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Concrete deep beams with small shear span-depth ratios (a/d) are reorientation of the internal forces can occur after cracking
common elements in structures. To mitigate corrosion-induced such that forces tend to flow directly from the loading
damage in concrete structures, members internally reinforced points to the supports. This arch action involves the forma-
with fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) are increasingly specified. tion of compression struts to directly transmit the load to
However, very little experimental data exist for FRP-reinforced the supports, while the longitudinal reinforcement acts as
concrete deep beams, as prior research has mainly focused on
a tie holding the base of the arch together. Unlike slender
slender beams having a/d greater than 2.5. This paper reports
on an experimental study designed to investigate the shear
members with no web reinforcement, deep members can
behavior of concrete deep beams internally reinforced with FRP have substantial reserve capacity after diagonal cracking.
and containing no distributed web reinforcement. Test results of Considerable research has been conducted on the shear
12 large-scale specimens that were loaded in a four-point bending behavior of slender (a/d > 2.5) FRP-reinforced concrete
configuration are presented, where the primary variables included members. The overall shear behavior of slender FRP-
the a/d, reinforcement ratio, member height, and concrete strength. reinforced members is similar to that of steel-reinforced
The results show that an arch mechanism was able to form in FRP- slender members, but the shear capacity of members
reinforced concrete beams having a/d less than 2.1. reinforced with glass FRP (GFRP) is lower than steel-
reinforced members having the same reinforcement ratio
Keywords: cracks; deep beams; failure mechanisms; fiber-reinforced
due to the lower reinforcement stiffness of GFRP.7-9 While
polymer reinforcement; reinforced concrete; shear span-depth ratio (a/d);
shear strength; size effect. numerous shear models have been proposed and incorpo-
rated into codes and design guidelines for concrete members
INTRODUCTION internally reinforced with FRP,1,2,10-12 no distinction is made
Steel-reinforced concrete structures have been built for between analysis provisions for slender and deep members.
over a century and numerous research programs have been In contrast, design guidelines for steel-reinforced concrete
conducted to understand the behavior of such structures. construction10,13-15 recognize that different analytical models
Many steel-reinforced concrete structures, such as bridges, are required to evaluate the shear capacity of slender and
parking garages, and marine structures, are exposed to deep members. While the steel-reinforced concrete design
aggressive environments which, over time, can cause exten- codes10,13-15 allow the use of strut-and-tie models to analyze
sive damage and the need for costly rehabilitation due to deep members, the FRP-reinforced design codes do not
corrosion of the steel reinforcement. Fiber-reinforced poly- allow the use of strut-and-tie modeling. For example,
CSA S806-0212 explicitly states that “analysis by strut and
mers (FRPs), which are a composite material consisting
tie models is not permitted.” The use of sectional models
of fibers embedded in a resin, are an alternative type of
in the analysis of FRP-reinforced concrete deep members
reinforcement that can be used instead of steel.1,2 Not only
may result in uneconomical designs in instances where large
is FRP noncorrosive but it is also nonmagnetic, making it
members are used,16 as is the case when steel-reinforced
useful in many applications where corrosion and electro-
deep beams are designed using sectional models.
magnetic interference are problematic.1 Limited prior research on FRP-reinforced deep beams
The shear behavior of steel-reinforced concrete members containing no distributed web reinforcement has indicated
has been well-documented and many design procedures that arch action forms after inclined cracking in specimens
have been developed.3 In general, concrete members can be having an a/d less than 2.3.17,18 However, the 25 FRP-
classified in two categories based on shear behavior: slender reinforced specimens tested in these prior test programs
and deep. Of particular interest in this paper is the shear had small cross-sectional dimensions when compared to
behavior of deep members containing no distributed web the common sizes of beams encountered in industry prac-
reinforcement. It is generally accepted that deep members tice. The effective depths d were less than 350 mm (13.8 in.)
