An Experimental Study on Concrete Contribution to Shear Capacity of RC Beams and Columns under Cyclic Loading

Abstract

In this study, concrete contribution to shear strength is experimentally investigated for RC beams and columns with flexural failure. For beam samples with reversing or non-reversing plastic hinge mechanism, the main variables are concrete compressive strength, transverse reinforcement spacing, type of plastic behavior and shear span / effective depth ratio. For column samples under constant axial load level and reversing cyclic loads, the considered variables are axial load level and shear span / effective depth ratio. Concrete contribution to shear strength, which varies with displacement demand, is compared with analytical results of different approaches involving the assumptions of Turkish Seismic Design Code. With the limited number of test samples, it is obtained that Turkish Seismic Design Code assumptions may provide conservative results for beam samples whereas remain unconservative for column samples.