage like inclined stirrups and
additional disadvantage is the difficulty in bar bending.

Prof. Morsch truss model to find spacing of stirrups

The amount of shear reinforcement or the spacing S of the stirrups having C/S area Av (of the
two vertical legs) is obtained from a mathematical model called truss model (developed by Prof.
Morsch in 1902) for the design of beam for shear.
The stirrups are modeled as vertical tension members, the longitudinal flexural reinforcements as
horizontal tension members, the concrete diagonals between cracks as diagonal compression
members and the concrete in flexural compression as top horizontal compression members.

Load

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Civil Engineering Department Notes on RC-I

Load
G
C

T
M θ

The spacing of shear reinforcement can be calculated as follows.

Vs = Number of stirrups * Force carried by each stirrups
Av = Area of two vertical legs of stirrup
Force carried by each stirrups = Av * fyd
The horizontal projection of MG = z/tan θ
Number of stirrups in this width =

Vs =
S= Where θ = 45˚; Tan θ = 1

EBCS 2 gives, s = for vertical stirrups.

Design Shear Strength specifications based on EBCS-2/95

-In order to prevent diagonal compression failure in concrete, the shear resistance of a section,
VRD shall not be less than the design shear force developed in a member due to factored design
load. VRD is given by
VRD  0.25 f cd .bw . d
-Design shear strength of concrete flexural member (beams & slabs) without significant axial
force preventing diagonal tension failure is given by:
Vc  0.25 f ctd . k1 . k2 .bw . d
0.21( f cd ) 2 3
where f ctd 
c
k1  (1 50  )  2.0
k2  (1.6  d )  1.0 (d in meters). For members where more than 50% of the
bottom reinforcement is curtailed, k2  1.0
As

bw . d
As --Area of tension reinforcement anchored beyond the intersection of the steel and
the line of possible 45˚ crack starting from the edge of the section.

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Civil Engineering Department Notes on RC-I

Anchorage length Anchorage length

Section considered Section considered

As
As

45˚
45˚

-For members subjected to axial compression in addition to flexure and shear, section may be
designed for the additional shear strength of concrete given by,
0.1(bw . d ) . N sd
Vcn 
Ac
where N sd --design axial force
Ac --gross concrete cross section
-For members subjected to axial tension in addition to flexure and shear, shear reinforcement
shall be provided to carry total design shear.
Minimum shear reinforcement:
- All beams, except joists of ribbed slabs, shall be provided with at least the minimum web
reinforcement given by:
0.4
 min  Where f yk is in MPa
f yk
- The maximum spacing Smax between stirrups, in the longitudinal direction, shall be as given
below:
Smax = 0.5d ≤ 300 mm if Vsd ≤ 2/3 VRd
Smax = 0.3d ≤ 200 mm if Vsd > 2/3 VRd
- The transverse spacing of legs of stirrups shall not exceed d or 800 mm, whichever is smaller.

Shear resistance of the stirrups:

When shear reinforcement perpendicular to the longitudinal axis is used, its shear resistance Vs
may be calculated as
Vs =
When inclined stirrups are used, the shear resistance of the stirrups may be calculated as
Vs = Where α is the inclination from the horizontal.

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Civil Engineering Department Notes on RC-I

When shear reinforcement consists of a single bar or a single group of parallel bars, all bent up at
the same distance from the support, the shear resistance of the reinforcement may be calculated
as:
Vs = Av fyd sinα

Critical section for shear:

Critical section for shear is at a distance d from the face of supports. Sections closer than d shall
be designed for shear at d.

Bond and Development Length

The shear stress in between the steel and concrete interface is called bond stress. When this bond
is fully developed the two material acts as a composite member. If the bond is not developed bars
pull out of concrete, causing tension to drop.
The bond stress varies along the bar length and usually average bond stress is used
Bond stresses arise from two situations:
(1) By anchorage or development length
(2) By flexural bond stress (due to the change in bar force along its length as
bending moment change along the length)

Development length
Assume that the diameter of one bar of main reinforcement as Φ
Maximum tension (T) in the bar= (stress X Area)
T=fyd*πΦ2/4
This force must be transferred from steel to concrete through bond acting over the surface of
contact over certain length of bar equal to the development length or anchorage length (lb )
If fbd is the design bond stress acting over the surface area
Then π Φ lbfbd=fyd πΦ2/4
lb=Φ/4*( fyd/ fbd)
This is referred in EBCS-2 as the basic anchorage length (section 7.1.6.1)
The basic anchorage length is the embedment length to develop the full design strength of a
straight reinforcing bar.

Required Anchorage length (section 7.1.6.2)

The required anchorage length depends on the type of anchorage and on the stress in the
reinforcement, and can be calculated according to EBCS-2/95 as:
A s , cal
l b , net  a . l b .  l b , min
A s , ef
where As , cal --theoretical area of reinforcement required by the design
As , ef --area of reinforcement actually provided

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Civil Engineering Department Notes on RC-I

a  1 .0  for straight bar-anchorage in tension or compression

a  0 .7  for anchorage in tension with standard hooks
l b , min --minimum anchorage length (as given below)
-Minimum anchorage length can be determined by
For tension bars:  l b , min  0.3l b  10 b
Or  200mm
For compression bars:  l b , min  0.6l b  10 b
Or  200mm
Standard hooks
If the actual available length is not adequate for full anchorage of tension reinforcement, special
mechanical anchorage such as hook must be provided at the end of the bar. A hook (end-
anchorage) for compression steel is not effective.
The following standard hooks (end anchorage) may be used for tension reinforcement according
to EBSC-2

Design bond strength (fbd) (section 7-1-5-1)

For good bond conditions, the design bond strength of plain bars may be taken as
fbd =fctd
For deformed bars, fbd = 2fctd
For other bond conditions, the design bond strength may be taken as 0.7 times the value for good
bond conditions.

Good bond condition as per EBCS-2 are:

(a) All bars which are in the lower half of an element
(b) All bars in elements whose depth does not exceed 300 mm
(c) All bars which are at least 300 mm from the top of an element in which they are placed
(d) All bars with an inclination of 45˚ to 90˚ to the horizontal during concreting

Sections 7-1-6-4 (2) Anchorage by hooks (1350 to 1800) is required for plain bars
(3) Anchorage by bends (900 to 1350) is only allowed for deformed bars