have a shear span-depth ratio (a/d) less than 2.5.3-6 Five shear with 11 specimens having d = 150 mm (5.9 in.). In addition,
force-transfer mechanisms have been identified in cracked only limited values for the a/d and longitudinal reinforcement
concrete members without transverse reinforcement.3 These ratios ρ were used in the prior research. This paper presents
consist of shear stresses in the uncracked flexural compres- a large-scale experimental program that was undertaken to
sion region, aggregate interlock and residual tensile stresses
at diagonal cracks, dowel action of longitudinal reinforce-
ment, and arch action through formation of direct compres- ACI Structural Journal, V. 110, No. 4, July-August 2013.
sion struts. The shear capacity of reinforced concrete slender MS No. S-2011-226.R2 received May 2, 2012, and reviewed under Institute
publication policies. Copyright © 2013, American Concrete Institute. All rights
members is governed by the breakdown of beam action with reserved, including the making of copies unless permission is obtained from the
failure once equilibrium of forces can no longer be satis- copyright proprietors. Pertinent discussion including author’s closure, if any, will be
published in the May-June 2014 ACI Structural Journal if the discussion is received
fied at the inclined crack locations. In deep beams, a major by January 1, 2014.
ACI member Adam S. Lubell is a Project Engineer at Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd., Specimen configurations
Vancouver, BC, Canada, and an Associate Adjunct Professor of civil engineering at the The as-built configuration of the specimens is given in
University of Alberta. He received his PhD from the University of Toronto, Toronto, Table 1 and Fig. 1. The specimens were designed using
ON, Canada. He is Secretary of ACI Subcommittee 445A, Shear and Torsion-Strut and a preliminary version of the CSA-1 strut-and-tie model
Tie; and a member of ACI Committees 440, Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Reinforcement;
544, Fiber-Reinforced Concrete; and Joint ACI-ASCE Committee 445, Shear and
described in the companion paper16 and elsewhere.19 The a/d
Torsion. His research interests include the design and rehabilitation of reinforced and of the specimens were selected to cover a wide range of the
prestressed concrete structures, and the development of structural detailing guidelines deep beam category at the ultimate and equivalent service-
to allow the use of high-performance materials. ability limit states and to fill gaps in the limited experi-
mental data available on FRP-reinforced concrete deep
further study the behavior of concrete deep beams internally beams. Specimens were grouped into three series having
reinforced with GFRP. The new test results presented in this nominal heights h of 300, 600, and 1000 mm (11.8, 23.6,
paper are used with the results from the prior research17,18 to and 39.4 in.). To determine the influence of h on the shear
develop and validate a modeling technique for FRP- capacity, a/d, ρ, and fc′ were held approximately constant,
reinforced deep beams in a companion paper.16 while h and the bearing plate length Lb were varied. The
parameter Lb was scaled proportional to h. In all cases, the
RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE bearing plate width was the same as the member width bw,
The efficient use of FRP reinforcement in deep members which was approximately 300 mm (11.8 in.) for all speci-
has been hindered due to a lack of knowledge on the behavior mens. Member width is not considered to have an influ-
of such members. Due in part to a lack of experimental data, ence on the shear stress at failure.20,21 To study the effect of
there are currently no separate design guidelines for slender concrete strength on the shear capacity, both normal- and
and deep FRP-reinforced concrete beams. Prior research has high-strength concretes were used.
mainly focused on the shear behavior of slender members The reinforcement in all specimens consisted of GFRP,
longitudinally reinforced with FRP and only testing at small as this is the most commonly used FRP in the industry.
scales has been conducted on FRP-reinforced deep members. Furthermore, GFRP has a lower modulus of elasticity Efrp
This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation than carbon FRP, leading to higher strain values for a given
of 12 large-scale concrete deep beams internally reinforced reinforcement ratio and overall member configuration. High
with GFRP. The influences on shear capacity from the cross- reinforcement strains at the time of failure were desired to
section geometry, concrete strength, a/d, and reinforcement better validate the analytical capacity models presented in
ratio are discussed. The results are used in a companion the companion paper16 for strain values significantly greater
paper16 to validate modeling techniques for deep members. than those generally used in the design of steel-reinforced
concrete deep beams. The behavior of deep beams is not
EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION well-understood for the case of where high reinforcement
Twelve concrete deep beams internally reinforced with strains would occur. The reinforcement ratios were selected
GFRP were constructed and tested to failure in the I. F. such that the stress level in the FRP would not exceed
Morrison Structural Engineering Laboratory at the Univer- approximately 25% of the specified tensile strength fFRPu of
sity of Alberta.19 The primary test variables included the the GFRP bar under the equivalent serviceability limit state
a/d, the reinforcement ratio ρ, the effective depth d, and the loads.10 Note that ACI 440.1R-061 limits the service stress
concrete strength fc′. The objective of the test program was to level in the GFRP to 0.20fFRPu. The specimens with h =
Material properties
Commercially available GFRP bars in U.S. Customary
sizes of No. 6, No. 7, and No. 8 (19, 22, and 25 mm) were
used as the longitudinal reinforcement. The sand-coated
GFRP bars contained surface deformations produced from
wrapping groups of fibers diagonally in opposite direc-
tions to form a diamond-shaped pattern on top of the main
longitudinal core, as shown in Fig. 2. Tension coupon tests
conforming to CSA S806-0212 were performed on five
samples of each bar size to determine the failure stress fFRPu
and modulus of elasticity EFRP. The GFRP exhibited linear
elastic stress-strain responses to brittle failures. The cross-
sectional area of the different nominal bar sizes was deter-
mined by using volumetric measurements.19,22 The measured
properties of the GFRP bars are provided in Table 2.
Two types of concretes were obtained from a local
ready mix supplier: a normal-strength mixture and a high-
strength mixture having nominal specified 28-day strengths Fig. 1—Test setup and specimen geometry.
of 35 and 70 MPa (5075 and 10,150 psi), respectively. Both
mixtures had a maximum aggregate size of 14 mm (0.55 in.).
Four batches of concrete were required with three speci-
mens cast from each batch. All specimens were moist-cured
for 7 days, after which they were removed from the form-
work and stored in the laboratory until testing. Cylinders
with dimensions of 100 x 200 mm (3.9 x 7.9 in.) were cast
and cured under the same conditions as the specimens. The
age of each specimen and the average concrete strength from
three cylinders on the day of testing are given in Table 1.
Inclined Average
cracking Failure Pmax, Dmax, midspan Width, Ds, Crack width,
Specimen load Pc, kN Pc/Pmax type* kN mm† strain, mε mm % of Pmax Ps, kN mm fFRPs/fFRPu, % mm
A1N 312 0.38 FC 814 12.4 17,400 1.5 94 407 4.0 37 0.9
A2N 187 0.40 SC 471 11.3 8900 1.5 82 235 3.7 22 0.5
A3N 143 0.59 SC 243 10.9 6000 1.5 92 121 2.6 14 0.33
A4H 163 0.85 DT 192 9.5 4800 2.5 96 96 0.9 5 0.3
B1N 387 0.30 FC 1273 9.1 8400 1.25 76 637 3.5 25 0.9
B2N 287 0.36 SC 799 13.1 6900 3.0 92 400 4.6 16 0.8
B3N 237 0.55 SC 431 15.3 5200 2.75 84 215 2.7 14 0.33
B4N 412 0.50 SC 830 11.5 6200 4.0 98 415 3.4 21 0.5
B5H 387 0.36 S 1062 14.2 6900 4.0 91 531 5.1 21 1.25
B6H 212 0.56 DT 376 12.9 4500 7.0 96 188 1.3 4 0.3
C1N 613 0.27 SC 2269 15.9 9600 2.5 80 1135 6.1 22 1.5
C2N 413 0.31 S 1324 18.3 6800 4.5 88 662 6.7 15 1.5
*
DT is diagonal concrete tension failure; FC is flexural compression failure; SC is shear compression failure; S is compression strut failure.
†
Midspan deflection occurring at Pmax.
Notes: 1 mm = 0.0394 in.; 1 MPa = 145 psi.
The specimens were tested under displacement control in the GFRP at the equivalent service load was between
with a displacement rate of 0.1 to 0.25 mm/min (0.004 to 0.04fFRPu and 0.37fFRPu, with only Specimen A1N exceeding
0.01 in./min) of machine stroke depending on the stiffness of 0.25fFRPu.
the specimen. Each specimen was loaded in five to 10 incre-
ments. After each increment, the deflection was held while Failure mechanisms
the crack patterns were photographed and the crack widths Among the specimens, four types of failure mechanisms
were measured using a crack comparator gauge. Data were observed, as given in Table 3. Shear compression was
from the instrumentation were recorded continuously the most common failure mode, occurring in six specimens.
until specimen failure. The duration of the tests ranged Shear compression failure was characterized by the crushing
between 3 and 6 hours depending on the specimen configu- of the concrete in the flexural compression zone at the tip of
ration and the number of load increments. the main diagonal crack. The main diagonal crack extended
from the inside edge of the support plate toward the inside
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION edge of the loading plate into the flexural compression zone.
All 12 specimens were loaded to failure in displacement At failure, the crack penetrated through the top of the spec-
control, which allowed for the observation of both the pre- imen and an abrupt drop in load-carrying capacity occurred.
and post-peak behavior. The majority of the specimens failed A typical shear compression failure is shown in Fig. 3(a).
suddenly with a significant drop in load-carrying capacity. A Flexural compression failures occurred in Specimens A1N
summary of the key experimental results for the specimens
and B1N—both having an a/d of 1.1. This type of failure
is given in Table 3. The applied load P is the applied load
was characterized by the crushing of the concrete in the
measured by the internal load cell in the testing frame plus
flexural compression zone between the two loading plates,
the self-weight of the loading apparatus. The self-weight of
the specimen is not included in P. The peak shear capacity is as shown in Fig. 3(b). The main diagonal cracks in each
taken as Pmax/2. For each specimen, the midspan deflection shear span propagated from the inside edge of the reaction
Dmax corresponding to Pmax is given in Table 3. plates toward the inside edge of the loading plates. Near the
The equivalent service load Ps was taken as 50% of the loading plates, the cracks became horizontal and eventually
peak load.19 The equivalent service load was calculated in joined. The region above the horizontal crack between the
this study by assuming that the nominal resistance of the loading plates then slowly deteriorated through crushing
specimen was equal to the peak load, a dead to live load ratio of the concrete. At failure, there was also movement along
of 3:1, and load and resistance factors as per current Canadian the main diagonal cracks; however, this sliding action along
design codes.15,19 Note that the actual service to peak load the main diagonal cracks occurred after deterioration of the
ratio may vary in practice depending on the design code and compression zone.
dead to live load ratio. To prevent creep rupture of the GFRP Failure of the diagonal compression strut region
reinforcement, design codes impose a limit on the allowable between the loading plates and the supports occurred in
sustained stress in the FRP.1,2,10,12 ACI 440.1R-061 requires Specimens B5H and C2N, as shown in Fig. 3(c). Failure of
that the stress in the GFRP at the sustained service load be the compression struts occurred in a brittle and noisy manner.
kept below 0.20fFRPu, while CSA S6-0610 has a higher limit A drop of more than 60% in the load-carrying capacity of the
of 0.25fFRPu at the serviceability limit state. The stress level specimens occurred during this action.
A concrete diagonal tension failure or splitting failure change at the peak load as the midspan deflection and inclined
occurred in Specimens A4H and B6H—both of which had crack widths grew larger. A gradual decrease in load-carrying
fc′ ≈ 66 MPa (9570 psi). A major S-shaped diagonal crack capacity occurred after the peak load was reached.
formed in each shear span from the inside edge of the reac- Specimen B1N reached a load of 1273 kN (286 kip), at
tion plate toward the inside edge of the loading plate. The which point there was a 3% loss of load. The specimen
diagonal crack extended above the diagonal line between the continued to gain load, but the behavior was characterized by
centerlines of the loading and support plates. As the crack a reduced stiffness as crushing of the flexural compression
width increased, a vertical crack formed from the top surface region initiated. At 1286 kN (289 kip), a sudden 8% drop in
of the concrete in the shear span and intersected the diag- load was recorded. As the flexural region continued to crush,
onal crack, leading to an immediate drop in load-carrying the load-carrying ability was slowly regained and reached
capacity. The concrete above the diagonal crack was forced a new maximum of 1324 kN (298 kip). Extreme deterio-
upward after the vertical crack formed, as shown in Fig. 3(d). ration of the flexural compression zone was observed. For
subsequent discussions, the failure load of B1N was taken
Load-deflection behavior as 1273 kN (286 kip), as the drop in load-carrying capacity
The relationship between the applied load P and the from this local peak and regain in strength is considered to be
midspan deflection ∆ is shown in Fig. 4, where the specimens an unreliable mechanism. Nevertheless, B1N demonstrated
are grouped according to h. The failure of Specimen A1N that a large amount of member ductility can be provided by
was gradual, with crushing occurring in the main flexural the concrete response, even though the reinforcement has a
compression zone. A2N and A3N exhibited a sudden drop linear-elastic response. B2N and B3N experienced brittle
in load-carrying capacity after Pmax was attained, although failures, while B4N experienced a more ductile failure with
the load-carrying capacity of Specimen A2N remained a gradual decrease in load-carrying capacity after reaching
largely intact as deflection increased by approximately 1 mm the peak load. The failure of B5H was extremely brittle,
(0.039 in.). The load-carrying capacity of A4H showed little with significant damage along the main inclined crack. The
Pmax
ν= (1)
2bw dfc′
Concrete strength
Increasing the concrete strength by 63% while maintaining
ρ = 2.13% resulted in a 22% decrease in the normalized shear
capacity (top curve in Fig. 11(b)). As the concrete strength
of the specimens increased, the normalized shear capacity Fig. 11—Influence on normalized shear capacity from: (a)
decreased regardless of the a/d, ρ, or h, as shown in Fig. 11(b). a/d; (b) concrete strength; and (c) member height. (Note:
For specimens with a/d = 2.0 and 2.1, increasing fc′ by approx- 1 mm = 0.0394 in.; 1 MPa = 145 psi.)
imately 64% resulted in a 50% decrease in the normalized
shear capacity. The decrease was due to the cracking mecha-
nism that occurred in the specimen with the higher fc′. most pronounced for the specimens having an a/d of 1.1. In
addition, the specimen height had minimal influence on the
Overall height normalized shear capacity for a/d = 1.5 and 2.1 when h was
Specimens having different heights were tested to deter- less than 600 mm (23.6 in.). However, this observed trend
mine if there was a size effect on the shear-carrying capacity could be due in part to the small differences in ρ between
of GFRP-reinforced deep beams. The dimensions of the the 300 and 600 mm (11.8 and 23.6 in.) deep beams. The
loading and support plates in the direction of the span Lb reinforcement ratio of the h = 300, 600, and 1000 mm (11.8,
were scaled in proportion to h to eliminate the bearing plate 23.6, and 39.4 in.) specimens was 1.5%, 1.7%, and 1.6%,
as an independent variable.23 Figure 11(c) shows the influ- respectively. An increase in ρ is known to produce a higher
ence of h on the normalized shear stress at failure ν, where shear capacity in deep beams when other design parameters
the specimens have been grouped by similar a/d and ρ. For are kept constant.5,17
the three a/d—1.1, 1.5, and 2.1—ν decreased as the specimen Figure 12 shows the relationship between the a/d, the
height increased, except for Specimen A2N. The effect was midspan strain in the bottom layer of reinforcement at Pmax,
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